Consumer behavior is evolving every day. More and more, small businesses are looking to improve their return on investment by offering their services online. To be successful in the ultra-competitive online marketplace, it’s important to make sure your website is up to date and operating at full capacity 24/7, 365 days a year.
As companies adapt, they have to objectively look at how their needs are changing and whether or not it’s a good idea to redesign their current website.
Redesigning doesn’t necessarily mean only changing the fonts or updating the images. Technology is improving every day and that can help your business offer a better customer experience, improve the functionality of your site and make it easier to manage.
If you’re considering making some changes to your small business website, we’ve put together a Top 10 list of reasons to make the right choice.
YOUR WEBSITE IS OLD
Plain and simple, your website looks outdated.
If you haven’t redesigned your website in the last 2-3 years you could be missing out on some very important updates. The web is constantly growing with new design trends and technology that’s discovered every day.
If you can’t remember when you last updated your site, it’s probably time to do so.
YOUR COMPETITOR’S SITE LOOKS BETTER
Its’ not easy to do, but if you can admit that your competition has a site that looks better than yours, it’s time to make some adjustments.
Whether their site has better functionality, easier navigation, is better organized or looks more modern, these factors are going into every customer’s decision.
IMPROVE THE USER EXPERIENCE
User experience or UX can improve the satisfaction of your customers and build loyalty through ease of use, efficiency and general enjoyment the interaction results in.
When you design an experience — rather than just a way to buy something — customers can see the value in what they are purchasing and are more likely to repeat the transaction and use word of mouth to generate more traffic to your site.
If the user can’t find what they are looking for in 2-4 clicks, then it might be a good time to look into redesigning your website’s structure. Navigation and organized information are key elements that can make or break the experience.
YOUR SITE & MARKETING STRATEGY DON’T ADD UP
As your business changes and gets bigger, your sales and marketing goals should follow suit.
It is important to maintain a parallel with these goals and your website. It can be challenging but it’s very important to keep the digital face of your company consistent with the promises that it makes.
Often, it’s beneficial to take steps and review your website quarterly to see if it’s following paths to reach goals you are setting.
If it isn’t, it’s time to make a change.
YOUR BRANDING ISN’T UP TO DATE
Just like your marketing strategies need to be a part of your website, it’s just as important that your branding is homogenous. Your business card should have the same logo as your site does.
If you’ve recently updated your brand, you should look at your website with a magnifying glass to avoid any inconsistencies.
A good thing to remember is that a change in brand doesn’t stop at visual identity. It can include things like the language you use and other featured content.
If this isn’t updated thoroughly, information can sound like it isn’t coming from the same organization.
MOBILE OPTIMIZATION
Is your website optimized for mobile use?
A responsive website is a must-have for today’s internet standards. Most transactions are done on a device nowadays and it’s important to design a website with that end in mind.
Having a logical, consistent experience that spans across any device being used is very important. Odds are, if a customer can’t get an experience like that on your site, they will look somewhere else.
IMPROVE YOUR SEO
Ranking on the first page of any search engine needs constant attention to make sure your visibility stays current.
Using keywords and making sure your pages are optimized for those keywords is paramount. New and relevant content is just as important if you want popular search engines to find your website to be a credible candidate for the front page.
To stay in the game, you have to add content all the time, so it’s important that you are able to access and update your own site without jumping through hoops. Utilizing a blog is a great way to stay relevant.
HAVE GREATER CONTROL OVER YOUR OWN WEBSITE
If your website was built with outdated technology, it makes it harder for search engines to read and can actually cut access to certain web browsers on mobile devices. Your site could have plugins active that haven’t been updated in a long time as well, which can really hurt your bottom line.
Staying on top of current technology will give you greater control and allow you send out marketing campaigns quicker. By not having someone have to make the changes for you, you can test different pages and ideas to see what works best, helping you get results quicker.
IMPROVE YOUR SITE STRUCTURE
Storytelling is the most human way we can connect with each other. By organizing site structure to tell a story, you can increase optimization and functionality.
Staying current on back end development can really help you in the long run. Simple changes like using divs instead of tables helps create HTML structures around content like bodies of text and imagery. Divs can also shrink the file size of your website so your pages can load quicker and be found by search engines better.
If you stick to tables, it can be more time consuming to have to go through all the HTML code to fix an error or make a quick edit to some content.
If this sounds all too familiar, it’s probably time for a new website.
OUTDATED CONTENT
If you or your users are seeing 404 error messages, then you may have some broken links. Fixing these is easy, but it could be an indicator if a larger organizational problem.
Symptoms like these are like giant billboards for a redesign. When considering a content management system, be sure to find one that makes updating information and adding new pages simple, that way you can stay on top of everything when you add new content.
CONCLUSION
We hope you found this list helpful. It can be easy to see how and why a website redesign can benefit your company.
By updating your internet presence and making sure you do it responsively, you’re putting your best foot forward for yourself and your customers. Comment below or visit our contact page if you’d like a hand redesigning your site, today!
