Building and maintaining your web presence is an on-going venture. It is important to establish yourself, but be wary of becoming stagnant. The look that launched you may not be the one that continues to keep you relevant in the market. It is important to know when it’s time to redesign your website, but it may not be an easy choice to make.
How Do You Know When It’s Time To Redesign Your Website?
It’s time to redesign and relaunch when:
Your site looks old. This is sometimes hard to come to grips with, but if your site is still using design trends that have passed such as Flash introduction pages which tend to annoy users rather than excite them then you are probably doing yourself more harm than good. What you may like, may not be appealing to your customers or attracting new clients. Additionally, as the web has matured so too have the navigation functionalities. Familiarity for the user isn’t just in what they have been used to, but in keeping up with current trends they are quickly adapting to.
Your competitors are getting ahead. It is important to stay aware of what your competitor are doing. They may be onto functionalities that are more efficient and layouts that draw more interest. You should always take the time to research and analyze the competition in your field. To really stay ahead, you want to be the one setting the standard.
Your business has changed. If you are now offering new or improved services then what better way to showcase this than with a fresh design to reflect the progress of your business. As your business evolves marketing it the same way may not bring you the revenue you could be getting. Have your goals changed? Has your mission changed? Redesigning your look and updating your marketing strategies could improve things all around.
Your target audience has changed. Keeping in touch with who is visiting your site and what they are looking for when they do is key to the success of your website. As your business changes so too does the consumer to which you are appealing. Are you attracting the users you want to be attracting? Keep the user in mind when considering a redesign.
Your site is old. This can happen if you aren’t keeping up with optimization trends for search engines. If your site wasn’t originally designed with multiple browser access in mind, then you are missing out on potential clients simply by not being visible to them. In addition to redesigning your website you may also need to consider that maintaining it is a full time job to keep it up to date and relevant.