Long gone are the days when having a website would suffice. Nowadays, if you want to stay relevant and competitive, you need to follow web design best practices that are congruent with the latest design trends and user habits.
But how do you figure out if you need to redesign your website?
Ideally, you need to have a visually appealing website that effectively engages users and converts visitors to buying customers.
If your website is not helping you achieve those objectives, it’s time for a redesign. However, those are not the only factors you need to consider.
Below are some of the most obvious signs your site can use a redesign:
Reason #01: Your website looks bland and outdated.
The digital world is ever-evolving. That said, web design trends and standards can change in the blink of an eye. If anything, you have to be vigilant about creating a visually appealing website that’s user-focused.
So how do you know if your web design is outdated?
- If your website is over two years old, there’s a massive possibility that it is already far behind in terms of feel, look, and functionality.
- If your website is over two years old, it is expected that the code is outdated and it loads slower than the current ones.
- If you notice substantial bounce rates and significant user abandonment, it’s often a telltale sign that both your design and code are outdated.
Luckily, functionality and design issues can be fixed easily nowadays. Not only that, redesigning your website and updates are also way easier.
Editor’s note:
Power Tip: Design can be the enemy of user experience. When you go for a more minimal and clean design it stands a far greater chance of passing the test of time. Remember the expressions, ‘Less is more’ and ‘K.I.S.S’. Keep it Simple, Stupid.
Reason #02: Your brand message is not transparent and clear.
Most of your site visitors and potential buyers look for relevant information first before purchasing your product or service. It is also safe to assume that they come from different sources and might land on your site’s various pages.
In line with this, you need to ensure you provide transparent, clear, and compelling content about your product or service.
To gauge if your content is both user-friendly and informative, ask yourself the following questions:
- Is your bounce rate high?
- Is your conversion rate low?
- Is your blog content useful?
- Are your social media shares low?
If you answered yes to any (or all) of the questions, it is time to give your content, web, and messaging a serious overhaul. The good news? There’s no shortage of tools you can use for content organization, automation, and testing.
Reason #03: Your website visitors are not converting.
If your billing tools are outdated and your site lacks modern features, it would be difficult to convert visitors to buying customers. In essence, a website that’s not designed for conversion will not only drive away potential buyers, it can also make your website look unpolished and unprofessional, especially to first-time visitors.
One clear sign your website can use a redesign is when the conversion rate is very low. As with any web project, it pays to do some research first so you can make educated decisions before diving into a website redesign.
Reason #04: Your website is not helping you achieve your business goals.
This might not be common knowledge, but how your site looks and works powerfully impacts your marketing efforts, sales, and overall customer satisfaction. Also, your website should be able to attract and engage more people, generate more leads, and raise more awareness about the brand.
If your website is outdated, you won’t achieve any of the business objectives mentioned above.
Reason #05: Your website is not loading fast enough.
To date, the ideal loading time is under 3 seconds. If your website takes longer to load, consider it your cue to improve and redesign your current website. Slow loading speed can be attributed to several reasons—a poor and outdated website theme, heavy and unoptimized images, and even underpowered hosting.
If you have your own web development team, this is an easy thing to fix. Your team can quickly troubleshoot and resolve the issue. If not, this is something you can always delegate to the professionals.
Reason #06: Your visitors find it difficult to navigate your website when using their tablets or mobiles.
Nowadays, a device-friendly website is no longer optional, it has become a standard. If your website is not optimized for different devices, consider redesigning a must. Below are some of the reasons to optimize your website for various devices:
- Back in 2017, it was predicted that mobile would dominate 79% of the traffic by 2019. In other words, the chances of people looking at the desktop version of your website have been reduced dramatically.
- A mobile-friendly website is considered crucial for local-based industries or those needing emergency roadside service.
- Mobile-friendliness can be great for your business, as evidenced by a study conducted by shoe company Offspring. The study showed that a responsive web design increased their search engine rankings by a staggering 77.59%. Their mobile conversion rate also increased by as much as 15.19%.
- There is no denying that search engines love mobile. Of the many factors Google takes into account, mobile usability ranks as the third most important. For SEO reasons, Google now uses a mobile-first index. Meaning it only looks at the mobile version of your website for indexing purposes and ignores the desktop version. So always optimize for mobile-first. There’s never a better time to learn SEO than now!
Reason #07: You are unable to keep up with the competition.
If you are not visible on search engines and interactive on social media, you are not competitive. To keep up, you need to monitor your competitors constantly. Do some research on the most shared content in your industry. If content shared by your competitors is there, you know it’s time to make changes. It is also crucial that you focus on efficient SEO to ensure you rank high and you stay competitive.
Reason #08: Your content is not communicating the right message.
If you are not getting inquiries from the people you are targeting, you are highly likely not communicating your message clearly and effectively. It is also expected that you are using outdated content or images that drive away your target audience.
Another likely scenario is that the website you are currently using does not reflect your message in the best way possible. Also, I recommend doing a content audit, where you either a) Purge, b) Merge, or c) Improve content.
Sometimes you want to delete content if it doesn’t align with your business objectives, other times you might want to merge multiple pieces to make one great piece instead of several weak and disjointed articles, and sometimes you will need to work on improving your article by looking at what is working for your competitors.
Reason #09: Your website is not protected and secured.
If you are still using technology used years ago, it would be a good idea to consider a website redesign. Older websites are more prone to security risks and issues as they rely primarily on outdated technology.
Another way to keep your website secure would be to always keep the software that your website runs on up to date. If truth be told, any website is vulnerable to hacking. That said, you need to ensure protecting your data, visitors, and users is of paramount importance.
Reason #10: Your website is no longer congruent with your current marketing strategy.
Your website should be geared up for marketing changes and opportunities to keep up with the competition (and modern marketing demands). If not, it is time to look into redesigning and creating a marketing and business-focused website. This is especially important if you are running an eCommerce business.
Aside from redesigning your website, it would also be advantageous to choose a flexible CMS like WordPress that will give you more flexibility in terms of removing and adding sections, content, plugins, and other functions.
Reason #11: You are not using videos to present your business and company.
If you are not using videos on your website yet, consider it an excellent reason to start thinking about redesigning. It is important to remember that video is an educational and useful communication tool. Some studies indicate that at least 41% of visitors are more likely to open a video link than plain text.
Some experts also believe that Google (as well as other search engines) love videos. So it’s not a coincidence that search engines are displaying videos on the first page of the results.
Reason #12: Your branding has changed, but your website is not reflecting the new changes.
If you are rebranding, your website needs to reflect the new changes. Often, this involves redesigning your website, so your visitors are aware of your rebranding efforts. Otherwise, your target audience might no longer recognize your brand, and you can end up losing a significant number of people in the process.
It is also crucial to keep in mind that your website promotes your brand 24/7. It is essential that your new branding is clear to visitors, both old and new.
Reason #13: Your business has grown massively.
If your target audience has grown, it is another reason to redesign your website. It’s safe to assume that as your following and website traffic grows, you’ll need a more reliable and robust platform.
Reason #14: Your site does not provide an exceptional user experience.
Your website should not only be visually appealing, but it should also provide a great user experience. Otherwise, your visitors will leave. Fortunately, even small tweaks can improve the visitor and user experience significantly. Imagine what a total website redesign can do!
Reason #15: Small changes are difficult to make.
Ideally, you should be able to make changes and updates to your website with ease. If your website is built on a platform that makes it difficult for you to make tweaks or changes, it might be a good idea to opt for a content management system (CMS) like WordPress that is straightforward to use.
Website Redesign – Wrap Up
Before jumping into any website redesign project, I recommend that you do your research and analyze your data first so you will be able to figure out the right web design changes that need to be implemented.
