Recently, a high-tech executive told me that his company lost a contract because the lead was turned off by their website. Time for website redesign? You bet! However, there may be some not such dire circumstances that may also warrant a site overhaul. Watch out for the 10 signs that signal a website redesign:
Business shifts – Your website does not reflect expansion of your offerings, brand acquisitions or other strategic shifts. As a result, you are presenting a sub-optimal perception of your company that could result in missed opportunities. Make sure your site quickly sums up your value proposition. Your website redesign should focus not just on strategic shifts in your business but should make user experience as positive and as frictionless as possible.
Rebranding Initiatives – If you have recently rebranded your organization or are in the process of redesigning your brand architecture, a website redesign should definitely be high on your priority list as consumers are only likely to engage with strong, professional brand that they know and trust. For instance, if your brand architecture has moved in favor of a master brand , explore ways to project that masterbrand on your website while retaining SEO and brand value of your multiple brands.
Mobile Responsiveness – If your website is not responsive and doesn’t render well on mobile devices without the need to pinch & zoom, it is time for a site redesign. That mobile users have overtaken desktop users is old news now and whether your site has more mobile users or not, Google search algorithms have already taken a huge leap in favor or mobile sites. Starting with the Mobilegeddon and the more recent mobile-first indexing signaled by Google, your search position will suffer dramatically is your websites does not become mobile friendly.
Outdated Technology– Web technologies are changing very rapidly and there are newer and improved technologies that can make your website more secure, fast and more contextual. If your website is built on a CMS, such as WordPress or Drupal, make sure you are updating the platform and the plugins/modules to keep up with security updates. Without security updates, your website is at risk for malware and hacking. Newer front-end technologies enable faster website responses leading to improved engagement and conversions.
Outdated Design – The biggest giveaway of an outdated website is the design. Design trends change and adapt to not only reflect changes in design sensibilities but also changes in use patterns. In the recent past, website design had evolved to a flat, minimalistic style and followed a symmetrical grid pattern. In 2016 we started seeing changes in the minimalistic, symmetrical design philosophy toward more jarring and chaos-driven overlapping typographical and graphical elements. Similarly, there is a move away from use of primarily Sans serif fonts to incorporating more serif fonts and using bold typefaces (literally & figuratively) to let content shine. A word of caution here – design layouts should not just follow design trends but should facilitate user needs. Consider adding self-segmentation design elements to allow users to quickly and easily find what they are looking for.
Personalization – Experience is the most fundamental business differentiator and nothing creates a better digital experience than a website that understands your needs and speaks to you 1 on 1. Think about it – you don’t strike the same conversation with every prospect that you meet in person. Why would you then offer a static, generic website that offers the same content, recommendations and experience, no matter who visits your website? Integrate personalization features into your site redesign campaign.
Lead Generation – If your current website is not designed with lead generation in mind or if you are not getting the lead generation results you are expecting, it may be time to redesign your website! Good lad generation should start with a solid lead generation strategy and calls-to-action but should also be backed by great copy and visuals to address all potential customer friction points and build brand trust to improve chances of conversion.
Search Capability – Are your customers, partners and employees easily able to find information that they are looking for? If not, it may be time for you to assess your website redesign by focusing on 4 pillars of a good search experience: improved navigation to facilitate self-segmentation of users, addition of dense content on your website to match user needs, better taxonomies to organize the web content, advanced search functionality to facilitate semantic search in response to user search intent.
Content strategy – If your website was not built to allow for easy content updates, rethink your website platform. Fresh & useful content is essential for search visibility, establishing trust in your brand and user experience. Content management systems (CMS) platforms allow for easy content management and consider a CMS platform if you don’t have a dedicated IT team to regularly make updates to your framework-based website.
Hub for marketing – If your website is not set up to be the foundation of your online and offline marketing campaigns, then it’s time to redo your website. Make sure you have conversion-optimized landing pages, social media integrations, blog fueled content-marketing, SEO tags, and conversion-optimized offerings pages.
In conclusion, website redesign should not be aesthetics driven but should be in response to a business need and customer need. If your website redesign does not align well to the meeting the needs of your customers and your business, consider redesigning your website. First step? Start with a strong content redesign strategy. For more tips and strategies, contact us at www.webtage.com.
Author Bio:
Snigdha Mazumdar is founder and owner of Webtage, a digital build + market firm that delivers digital experiences to drive top line growth and operational efficiencies. As the owner of Webtage, she has deep expertise in helping organizations launch, optimize, and grow their online presence by spearheading digital programs targeted to increasing revenue and maximizing returns on investment.
