From time to time we get asked about how to determine when a website needs to be redesigned.
In previous posts we’ve discussed how to keep your website content updated, but maybe your audience isn’t able to easily find that content. Maybe you’ve added new services to your business model that you need to bring to the forefront of your website so your potential customers can more easily find them. Maybe you’ve just had the site up and running for a while and it’s time to give things an updated look. At what point should a site owner think about redesigning?
Here are 3 things to consider when thinking about a website redesign
Does your website design clash with your other marketing and branding materials?
With branding, repetition is key. Every time your business name is mentioned, it is best that the visual elements representing your business (your brand) should be consistent, not only across your site, but across all of your marketing materials. These include your logo, the colors that you use, icons, catch-phrases, and even “hashtags” on social media.
Any designer that works with you to redesign your website should know to take a look at your existing brand and make sure that your updated website design respects and incorporates those elements. As an example, Pepsi may change elements of their logo every so often, but because they have a consistent brand, it’s always immediately recognizable as “Pepsi”.
If you’re updating your branding on your print and non-website marketing materials, don’t forget about your website! It’s important for your visual style and messaging to be consistent across platforms and media types. Good branding helps communicate an emotional impression of your company at a glance, and consistency and repetition help people remember your company.
Does your site not display properly on mobile devices?
More and more, people continue to use their mobile devices to access information. According to statista.com, in the third quarter of 2020, mobile devices generated over 50 percent of all global website traffic. If your website isn’t mobile device friendly, your potential customers are going to have a difficult time getting to what you are offering them. If it’s too difficult, they may look elsewhere (i.e. your competitors) to find what they are looking for. This equates to lost business opportunities for you.
Updating your website to be mobile friendly (this is known as a “responsive” web design) is a crucial way to engage with today’s online customers. Any web designer who knows what they’re doing is going to go there by default, and you won’t have to ask. It’s a no-brainer.
Some of the things to look for in a responsive web design are:
- Repositioning & resizing for small screens – Elements and fonts resize and reposition on smaller screens so that they are easily read and interacted with by the tap of a finger.
- Asset Optimization – Images and other assets that tend to have large file sizes are optimized for mobile so that they don’t hog your visitors’ cellular data.
- Expandable “Hamburger” menus – Menus, often bulky things that take up a lot of real estate on desktop, are nested into a “hamburger” menu at mobile resolution, so that they can optionally be expanded to fill the whole screen and make menu items easy to tap. (“Hamburger” refers to the fact that many of these menus look like a hamburger, as they’re three horizontal lines that vaguely represent menu items. Or maybe it’s because designers and developers are always a little hungry.)
- A floating navigation menu (or entire header) that follows visitors as they scroll down the page. As pages can be quite long on mobile devices, a floating header can help remind the visitor where they are and give them easy access to the main menu.
- No auto play – Videos and other data streams should not automatically play by default. Not only is auto play often startling to visitors of any screensize, disabling auto play also helps respect and conserve your mobile visitors’ data limits.
Was your last website redesign over three years ago?
The longer it’s been since your website has been created or redesigned, the more likely it is that you’re going to have one or more of the problems below:
- Security issues – Code and functionality that run on a website start out fresh, and over time hackers figure out ways to exploit holes that the original developers didn’t even realize were there. The more time that goes by, the bigger these holes become, and the more dangerous to your site and reputation they are. Keeping your site code updated frequently will help, but sometimes a full on redesign is going to be key to eliminating these gaps.
- Functionality that is outdated can be flaky or inefficient – If you visit your site and you notice that something here or there doesn’t work anymore, won’t load, or doesn’t work as expected, often what may have happened is your code may have become obsolete and unsupported. For example, Flash, which was huge 10 years or more ago (sorry Homestar Runner, we love you!) is no longer supported by any browser and is so outdated that it’s also considered a major security risk.
- Elements that have fallen out of fashion – Quite frequently, something that is super cool in the moment, some examples might be content sliders or Geocities-era rainbow scrolling marquee text. Like clothing styles, some functionality or treatments that were trendy one year will start to feel cheesy the next. If your site is still using something that is “so last year, OMG” then you may be turning off your audience and you may not even know it.
- The design doesn’t look modern – Sometimes a website’s design is so out of date, that it detracts from the value of your content. Visitors may wonder if the content is outdated and obsolete as well. For example, sites that have lots of “walls of text” and not very many images, or use just the default system fonts and include only a very basic design, are not compelling to most visitors. Even if the site includes a world of really good content, if a user interface is not modern, it can keep your potential customers from engaging with your site.
Still not sure if your website needs to be redesigned? Get a second set of eyes!
Sometimes your site will seem just fine to you because you’re used to it, know how to edit it, and you know where all of your content lives. But remember, just because you think your site is just fine, that doesn’t mean that your visitors agree with that assessment.
If you’re having trouble deciding whether or not your site really does need a redesign, just reach out to us for a consultation — the first one is free!
In our next post, we will discuss even more things to consider when thinking about a website redesign. We will also discuss some things you can do to freshen up your site that may not involve a complete redesign if these don’t quite match up with your current site.
