Reasons to Consider a Website Redesign
Your websites is the hub of your digital marketing strategy. It’s responsible for bringing people into your business. Your website is like an online office people around the world can visit to see what you have to offer. Whether you want website visitors to buy a product online, visit your brick-and-mortar store, or contact you for service, your website is the key to getting meaningful results.
But if you aren’t getting the results you want, could it be your website design? If it is your web design, how do you know what parts of your site need work? When is it time to redesign your site? We’re here to help you get to the bottom of it and figure out when to redesign your website.
Decrease In Traffic
One reason for a website redesign project is a decreased web traffic. You need people to come to your website to get recognition and achieve your business goals. No traffic means no sales.
Recognizing that traffic is the problem doesn’t tell you what’s wrong with your website. You’ll need to do a little more digging. It may be that your marketing is not connecting with your audience. Knowing your target audience and creating a seamless marketing strategy will encourage people to click on your website instead of others.
If you are selling a product, determine whether your website directs users to buy that product. Put yourself in the eyes of the consumer and revisit your own site. Would you, as a consumer, feel encouraged to buy what you’re selling?
This is where User Testing becomes invaluable. We’re often blind to the assumptions we make on behalf of our site’s users. Doing User Testing during the website redesign process is a powerful tool. It helps us discover areas where improvements are needed.
If your site makes it unclear why consumers would need your product or service is not convincing visitors, your site needs some work.
If you are not selling a product, but want users to read your articles, you want to consider the intention of each piece of writing. People are most likely coming to your website to find answers to their problems.
Think about whether your website speaks to the problems your visitors are trying to solve. Are you providing genuine solutions that help your audience? If you don’t help your audience find answers to their questions, or solve their problem, why would they want to come back?
User Experience
The first step is getting traffic to your site; the second is keeping people there. You want to create the best experience possible when users visit your site. People who enjoy visiting are more likely to recommend your site to others, thus gaining more traffic.
If their experience is not great, they will probably quickly leave and not come back. Not only did you lose a customer, but you may have lost your chance for a backlink.
There are a ton of things that can go wrong with user experience, so let’s talk about a few key things to look out for on your site.
Your website should be easy to navigate. If your menus are small or hard to see and not organized well, your visitors will have difficulty navigating your site and moving between articles.
You want visitors to be able to easily find related articles so they can continue looking to you and your site to answer their inquiries.
Navigation and speed go hand in hand. Suppose your site is laid out well, next check your speed. There is no point in directing users to different articles if your pages won’t load. Slow site speed is one of the biggest reasons someone would leave your site.
Check that all of your links are working. If your website is filled with broken links that send users to articles that don’t exist anymore, they won’t trust your site to give them what they need.
Even if users have an enjoyable experience using your site, getting them to come back is always a challenge. This is where email newsletter subscriptions are invaluable. People who enjoyed your content today are usually happy to receive reminders about more valuable content. Especially if it means they don’t have to come back to check every so often.
Appearance
Aesthetics are essential when it comes to website redesign. Your website might have beautifully designed elements, artfully created…ten years ago. Even though I try to avoid trends in design, there’s something to be said for having your site look current and up to date.
Take a look at the color schemes and layout of your site. Having an unattractive theme can turn people away. Make sure your theme is welcoming without being too overwhelming. You don’t want your theme to take away from the information you have to offer in your articles.
Boring article titles won’t entice readers to click through your page. Decide if your titles are click-worthy and drawing your audience in. You also want to make sure your images grab the reader’s attention and help them engage with your articles.
Most of the time, users are searching for blogs and articles on their phones. Your site might look wonderful on your computer screen, but does it look just as good on a phone screen?
A lot of times, pictures, paragraphs, and titles can get moved around in unattractive ways when loading onto a mobile device, or get lost altogether. This can decrease user experience and makes navigating a nightmare.
Users do not want to squint and strain to read your text. Determine whether your text size is appropriate for both desktop and mobile use.
Summary
You want to take as much care in your website as you do for your actual business. We often find something that works and stick with it forever, thinking it will never fail us.
Times and trends are quickly changing in today’s world, and staying fresh and up-to-date is so important when trying to stay competitive on the internet. It’s critical to always be analyzing traffic, and considering the user experience and overall appearance of your website.
Taking the time for a website redesign can hugely increase your success. While this article just scratches the surface, if you think your website is lacking, let’s have a conversation. A website redesign project might be the perfect, cost-effective solution.
