Website design is a lot like fashion. Each year styles and what’s “in” changes. You don’t have to change your still every year, but it’s important to keep your website fresh. Every few years it’s time to update old design components and your website a fresh new look. Dated websites make it look like you’ve abandoned your business, but keeping up with fresh designs and user interface components keep users engaged. Here are some signs it’s time to freshen up your web design.
1. Your Web Design Isn’t Responsive
A responsive website allows you to use all your current design components, but the code detects smaller screens and reorganizes them based on the viewer’s screen resolution. It’s how you can browse the same site URL on multiple screens without the need to manage a subdomain for smartphones and tablets.
You could get away with only desktop designs several years ago, but more users browse the internet now with smartphones and tablets rather than desktops. If your site isn’t responsive, you lose much of your site’s potential to gain readership and revenue.
2. Your Business Has Evolved
Most businesses start out one way and morph into something different to cater to new customers. Your business could evolve into something completely different as you find your niche and what sells well. If this is your story, then the website you initially developed is probably outdated and doesn’t represent your business model anymore.
Take a good look at your website and ask yourself if it properly represents what you want to convey to your site visitors. Think of your audience and your average user. Do you think that your site accurately provides information that you want to bring to user who find your site in a search? Is the content fresh and engaging? Identifying an old website design can sometimes be difficult when you have to critique your own site.
3. You Haven’t Leveraged Social Media
Social media is a part of good site promotion. Even if you dominate search engines, you should always have at least one social media outlet connected with your site. If you have WordPress, you can just download a plugin that integrates social media buttons into your site content. Here are several social media WordPress plug-ins you can use to begin marketing your company on social media sites.
4. Your Bounce Rate on the Home Page is High
Your home page should provide users with enough direction and good content to make them want to read more. This is a primary indicator that your site is engaging its’ visitors.
The only way to track the statistics is with analytics tools, which can be either premade out-of-the-box tools such
as Google Analytics or a custom built data collection tools built specifically for your website. Whatever you use, it should be closely monitored and you should run reported often to see how users interact with your site.
If you find that people mostly drop from your home page and go no further, it could time to redesign the site. You can always use the same colors but a fresh, new layout can greatly improve your engagement numbers. Even if your home page needs a redesign, you can identify areas of your site that are most interesting to users. You then incorporate these components with your new site design.
What are the Next Steps for a New Website Design?
After you do some research and determine that it’s time to redesign your website, the next step is to contact a reputable web design company – like us!
Get in touch today with us today for a free website analysis.
