10 Reasons to Update Your Web Site Design

With the new year comes resolution. While many individuals are concerned with changing their health or the way they look, many businesses are also looking to update their appearance. A major component of a company’s image is its presence on the web. So take a look at the following 10 reasons to update the design of your web site. Perhaps a resolution to redesign your web site is in order for you?

1) Your web site looks outdated. Does your web site scream 1990’s? Was it trendy 5 years ago, but looks stale now? How your business is perceived can be just as important as the products or services you sell. Dust off the cob webs and freshen up that web site!

2) You are introducing a new branding campaign or product promotion. This one’s a little on the obvious side, but what better time to introduce a redesign? A new product launch deserves attention, so you should at least create a landing page or spot on your home page for a proper introduction. Or on the other hand, perhaps your business was sold or merged with another company. A fresh look will make this evident for users.

3) Your web site has poor usability or is hard to read. Your site may look great, but how easy is it to navigate or for users to read? It’s important to be aware of the various browsers and screen resolutions being used today. A total redesign may not be necessary, but this problem needs to be solved…quick!

4) You want to implement new/advanced features such as a calendar, blog, newsletter sign-up, audio/video, etc. The web is an ever-evolving market sphere where users long to interact with the web sites they view. Customers want information, and it’s your job as a product or service provider to deliver up-to-date content, recent news, and continual communication. It may be necessary to rearrange or update the look of your site to cater to these new features.

5) Your site is not coming up in the search engines. Sure, search engine optimization (SEO) doesn’t constitute a major design overhaul, but what it may entail is recoding the site with semantic markup so you can be found more easily in the search engines. If you are recoding your site, why not take a look at refreshing the design as well?

6) Your web site is not bringing in sales. Something’s going wrong… you’re not converting! You have an excellent product or service, but your web site is doing nothing to help or promote this. It’s time to design the site to bring in leads and let the sales converting begin!

7) You’re embarrassed about your site’s appearance. Ashamed to direct potential customers to your web site? Maybe you created the site on your own with a do-it-yourself template? Or perhaps the look and feel of your site is not consistent from page to page? A site redesign is just what the doctor ordered so you can be proud of your web presence and the professional image it portrays.

8) Your web site runs slowly. It’s important for a site to be lean and clean to function properly. Large images, videos and flash files can bog down a web site, making it clunky and load slowly. And as stated below, more people view sites on mobile devices now than ever before, however these devices are rarely connected to a high-speed internet source. A site which loads slow is a major turnoff, and will have your visitors exiting your web site in two shakes of a lambs tail.

9) Your web site is not mobile-friendly. More and more users these days are accessing web sites through their phones or other mobile devices. Does your site come up in mobile browser? How does it look? Does it represent the site well, or perhaps you need to create a mirror site optimized for mobile devices? It’s your job to present appealing content to your visitors, no matter how they are viewing your web site.

10) Your web site is hard to manage or you want to make updates yourself. You need a Content Management System (CMS)! These are becoming increasingly popular because they let you manage text, images, blog articles and much more. There may be ways to implement a CMS without a total redesign, but there are inevitably going to be some design or user interface upgrades involved.

So there you have it! 10 reasons to update your web site design. I’m not necessarily saying these are the “Top 10 Reasons” to update the design of your web site. Nor am I writing about reasons to make regular content updates. (I’ll save that for another article all together.) These are merely some important topics to consider when evaluating the look, feel and even functionality of an older site.

Do you have a different reason for updating a web site. By all means, leave a comment!