Just like how the Walkman was once considered innovative in its time, you may find your once trendy website is now outdated.
I’m not just talking about cosmetically, either. Your website is typically the first impression customers have of your business. You wouldn’t want to waste that impression by showing them an outdated representation of your business would you?
Here are the most common reasons we have clients coming to us for a website redesign:
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Their website wasn’t responsive
By now, I’m sure you’ve stumbled across the terms responsive web design or mobile friendly at some point. The truth is—it really is a pretty big deal. Statistically speaking, mobile usage is surpassing desktop usage. What does that mean for you? If your website isn’t responsive, you are losing a good portion of your potential traffic and SEO ranking. Customers expect to have as great, if not better, of an experience viewing your website on mobile as they do on their desktop.
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They couldn’t update anything
This one comes up often. Simply put, your site should be easy to manage and update. You shouldn’t have to pay a developer each time you want to make a change or add a page. You should feel confident that making a change to your site isn’t going to break it. Using a content management system (CMS) like WordPress makes updating your site a breeze.
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It was no longer meeting their goals
How does your site stack up against your competitors? Maybe you’re on par with some of them in the fact that you have a trendy looking site. What you really should be focused on is how your lead generation is going or if you’re maintaining constant traffic. A fancy looking website won’t increase your sales or customer base if it’s not targeted properly. Combining a solid marketing strategy with a killer website design is key.
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They needed to boost their Search Engine Optimization (SEO) efforts
It can seem daunting to think about an SEO strategy but it really is a vital element in your overall website plan. Maybe you’re lacking a good strategy or just missing out on basic SEO standards but setting up a solid strategy plan can increase your inbound traffic and position your site in a good place to be found.
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They needed Increased usability
It becomes very easy to design your business around what you want or need. It is your business, after all. That mistake can really cost you though. Your website should be designed with your customers in mind. How are they going to interact with your site? What are they looking for when they land on your site? Tesla has done a great job at finding out exactly what their customers want and providing an experience tailored to just that.
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Their site was outdated in design and functionality
It happens, you become so busy focusing on your day-to-day operations or marketing efforts elsewhere that you forget to update your website. Maybe the only time you think about your website is when that yearly hosting bill comes around. A redesign can help reinforce your branding efforts and help introduce some new functionality that maybe wasn’t around a few years ago.
Bonus! They needed accessibility
This is one that many may not think about simply because it can be hard to think about something that doesn’t directly affect you. Is your website built with all of your visitors in mind, including those who are blind and use screen readers? If not, you could be underserving your customers. We use a free online accessibility test before a site launch to make sure our sites are web accessible. A few things to keep in mind when developing your site:
- Making sure your site is built following the proper HTML structure.
- Adding keyboard support for visitors who don’t use a mouse to navigate.
- Never display text as images. You lose all SEO value and screen readers can’t read the text.
We recently redesigned our own site following these parameters and have benefited tremendously with praise from our peers and an increase in incoming traffic and workload. How does your current website checkout with the above reasons? Let us know!
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