As any organisation or business grows, it’s important that their website and website design continues to grow and evolve with them. Trends change and in order for you to remain relevant and with the curve, your web design and site require regular updates so that you retain credibility and access across the swath of devices and bowsers today. It could be your website requires a full redesign as it might not only look dated, but it may be performing poorly, or preventing your visitors from becoming customers easily enough. So how do you know if your site needs a new design? Ask yourself the following questions:
Does Your Website Match Your Brand?
Any organisation goes through minor changes. Through growth, mergers, and acquisitions, companies have to go through rebranding efforts at some point in time. It’s crucial that your website and sales materials work together with any rebranding efforts. If people are visiting your site, and it doesn’t reflect your offline branding, it will not only lead to confusion amongst your audience, but it may prevent them from doing business with you at all.
If you know your business is going to be going through a period of transition, coordinating a website redesign along with this occasion can be beneficial. Having these efforts launch together will present audiences with a unified, marketing and design approach.
What’s Your USP?
Your website is one of the most influential marketing tools to set your business apart from competitors within your specific industry. Ultimately, the design of your website should illustrate the unique value that you offer to customers that other companies simply can’t do.
Analyse your competition and see what is working and not working for them, and use that information to create a plan for your own website. Look beyond just the design elements that you like and look deeper into what would really make you stand out. All too often it’s easy to get distracted by a great design feature and then content not back it up.
Can You Navigate Easily Across All Devices?
A clear and easy navigation is the result of a well-thought-out strategy to enhance the online experience of your visitors. It’s more than just putting a simple drop down menu together. It also includes what buttons users press and where
Any user should be able to navigate through your site easily via easy navigation and call-to-action buttons, which should be placed conveniently to help the flow of any webpage. It’s also important to take into account the navigation on any device too.
Is Your Site Responsive by Design?
It’s important that your website also functions fully across mobile and tablet devices, which makes responsive web design crucial today. Google have already started penalising websites which do not adhere to responsive design. With over 60% of all internet traffic taking place on mobile phones, you need to assess how your current site looks across mobile platforms – after all it’s likely the only impression some visitors will get of your company. The more mobile friendly your website is, the higher you will rank in Google.
Have You a Budget?
Ensure that you define your budget and expectations as a result. Also, make sure that everyone in the team is in keeping with this budget too. You must remember that re-designing your website is an investment in your own business, so it’s crucial you discuss the budget for your site. This also helps manage expectations as the re-design moves forward.
What Are Your Goals?
So what should your site accomplish? What is not doing right now that you want the new one to achieve? Do you simply want an updated look, or do you want to interact more with your clients online? Make sure your goals are clear so that designers, information architects and user experience can be met alongside your expectations.
What Features Do You Want?
New features can be incorporated into your new site which were previously unavailable. For example, live chat options, pop-ups, electronic forms, surveys, audio and video and more can enhance or detract from your user’s experience and impression of your business.
Before you move forwards, however, there are a few of the questions you and your business should be addressing. Firstly, assess what your current website does well, and what can be improved. Determine what goals you hope to achieve with a new design, and how you would like to make your brand stand out as a unique leader in your industry.
If you have any questions or would like advice, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Feel free to review our website development and seo services, and we’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have.
