12 Best Reasons to Redesign Your Site

As I’ve said before, some people will find ridiculous reasons to redesign their websites, wasting both time and money. However, there are also very important reasons to consider redesigning your site.

1. Outdated Look

Your website may have been a perfect fit for 2005, but technology changes fast. Many of the concepts that might have been in style when you originally built your site may now be obsolete.

2. Amateurish Design

While Web design may seem like it is just putting words on a screen, there is a lot more to it. If you cut corners to get your website up and running, updating to a professionally designed site should be on your immediate to-do list. It lends both credibility and marketing capabilities to your business.

3. Changing Business Needs

Perhaps the aim of your company has changed to accommodate a new niche in the market. You may have become more service-based than product-based or vice versa. In that case, you may need to consider reworking your website to fit the new needs of your market.

4. Not Appealing to Intended Users

Markets and demographics change quickly. As your users change, so will your website. In some cases, this may eventually lead to a large-scale reconstruction.

5. Lack of Mobile Accessibility

In this day of mobile technology, it is astonishing how many companies do not have designs that are adaptive, if not totally responsive. For starters, this is a major component in determining SEO rankings. Additionally, one survey found that more than half of respondents wouldn’t recommend a company with a poor mobile site. If your site doesn’t accommodate for this, it’s time for a redesign.

6. Slow, Lagging Pages

Bulky codes and excessive flash animations can really slow down a site. More than anything, your site needs to be quick and easy to use. If your entire design is built around concepts that make it slow and clunky, it’s time to redesign.

7. Difficult to Use

It is imperative that your company website is easy to use. If you really want to see what end users are experiencing, ask someone with little experience on your site to complete a basic task. If they’re struggling to figure out where to go, a redesign may be in your future.

8. New Company Image

Marketing is all about branding. If the image you’re putting out isn’t doing the job, you’ll likely be looking at changing your marketing. A redesigned website will almost always be central to this process.

9. Poor Feedback about Visitors

In short, you need to know who is coming to your site and where they are coming from. If you’re not getting good analytic information, a website redesign should be in the works.

10. Difficult to Stream to Social Media

In today’s world, maintaining a presence on social media is extremely important. While you don’t want all of your posts to be automatically streamed from your site – making your social media seem inauthentic – being able to automatically stream major stories or updates will keep your name on your customer’s newsfeeds and invite them to visit your website.

11. Low SEO Rankings

Several of the previously-mentioned reasons revolve around the importance of SEO rankings. The more you understand about how a website’s search criteria is determined, the better you’ll be able to assess a possible redesign.

12. Difficult to Update

All content management systems are not created equal. If your management system is too bulky to navigate and adding content becomes too cumbersome, the odds are slim that you’ll utilize your site to its fullest potential.

Remember, updating a website isn’t about having something new and flashy to brag about or keeping up with the Joneses. Your website is one of the most critical interactions you have with your customers, and you need to decide exactly what you want it to be and what you want it to say about yourself.