Building, developing, and maintaining a website is one of the most challenging aspects of being a business owner. Once your website is up and running, many business owners breathe a sigh of relief and believe that the task is complete, except for routine maintenance of the site. However, this is not a time to rest on your laurels and never think of your website again. At some point, you will need to make some improvements or even do a total overhaul if you don’t want your business to be left behind the competition.
(Pixabay / fancycrave1)
There’s no definitive time frame for when you should redesign your website. It depends mainly on your industry, your business goals, and your competition. But if your site hasn’t seen a significant update in say, half a decade, you are way overdue. Your website is a valuable asset for you, but also a useful asset for your customers. If your site isn’t meeting the needs of your customer base, then it’s definitely time to redesign. Additionally, if your competition stays up to the minute with their site, you should do the same so that your website will be just as appealing to customers.
One important thing to look at when considering a redesign is if your site is set up to cater to both desktop and mobile audiences. Nowadays, most internet searches related to finding a business or making a purchase originate from mobile platforms, so it’s critical that your website can adjust to both formats. Even if you have an app for your business, you should still make sure your website is functioning on mobile because most people look up businesses in browsers first.
Another thing to keep in mind is the look of your website. Like fashion trends change, so do trends related to website design. If your website doesn’t have a modern feel or is not intuitive in its layout, you may want to consider redesigning. While you don’t have to follow every trend, if your website isn’t easy to navigate and leaves visitors confused, you should make adjustments so they can more comfortably use it.
A major determining factor on whether you update your website should be your business performance. You should be tracking and assessing analytics related to your site, as well as sales for your website. Have online sales been lagging at all? While many factors could contribute to business loss, if your brick-and-mortar store is producing good sales numbers, but your online store is suffering, it may be a result of your website design. Additionally, you should also consider whether the design of your website is aligned with your current business goals. If not, it’s time to step it up.
While the above reasons are logical ways to think about the needs of your website, it’s also important to look at how your site makes people feel, especially you. Has technology changed? Do your customers compliment your website? If so, it might not be time to change things. Do you feel comfortable sharing your link with others? If not, you should look at making updates or redesigning.