In our previous article, we discussed about the why’s and wherefore’s of needing a Website Redesign. We touched upon the fact that in today’s milieu of global and online commerce, websites have become the new face of the companies they represent. Gone are the days where they were nothing more than static posters with contact information, but rather are now interactive communities that generate interest and revenue just as much if more so than traditional marketing media.
So now we know why we need to redesign a website, and what things to consider, the next key question is when. What signs and symptoms would let a website owner that it’s the best time to take the plunge? There are no clear-cut laws to follow, of course. But there are some common-sense rules-of-thumb.
- Has your company gone through an image-change or rebranding?
If your company has gotten a revamp recently, then your website needs to reflect the changes, too! Remember, the website serves as the face of the company, as well as the storefront in the online marketplace. There’s nothing more confusing or obvious than a website that looks extremely different from a company’s traditional media advertisements and promotions.
- Is your website more than two and a half years old?
Given that your website is the first point of contact for your company, then it makes sense that it should always have the newest and most advanced features and designs. Older websites don’t have the usability that visitors might have grown used to with other sites. The internet provides an near-infinite amount of choice and near-instant gratification for visitors—it’s very easy for a potential customer to see you outdated website and quickly leave to go to your competitor’s shinier, more updated one.
- Has your incoming traffic reached an apex and stayed there?
If your traffic has remained the same over-all every month, then you might have reached a plateau and started stagnating. Adding new content stimulates interests not in just human visitors, but search engines, as well. And you can never go wrong with a website that has a better SERP (search engine results page) ranking.
- Take a look at your competitors—have they had a facelift recently?
Like in any business, your competitors define a great deal of the things you do, either by providing you with ideas, or by requiring you to react to their moves. If a company takes so much care with their competitors’ advertisements, product line-ups and the like, then the web should be no different. The ease with which a visitor can choose your competitors’ site over you should in fact convince you that keeping up with the pack on the net is a big deal.
- Are you using an 800-pixel-width lay-out?
Older websites used an industry-standard of 800 pixel as the maximum width since most monitor screens could only go so far. That was a long time ago. These days, 1024 pixels is the minimum, more often 1280 pixels. Widescreen monitors with resolutions of 1680 pixels and higher are very quickly overtaking the traditional 4:3 ratio screens. High-resolution is becoming pretty much universal, and having a website with an 800 pixel width wastes prime real-estate and is an instant warning sign that the website is over the hill.
- Do you have an easy way to add and update new content?
With the emphasis on adding and updating new content, an easy system for maintenance is a must-have for your website. Interactivity is now required, and if your static website feels more like an online poster rather than a thriving community, then you might need to reevaluate a few things.
- Is your website plagued by clunky and non-intuitive navigation?
In the olden times of 5 or 6 years ago, we were just happy to have something online. Nowadays, the denizens of the web are a bit more discerning, and want websites that feature ease-of-use in navigation. The practices and concepts, as well as the implementations, have changed drastically in the past few years, and you’d do well to make sure you with the times.
- Does Google ignore your website during searches using basic keywords?
A newly redesigned website can be developed with SEO (search engine optimization) in mind—a requirement these days. There are numerous techniques to make your website more appealing to search engines like Google, and a lot of them are built-in. Of course, having new content goes a long way, too!
- Do typos, mistakes and old information riddle your website’s content? Do you have broken or misdirected links?
Old websites, being static—were quite hard to edit if an error or a bit of wrong info slipped through the cracks. New websites however are easier to revise and polish—and this level of perfection has become the bread and butter of the online world. Having these mistakes in your website is a big turn-off to the perfection-acclimated web.
- Was your website designed with page and file-size optimization in mind?
When the internet first became accessible, feasible and available as a means for marketing, people were a lot more patient and understanding because of the inherent limits of the technologies involved, allowing old website some measure of negligence in this area. Modern designers, however, are more mindful of web-optimization, since we no longer measure load-time in minutes, but in seconds.
- Does your website have code-errors that affect cross-browser compatibility?
Website designers used to have to worry about only two things—Internet Explorer, and Netscape Navigator/Communicator. Now, there are a variety of different browsers to fit everyone’s tastes, and a myriad of functions, plug-ins, and doodads to take into account. Cross-browser compatibility is now no longer just an annoyance that can be disclaimer-ed away by a “best viewed with Internet Explorer 6.0”, but a big design consideration.
With these things in mind, you should be able to tell if your website is in need of an overhaul. If you feel that a website redesign is in the stars, then your answers to the above should also give you some starting points, and end-goals for your design and development process.
Staying on top and being on the cutting edge are one and the same in the worldwide marketplace known as the internet. Website design and development has gone through some major changes in the past few years—and the innovations keep on coming. We’re now in the internet age, where your website is more important than the façade of your office building, as far as attracting and retaining customers goes. If you feel like your website is in need of some changes, then it might be time for some innovative renovation.
To read more on Website Redesign and why your company’s website needs the change, see our previous article!