8 Signs That You Might Need an Update – Is Your Website Ready for a Redesign?

Many people think that once a website is designed and built, that’s all they need to do. However, websites need regular and ongoing maintenance and redesign. At the very least, a website should load and display content correctly, but to ensure positive interactions with users, a website should display information in a clear and interesting way. In the age of instant gratification, it is essential that your website is up to date, not only in appearance, but also in functionality.

Your website is often the first impression a prospect or customer has of your business and while they may not realize if your website is up to date with the latest web design trends, they will definitely notice if it’s slow, outdated or almost deprecated features. It’s not just customers who notice if you need an upgrade: Many of the things that turn potential customers away can also affect your search engine rankings, which can make growing a business even more difficult.

Not sure if it’s time to redesign a website? Our web design agency shares how to know when your website needs a redesign.

The Layers of Web Design

Before you start deciding if it’s time to redesign a website, it’s important to understand the layers of web design and web development in order to create an effective design. It is imperative that you understand these separate layers and their components in order to develop a good design for your website.

• The structure or content level is what your audience will see when they visit your website. This layer consists of images and text that must be readable. This page should also be easy to navigate so that users can easily navigate your site. Because it contains the layer that will finish the online document, XHTML is essential in web development.
• The presentation and style of the website are also key. This will specify how website visitors will see the content. This is made up of the CSS, or what is called “the style”.
• The layer that affects your website is called behaviour. When you use Ajax or DHTML, you are embedding JavaScript that will complete your page. But if you have PHP on the backend, it’s the PHP scripts that will be executed once your reader clicks a command on the site.

Many people don’t understand the need to split layers. If you’re building a web page, it’s crucial to make sure the layers are separated from each other. You can only do this by using external style sheets which have proven to be the best way to separate your content from the design of your websites. This is the same when using external JavaScript files. There are benefits you can get from splitting up your web design layers and some of these benefits include:

• There will be shares: When you start creating an external CSS file, you can also have it on any page of your websites. You don’t have to worry as there will be no repetition of the file as it changes on every page you use it.
• There will be faster downloads: When a client downloads a script, it will be considered cached, allowing each page the client downloads to be faster in the same browser.
• You’ll also enjoy having a multi-person team: dividing the workload will be easier if you’ve assigned many people to work on a website. You don’t need to worry about permissions because you simply don’t need to anymore. You can hire many people to work on the CSS file along with JavaScript and hire more staff for other tasks.
• Backwards Compatibility: Those who have websites designed at developer levels will enjoy backwards compatibility as most browsers cannot use this type of technology, especially with CSS HTML and others.

Now that we’re familiar with the basics, let’s take a look at how to tell if your website needs a redesign.

It Takes a while For Your Website To Load

When your website takes a long time to load, that is one of the strongest indicators that you need a new one. With the amount of competition and information available, people no longer have to wait for slow pages. In fact, according to a study conducted by Nielsen Norman, 1.0 seconds is roughly a user’s limit when it comes to page load speed, and anything over 2.0 seconds means they are likely to give up. the page. To compound this, Google uses page load speed as a critical factor in how it ranks pages, so if it’s slow, you’ll rank lower in search engine result pages (SERPs). .

With Google’s PageSpeed ​​​​Insights test, you can see how your website is performing and gain insight into whether it’s time for a website redesign. Be sure to test it on desktop and mobile to ensure your site loads quickly on multiple different devices.

Your Site is Difficult To Use on Mobile Devices

When was the last time you visited your website on your smartphone or tablet? Most browsing happens on mobile devices, and just like page load speed, mobile functionality is a critical ranking factor in search results. If your website is not optimized for mobile devices, you are losing business and exposure.

First, take a look at how the images look, whether they are easy to read, and whether the buttons and navigation are clear and intuitive on a smartphone screen. Can visitors easily fill out a contact form or make a purchase? Next, take a look at your website analytics – they can show you the percentage of visitors who are on a mobile device. If it’s less than 50 percent, it could be because your site is difficult to navigate. Redesigning a website that showcases a mobile-first layout can be the key to increasing leads and breathing new life into your business.

Visitors Don’t Stay on Your Site For Long

When you look at your analytics, whether you use Google Analytics or other tracking methods, look at the bounce rate. This shows how often people leave your site after visiting just one page. Next, look at the average pages used by visitors per session.

A bounce rate above 70% is a sign that your site is not keeping visitors on the page and not inviting them to search for more information or navigate to other pages. Also, the average page views is based on this. Redesigning your website with improved navigation, user-friendly features, and more up-to-date graphics often leads to lower bounce rates, more pages per session, and more time on site, all of which improve the likelihood of conversion.

People Have a Hard Time Finding What They Are Looking For

Speed ​​and efficiency are essential on a website. Just as load times are critical to UX, visitors want to find what they’re looking for quickly and with minimal steps. If they can’t find what they are looking for or if the conversion process requires several steps, they are likely to leave and switch to a competitor. Users should be able to find what they need with just a few clicks, then buy, subscribe, and get information about what they need without asking for outside help. If your website has a lot of traffic but conversions are low and declining over time, it might be time to talk to a web design agency to clean up the design.

Your Social Media Shares Are Having Problems

About 26 percent of website traffic comes from social media posts and shares, often more for e-commerce. If your social media posts are pulling from your website and getting no engagement, that’s a sign that your website doesn’t look appealing. Images, thumbnails, and actions need to be eye-catching enough to “stop scrolling,” and an outdated website won’t do that. Update your site and increase social media engagement to generate high-quality shares and increased new traffic.

Your Company’s Name, Goods, or Offerings Have Changed

It might seem apparent, but if your company has undergone a transformation, your website should also. People visit your website to learn about your business and see what services you offer, what products you sell, etc. And if it’s out of date or doesn’t include anything new, you’ll lose sales and conversions. A redesign will ensure that any new or updated products or services are available and visible, and if you’ve undergone a rebrand, it will reflect that as well.

Your Competitors Have Redesigned Their Websites

Take a few minutes to take a look at the competition and see how their website is doing. If yours is fast, modern, and keeping up with the latest trends, it might as well be time to redesign your website. This does not mean that you should copy what a competitor does, your website should be uniquely yours, but it should show that you are keeping up with trends in web design and your industry.

Your Website Does Not Contribute To The Business

This, above all, is what you should take into account when deciding if it is time to create a new website. Your website has the potential to be a powerful digital marketing asset, capable of increasing your brand awareness and building your customer base. If you’re not getting conversions, leads, or sales from your website, it’s either because of low search engine traffic or because visitors aren’t converting once they’re on your site. Either is a good indicator that your current website is not working for you.

An Effective Website is Essential To The Success of Your Business

Without a working and attractive website for your business, you will lose customers and potential customers. While updating your website can help, working with a reputable web design company that can redesign it so that it better represents your brand, provides a fantastic user experience, and is search engine optimised can change the way you conduct business and put you on a more direct path to success in the future.