Thinking of a redesign of your website? For many people, their website is their love, their pride and joy, their baby and no one can give it a bad name or degrade it otherwise you’ll defend it to the hilt. Unfortunately, just like flairs and mullets design goes out of fashion and so do websites at a much quicker rate than most other things that are designed too! I decided the time had come to redevelop my website as it wasn’t reflecting my main skill ( which is probably my artistic and graphical training ) so wanted to bring that across in how I layout my pages and make the visit a more visually appealing treat and showing what I can do for you or a potential client. In this post, I explain 5 reasons it may be time to bin the loafers and put on some boots and get redesigning your website.
1. Redesign your website because your bounce rate is through the roof
If you use Google analytics and you notice that people don’t stay on your site very long and your bounce rate is above 50% or even the worse possible experience at 90% then you know there is probably something seriously wrong with your site design. This is not a science as it depends upon what your sites main purpose is, if it is to provide information then it is entirely possible your high bounce rate is due to just need a piece of information or that they are reading your latest blog but if you sell products or services then a 90% bounce rate is simply unacceptable. The design has a huge impact on your bounce rate, I recently redesigned MigSolv’s website and it has reduced their bounce rate by 50%.
People don’t just want information anymore they want to be entertained.
2. Redesign is necessary if there are technological advances
Technology is moving at an accelerated pace and trying to keep up can be tiresome, even so, you have to try. With the fairly new(-ish) advent of user experience designers, parallax websites and faster internet graphical, animated and entertaining websites are becoming more possible. As soon as these technologies come about if your website doesn’t have the new bells and whistles you are going to start to look dated and unfashionable which will leave a bad impression on your brand.
3. Redesign your website because it’s not sexy anymore
Let’s face it, we all were once youthful and attractive but then time takes effect and we all start drooping in the wrong places, a website, it’s no different. You are from a certain era and you like to wear certain clothes but in the world of design you can’t afford to wear your ‘comfortable’ shoes, you have to be wearing the latest and funkiest moccasins. When people visit your site if they find things that it is a little bit artistic and has the user experience in mind they will enjoy navigating through your website wondering what is on the next page they traverse to.
Having a website that represents why your business is the sexiest in its industry is actually really important, you have to put your own spin on things, show your character but also show you keep yourself at the brain gym and learn the latest technologies, you will certainly start turning heads.
4. Do a redesign if has grown and needed extra functionality
As your business develops you may find that you need extra functionality on your website and the old design can’t fit a new piece into the web jigsaw so a full redesign is required. Sometimes your old design has served a purpose and it can be hard to say goodbye to old friends but don’t worry, they will understand, they know you have to think of your business and being a loyal servant, your website doesn’t want to let you down.
If your website needs e-commerce features but is simple HTML and CSS your hand will be forced as databases will be needed as well as other technologies.
5. Redesign your website because of a rebranding process
When you rebrand your company your website may no longer reflect your company ideology and so a redesign is required. Rebranding, although a risk, can really help in modernising your image and improve enquiry rates due to the newness of your new brand helping to give an impression you are staying abreast of change, technology and trends.
So why did I redesign my website? It was a necessity really due to not having touched the design in two years ( which is approx the amount of time I recommend updating your website to stay abreast of change ), it was looking tired and also a little hard to navigate and hope by redesigning my website I can show my abilities and services to the best of their ability. One of the companies, I work for was in dire need of a redesign as the website was looking static even though it was dynamic and since the redesign, their bounce rate has reduced by 50% and seen a lot more enquiries via the web than there used to be. You can check it out here at MigSolv.
If you are also a designer reading this it is important for us to keep redesigning and adapting our websites and evolving ourselves and our skills as we do so. I found this article about Versatile designers ( Creativebloq.com) very interesting and insightful for the future of designers everywhere. We are no longer masters of one speciality we have to understand all areas of design to a degree where we can be confident in producing effective and beautiful designs. I recommend making sure you spend at least 1 hour a day after work working on training yourself using websites like Lynda.com. Also, we offer bespoke website design and development services and would be glad to help. Please visit our bespoke website design for further information or contact us.
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