Website renovationIt is a “natural, evolutionary” process that your website becomes outdated after a while. Of course, it is the design that wears out first: new web designs and styles appear every 2-3 years – but this does not necessarily mean that we need to redesign our website every 2-3 years.
However, when outdated content, features and design are at the expense of conversions and sales, it’s time to bring out the heavy artillery and revamp the website. But when is it necessary? What are the criteria to start redesigning? These are presented in this article.
And let’s start from the beginning…
When should a website be updated?
According to research by Business 2 Community, the average lifespan of a website is 1.5-2.5 years. As trends change and technology evolves, on average, a website should be redesigned every five years to keep it fresh. But let’s be honest: most companies and businesses simply don’t have the resources to do this.
What is more important is whether you, as a business leader, as an entrepreneur, see the sense in redesigning. We’ll show you what we mean in a moment.
#1 Paradigm and branding shift
If a branding change is about to take place (new colours, new logo), or the range of services and products is changing, it is clear that this needs to be communicated on the website.
#2 Declining conversions
We hope you’re one of the conscious managers who regularly measure and analyse your web traffic and how your performance indicators are improving. If, despite regular and fresh content, your conversions and sales are on the decline, it’s worth considering whether you need to redesign and restructure.
#3 If the page is slow
Speed is now a very important SEO metric, as many people use the website from their phone. (This is why it is essential that your website is responsive – this is explained in more detail in the next section.)
If there are a lot of products, if the website is not properly maintained, it can slow down relentlessly after a while. This in turn can affect your search rankings, as well as sales and conversions. If a page takes more than 3 seconds to load, a high proportion of users will not wait for it to load, but will simply click on the X in the top right-hand corner and move on.
#4 If the page is not responsive
In the age of smartphones, it is now standard practice for a website to be responsive. This means that it should be perfectly usable in mobile and tablet views. With over 60% of users now browsing on their phones, it’s a luxury to have a website that can only be accessed from a desktop.
Just think, you could lose 60% of your potential customers and clients!
If your site is built with a CMS (content management system) that does not support responsive publishing, you should switch to WordPress, for example. This open-source system provides excellent support for mobile, tablet and desktop.
#5 Look through your user’s glasses!
The easiest way is to visit your own site from your phone or desktop at regular intervals. Go through each process and try to step out of your role and browse as a user. What’s bothering you? Is the site slow? Are the buttons in the wrong place? Is the content not regularly updated?
There could be a million and one reasons why organic or paid visitors are decreasing. That’s why you need to use every means at your disposal to find out why.
The most important questions you should ask yourself are:
- Design seems outdated?
- Are sales/conversions decreasing?
- Is the page loading slowly?
- Does the site also appear on mobile phones and tablets?
The answers to these questions will determine whether or not you need to revamp your website. Now let’s assume that your answer is yes… but what’s next?
How to renovate a website?
First, let us return to the previous chapter. What was the problem that made you decide to revamp the website? If you can’t pinpoint the problem, you should focus on that first.
Referring to the previous points, we have put together a possible solution, a to-do list if you like. The most common reason why we are often contacted is the decrease in traffic. However, as mentioned above, there are many reasons for this. We will present a small slice of this in the current list.
#1 If the website design is outdated
If your website simply hurts to look at or you’ve received negative feedback from customers and users about your website, it’s time to think about a website overhaul. It’s possible that you may not be losing any customers for the time being, but the clock is ticking and it’s only a matter of time before the bomb goes off.
If you need a redesign, we can help you design the main page, the sub-pages and choose the colours that best match your logo and brand. Along the way, we’ll create a cohesive image that exudes professionalism.
In the UX (user experience) test, we look at how user-friendly the interface is, taking into account the following aspects:
- how crowded or empty are the main page and subpages?
- do you have all the necessary subpages? Are they loaded with their functions?
- is the appearance consistent?
- are the links and buttons clear?
- does each button lead to where the user wants to go?
We (also) design the website with these questions in mind.
Tip: our webshop has a wide range of ready-made, customisable websites that are responsive, meet the latest design requirements and are responsive (i.e. they can be viewed on mobile and tablet). With this method, you don’t have to wait months for your website to be ready: you’ll have your own personalised, branded website within a week of ordering and agreement!
#2 If the number of conversions and sales decreases
There are several possible reasons for the declining conversions:
- the lack of search engine optimisation (SEO),
- irregular (or worse, non-existent) content,
- the outdated design,
- a new competitor appeared,
- wrong product positioning,
- poor communication and so on.
If the number of organic visitors to your website has dropped, you will need an SEO professional to investigate the cause and identify the website’s flaws. Fortunately, we can help you with this too, but it’s important that you understand the basics of SEO. Click on the link to find out lots of interesting things about search engine optimisation.
If the content is outdated, this can also cause a decrease. Just think, you do software maintenance and you write about Windows XP in your articles, because the last blog post you wrote was 6 years ago…
And if there is simply no content, people will not find you in search. So you need content that is updated regularly, as well as content that is out of date.
Check whether a new competitor has entered the market. If so, what is it doing better, what is it doing differently from you, and how has it managed to squeeze your customers away? You should also spend time and energy investigating this.
If you don’t understand your target market and its size, it will lead to miscommunication and low profits. To avoid this, you should create so-called buyer personas. Very briefly and succinctly: a buyer persona is an imaginary customer or client, whose complete personality you need to build up. Where he works, what his job title is, what he reads, what his marital status is, what his hobbies are, how often and where he goes online, etc.
With the help from “them “, you can get to know your target market much better, in more depth and build a new way of communicating, which your website will reflect.
Tip: ask WebsitExpo for help and we’ll find the root of the problem – then we’ll find a solution and fix it!
#3 If the page is slow
If the range of products is too big, the images are too large, the server is slow, the site is not properly maintained, it will slow down the site.
In addition, this can create a lot of security holes on the site, potentially putting your website in the crosshairs of hackers. That’s why you need a professional to do the necessary maintenance. Just as a car needs to be serviced regularly, so does a website.
Tip: opt for our website maintenance service, which takes the hassle out of website maintenance. Sit back and spend your time doing what you do best: your business!