5 Signs It’s Time to Redesign Your Website

Sign 1 - It's been over 3 years since you looked at the site in detail

Most companies have been guilty of it at one time and its just something that gets kicked down the line of importance as other more pressing day to day things take over. Its probably mentioned in the odd meeting now and again and flagged but it never gets the attention it needs as it although sounds reasonably easy sometimes it can be a little daunting. Yes of course, it's the company website, mainly smaller and medium sized businesses that have a busy diary and so it may not be anywhere near their top priority.

“Were busy so it must be working for us, why change what's not broken”

Sign 2 -Traffic dropping and/or conversions not happening

The assumption that it must be working for us is more than likely incorrect, the fact the website exists and does get some traffic (if that's checked which a lot don't) doesn't mean it is working for you. Have you checked or got anyone else to check the statistics of which pages are getting traffic and what if any conversions and enquiries you're getting?

If your business is flourishing but you neglect your website then most of the time the only way it ever gets looked at is when your business isn't doing so well.

Therein lies a bit of an issue. Websites don't happen overnight (well they can but a well thought out properly structured website does not). So, you see a sales dip in some way and then all of a sudden, the website jumps up the priority list and becomes a let's get it done asap. That is a bit of a trap that some companies can fall into. What happens is they want something done super quickly or they get someone in house to try and do something online using a free site builder etc. The thought process is if we just redo it and update it then instantly it will work for us.

That is rarely, if ever the case!

Planning makes all the difference

Creating a website if that is a new one from scratch or in this case reworking a current one takes time and planning. So, what does the planning require I hear you ask? Well, the website is split into two parts. The main assumption is that it's not it's just one exercise, this is far from the case.

Over the last 15 years and beyond its one of the biggest things we see here at way fresh. Time again we have a brief where the outcome is of course a refreshed website and then the content supplied or the initial planning suffers as the company wants to just rehash what they already have and don't want to invest time into properly thinking about what they need from the website.

The number one question for your business starts with that question. What do YOU need from your website? Once this question is thoroughly thought out then a plan can be put in place for content strategy, planning of pages, SEO, and what the site needs to showcase.

From this the basic structure of the site can be planned out. This is the first part of the website and the most important part. You would never buy a house based purely on what the outside looks like. It's a mixture of the outer and the inner and this is a good analogy for a website. If you think of the website exterior like a house in what its design looks like and then think of the pages, the content the user journeys, the user engagement a little like what the interior layout and rooms of the house are like then it illustrates this point.

A good website is far more than the design of the homepage and how it initially looks. If its not asking people to get in touch at the right points on the page and giving the potential customer the right information at the right point then it won't work. The website has to sell trust in your business and this all comes from the first stage of the planning.

Sign 3 - Mobile ready?

Don't just rehash what you already have and give it a lick of paint

Creating a new website based on your old one and moving across the text and just updating the design and a few tweaks to services will 99% of the time never have any impact on its usefulness to your business. Gone are the days of just needing to have a website to check a box so you have one. Its now all about the question that was asked before “what does your site need to do for you”.How many of your visitors are viewing on mobile devices? How much emphasis does the new design needs to focus on mobile. It will dictate how the site is designed, is the visitor based 95% mobile? If so that needs to be factored into the design of the site.

At wayfresh we strive to make this first part of creating and relaunching a site the most important by focussing on exactly what we have spoken about. The initial contact with the customer is based all around this and the design of the site comes afterwards. There are hundreds of companies that can create your business a new website but how many of them can build one that works exactly right for your business and potential customers in your sector? The answer is a lot less than hundreds. (A LOT LESS)

Sign 4 - Where are we?

You search XYZ Metalworks in Google (assuming that's your company name) and you appear straight away. Well of course you do your searching your exact company name from within your office which you have done before. However, when you search from another location and try “metal fabrication Ashington” you're on page 9. So, what's happened?

You used to be around the middle of page 1 and sometimes top of page 2 why has my website dropped down the rankings. Search engine algorithms change all of the time and if you have neglected to keep on top of the website updates, news, latest work, customer engagement with reviews then simply you're not deemed as popular by search engines.

This is a great example of why developing the new site from the ground up can help to address and put in plans to make sure that this is addressed from the start.

Sign 5 - Looks a little unengaging and like the other company have down the road?

So one of the big things older sites (not all) struggle with is they have outdated content but along with that outdated imagery. The images are not of their business but of stock images of someone else. There is no personability to the site. So, what do we mean by that? People want to feel connected to a local business and to do so one of the first things that stands out is images of the actual business itself and the team that work there. Sounds pretty straightforward doesn't it however getting these kinds of images and videos usually involves getting an external person in to create and capture them and lots of companies are put off by this when they shouldn't be.

We can't emphasise enough a quality website will flourish and achieve that extra element of trust and grounding by having images and video of the business itself. It lets the customer see who and what they will be dealing with it gives the business legitimacy and a personal welcome when they visit the site. If you're looking for a new gym and you have two choices locally both at similar price points however;

• Company one shows their business and shows their staff, has a video of their gym and a video from the owner and has engagement from customers with images.
• Company two has generic images of a gym with no videos and a few what look-like generic testimonials.

Which one are you going to feel drawn towards? We both know the answer and even if company one is slightly more expensive, you're still going to be drawn to enquiring more so that company two.

So reach out to wayfresh today to start the planning and discussion of your company website rework and take the initial steps to getting it right form the ground up making your website work better for your business.