Perhaps you’ve reached that moment in your professional career when the website you initially set up no longer meets the demands of your current business. Maybe you’ve never loved your web design but it hasn’t been a priority or maybe your business model has changed, and what worked in the past doesn’t work now. Whatever the reason, you can’t put it off any longer, it’s time to revamp your website.
Knowing when it’s time to do a partial or full website re-design can be a hard moment to come to, especially when your site is “good enough”. However, in this competitive business world simply having a website just won’t cut it. You need to ensure your site has the best UX (user experience) for all those who land on it. After all, your website is one of your most powerful assets, it’s your storefront, sales team, manager, inventory specialist, and in many cases, your first impression. So how do you know when it’s time to pull the trigger and revamp your site? Or maybe more importantly, how do fix your mistakes to re-design the best website around? Well, don’t you worry, we have answers to both.
10 signs it’s time to revamp your website
1. Your site has a high bounce rate
Bounce rate describes how users are interacting with your website, if you have a high bounce rate it means potential clients are visiting your website but leaving quickly, as opposed to checking out another page or browsing around. Reasons for a high bounce rate include, having a poor UX, confusing design, the information they are looking for is difficult to find, or the content itself is noticeably outdated.
2. Low conversions
It may be time to revamp your website if you have low conversion rates, which occurs when visitors to your page are not taking action, such as purchasing your services. Perhaps this is due to your low bounce rate, or because your call-to-action isn’t clear.
3. Does your site have a clear call-to-action?
A call or click-to-action (CTA) is a great marketing feature designed to encourage interaction with your content. A clear and effective CTA will encourage web users to interact with your website, sign up to your emailing list, book a consultation, buy your products, or solicit your services. If your CTA is confusing or absent, your business will suffer the consequences.
4. Slow load time or technical issues
The ideal load time for your website is under 5 seconds, however the quicker the better. A website revamp can speed up your load time and fix any technical issues that may be slowing down your website.
5. Revamp your website if your site is outdated
Just like with anything else, trends in web design change and evolve. Your website may have been modern when you first created it, but today, it may need some adjustments. The best web design will be true to your brand and services while being clean, modern, and easy to use. Additionally, your content must also always be updated, from store hours to inventory to prices listed, to blogs. Few things are more frustrating than expecting one thing and getting another, let clients know they can rely on your website.
6. Your web design is too busy
Even the most well-intentioned businesses can fall victim to having a website that’s too busy and cluttered. When you’re proud of yourself, your services, and your products, it can be difficult to not blast them all over your website. However, a website design that is too busy turns people away, rather than draws them in, even if what you are offering is amazing. Think of it this way, would you rather shop at a grocery store that has evenly stocked shelves that are easy to move through, or one with products on the floor and products overflowing in every direction? If your website is overflowing, it may be time for a revamp.
7. Difficult layout
Web design and layout go hand in hand! You want your website to make a good first impression, be up-to-date, and be easy to navigate. A confusing layout seriously decreases UX, leads to a high bounce rate and low conversions, and negatively impacts your business. No one likes to feel lost, online or otherwise. You want your website’s layout to be simple, intuitive, and guided by strategically placed CTA’s and other navigation tools.
8. Does your site have dead ends?
Dead-end pages on your website are flow killers! When a client lands on a page with no CTA, no internal link, or worse no real page (an error or “no results” page)…then what do you think they do next? They leave! You want to ensure every page on your website allows customers and clients the option to continue browsing through your website, and preferably, eventually finding their way to either contact you or purchase from you.
9. Your business has changed
Hey, maybe your business has gone in a direction that you didn’t anticipate and now your website isn’t best suited for your current needs. Perhaps you didn’t anticipate selling products and now you need to create the best e-commerce store on a site that wasn’t initially designed to have one. Maybe you’ve switched from offering services in-person to hosting workshops online and are currently switching between platforms and emailing out your content, instead of having everything right there on your website. Both situations can be remedied with a website make-over! Whatever the reason, companies evolve, and your website must as well.
10. It may be time to revamp your website because you just don’t like your current one!
Maybe you just don’t like it, and that’s ok! There’s an old saying, “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”…well we disagree. If you want to fix it, change it, or update it, then that’s reason enough. Sometimes a perfectly good website just doesn’t align with your vision for your company, and it’s time to make a change. You should be proud of your website, and if you’re not, then change it until you are.
Do any of those above points resonate with you? Hopefully, they do and have left you feeling inspired for your next web design adventure. However, if they’ve left you feeling a little overwhelmed we’re here to help you get started. After all, you have to identify the issues before you can start looking for solutions.
10 tips to revamp your website and improve UX
1. Get comfortable with your website’s analytics
Google analytics or other software programs for WordPress (or other website building platforms) allow you to check your bounce rate, conversions, who is visiting your website and from where, what pages are most popular, and more! The best way to improve your website is to know what’s working and what isn’t, and adjust accordingly.
2. Focus on SEO
SEO, or search engine optimization, helps increase traffic to your website by ensuring you are easily found on Google and other search engines. Vancouver’s best web design agencies will be experts in SEO, however, if you want to boost it yourself, focus on increasing the copy on your website, include highly searched keywords, use tags and alt tags, and update your content regularly.
3. Hone in on your target audience
Be clear on who your target audience is or who you want to target with specific ad campaigns. Your brand isn’t for everyone, but it should be clear who it is for!
4. Identify if your target audience has changed
Perhaps one reason your website isn’t doing as well as it once did is because your target audience has changed. The branding and messaging for one group may not appeal to another. Perhaps your clothing brand was once targeting middle-aged, athletic adults, but now the demographic buying your clothes is trendy, young adults. Your website and content should reflect the change in your target audience.
5. Do a total rebrand
Rebranding often entails changing your colour scheme, your logo, and your website to better reflect your brand identity. Your brand should be authentic to your company and mission while being recognizable and memorable. Google’s brand identity is so strong that it has multiple logos, and changes its landing page graphic all the time, and yet when you see a ‘G’ with blue, red, yellow, and green you know who it is immediately.
6. Focus on UX
To get the best UX you need to consider appearance, design, layout, flow, clear CTA’s, and high-quality content. If visitors enjoy interacting with your website, they are more likely to return.
7. Is your website mobile responsive?
Having a mobile responsive website is crucial in this day in age. Most of us spend more time on our cellphones than on a full-screen computer. Revamp your website to be compatible on screens of any size, and your business will thank you!
8. Address complaints
If you’ve ever had a complaint, or even just feedback, about your website then address those changes in your re-design. Reviews and testimonials are valuable business tools because they provide you with immediate feedback from those actually interacting with your website. If you have an emailing list, you might even consider sending out a poll to your current customers asking for their advice on how you can improve their UX.
9. If you’re going to revamp your website it must be secure
Focus on security! Your website needs to be secure to ensure your visitors’ safety, especially if you are taking payments online.
10. Stay on top of it
The best websites are ones that are frequently updated and maintained on both the front and back-ends. You want to update changes to your business immediately and post high-quality content as regularly as possible.
BONUS tip for how to revamp your website- hire out to a team of professionals!
If you are unsure of where to begin or what to do, we highly recommend hiring a professional web design agency. The best web design companies will have a team of experts who specialize in everything you need for an awesome website make-over, including coding, SEO, marketing, graphic design, content and copy, and website maintenance.
All good things in life require a little bit of up-keep but sometimes great things require an entire overhaul. Whether you’re looking to revamp your website just a little or redo your web design from top to bottom, when it comes to the best websites, upkeep is king. Don’t neglect your website, it’s your business’s most powerful tool, knowledgeable manager, and profitable salesperson.
