Your online presence matters. According to Iron Paper, 94% of people cited web design as the reason they mistrusted or rejected a website. Your business needs more than just a website. You need a site that will engage your visitors, build your credibility and drive sales. But how do you know when it’s time to give your website a facelift?
User experience is becoming more and more important. It’s no longer enough just to have a website, you have to have a site the meets the needs of your users. For most of your new leads, your website will be the first place they interact with your business. So making a good first impression online is a must. According to an article by Iron Paper, 48% of people cited a website’s design as the number one factor in deciding the credibility of a business.
Below are 6 reasons you may need a website redesign:
On April 21st, 2015 Google rolled out a new algorithm that penalized the ranking of websites who were found to not be mobile friendly. This came as a result of more people searching on mobile devices than on desktops. While many website owners did make the switch to meet the new requirements, there are still a number of sites who are not mobile friendly. Having a mobile site not only helps your users, but can help your business as well. According to Econsultancy, 62% of companies that designed a website with mobile in mind saw increased sales.
If you are not sure if your site is mobile friendly or not, check out this free tool from Google here. If you need help, we’d be more than happy to check it out for you.
Your design impacts your ranking. This is one fact many SEOs and site owners over look. UX is one of the most important factors Google looks at when determining whether or not your site should rank for a particular term. A recent study by MOZ, found that most traditional SEO features were expected to either retain or decrease in influence, while at the same time they also found that user-based features were expected to increase. Having a well designed website that meets your users' needs can, and will, influence your ranking.
Not sure what that is? Here is the definition.
If you are using Google analytics to track your site, and I highly suggest you use something, you can see your bounce rate from your site's “Audience Overview”.
According to TechWise, the average bounce rate falls somewhere between 40%-55%. Anything above that 55%, you need to take another look. Bounce rate is calculated using the following equation.
Bounce Rate = Total Number of Visits Viewing One Page / Total Number of Visits to that Page
A higher than average bounce rate means your users are finding your site boring or non-engaging. This could mean it’s time for a website redesign.
This one is tricky. If you have good rankings, are mobile friendly and have a healthy bounce rate don’t mess with your site. Even if your site looks outdated, if it serves its purpose and your users like it, leave it alone. Your website is for them first! But if your site isn’t doing well in the first three areas and looks outdated, a website redesign could just be the fix you need.
A slow website can be a killer. 40% of people ventured away from a website if it loaded for more than 3 seconds, according to a study done by Iron Paper. That 3 second gap is getting smaller and smaller every day. Because of the high speed connections available across the US, users have become extremely impatience. If your site takes too long to load, they will leave. But updating your site and building it on a faster platform, you could capture more traffic and increase your business revenue.
Are you still having to edit your site the “old fashion” way? Content Management Systems (CMS) have come a long way in the past few years and there is no reason you should have to learn code just so you can put up a new offer on your site. It’s important that your content remains relevant to your users. This means your website needs to be updated as much as your users demand. Having a CMS that is easy to use will help you stay on top of things and relieve some unneeded stress.
Your website is the digital front door to your company. Making sure that your site meets your users' needs will have an enormous impact of your business. If you feel like your site fits into any or all of these reasons, it may be a time to look at investing in a website redesign.
Blog Comments