As quickly as clothing comes in and out of style, technology and design tastes shift and evolve.
Your website has to keep up with these changes so that your company is able to take advantage of any new opportunities that may come up.
You may cringe at the thought of dropping quite a bit of cash on a new website design, but if it’s done right, you may end up earning more than you invested into it.
If any of the following points apply to you, it’s time to think about a website revamp:
1. Your Content Management System is behind the times
Technology evolves so rapidly that even industry experts struggle to keep up.
How much harder is it for platforms and CMS to stay current?
Some of these platforms and systems were awesome in their time, but you may feel restricted by old technology if you are unable to apply new features. Additionally, many of these older systems are more susceptible to security breaches.
A redesign can allow you to put your website on a modern, progressive platform that will stay current with technology and keep your data safe.
When we build websites, WordPress is typically our content management system of choice. WordPress is the most popular CMS in the world and powers over 30% of current websites live today. To put that in perspective, the next closes CMS is Joomla powering just 3.1% of websites.
When you use something with a wide following, it means there is most likely an active community at your disposal.
2. Your website design isn’t attractive
The internet allows an expanse of options to lay right at our fingertips.
That, combined with the fact that we have shorter attention spans than ever means that a website has to catch the eye of a visitor and engage them in a couple of seconds.
Additionally, an outdated website design takes away from the user experience.
The design of your website plays a big part in the perception that visitors have of your business, so if it doesn’t look fresh and up-to-date, they will assume that the rest of your business isn’t, either.
Your website should be designed to match your brand, convey your message quickly, and easily navigate your users where they need to be
3. You haven’t applied responsive web design
There are a great variety of devices out on the market today, and everyone has different preferences.
Individuals who are browsing on their smartphones won’t have the same needs as those on laptops do. Mobile users want accessibility to what they need quickly and easily.
There are features that are valuable to them – one-click dialing, for instance. Ensuring that your website is designed for every type of user will encourage more people to remain on your site.
The majority of websites visits are from mobile devices, so if you aren’t using responsive web design, you’re missing out on a lot of conversions.
4. Your website isn’t helping you accomplish your goals
Your website may be beautiful, but it isn’t worth much if it isn’t taking you closer to your goals.
Your site should be able to attract, engage, convert, measure, and optimize. If it isn’t doing those things, it’s time to reassess your site.
No matter what your site is for, it should be designed with a purpose/goal in mind
Before you completely revamp your website, you need to evaluate your business and figure out what it is that you want your website to do. Are you trying to get more sales? Are you trying to educate? Are you focused on people getting to know your team better? Whatever it is, define it and plan your website around that focus. Technology can help you to reach the goals you have for your business and your website – you just need to know what it is first.
5. New business goals or brand strategy
It’s normal for your business goals to shift as time goes by. However, you have to ensure that your website portrays what your business is currently doing.
If you have added new services or developed a new brand strategy, your website should reflect these changes.
Technology is very flexible – it allows you to completely change the focus of your business and still easily portray these chances online. Additionally, technology constantly creates new things and gives you the opportunity to take advantage of them.
Things like social media platforms, cloud applications, lead management systems, and responsive web design were unheard of just a few years ago.
Companies that want to stay current and competitive need to take advantage on these updates in technology, using them to better their businesses, whether it be to streamline their process, build a better product, or offer a better customer experience.
If you are unable to keep up, you may soon be left in the dust as your competitors make new technology bigger parts of their businesses.
In this day and age, your website is integrated into your business and your brand.
As your brand grows and fluctuates with technology, your website should shift accordingly. A redesign will bring you up to date, but just for now. You should be constantly reassessing and finding ways to keep with the times, improving, modifying, and enhancing.
DELT specializes in website design in St. Louis – get in touch today to see how we can help.