Estimated reading time: 14 minutes
Okay before I persuade you about breaking up with your old website, let’s just understand what is a website. A website is something which represents you and your work to the world, a 24×7/365-day employee.
A website is something which represents you and your work to the world, a 24×7/365-day employee.
Who answers all the questions people have about your work or business, a marketing expert who brings business to you even when you’re not around.
I’m sure you’ve faced the pain of creating a website, the pain to create and achieve a website which will fulfill your objectives and by limiting the cost of web development. I understand all of that.
But there is a need to upgrade it.
As newer and better platforms emerge your website is being slowly outdated, and people expect to have a better experience than they last visited.
Even if you make changes in content and fiddle around with buttons here and there, a whole new website will definitely bring on more attention and also better user experience which is the key to any business.
A website can simply be a marketing strategy of your business or motive, so I’m listing out 10 reasons why a website is an important tool for marketing.
- A couple of decades back print advertising was one of the most effective strategies for marketing, I’m speaking in global terms. Ever since the internet is accessible to everyone especially after the smartphone revolution the importance of a website for marketing has immensely increased. It’s a one-time investment, you can make changes as many times as you can and it doesn’t cost as much as Printing. So a website is a must.
- The internet marketplace is vast and has no boundaries, you can reach out to anyone, anywhere at any time with all the content you’ve updated on your website, the content is accessible to anyone who is interested, and also with better marketing strategies you can expand your business immensely.
- Diversifying the revenue streams is one of the reasons, a website is not just a medium for representing a company, but it is also a form of media from which everybody can acquire information.
- As mentioned above you can be available all the time, you won’t be turning away any customers. Your website will address all their answers and if they are really interested, they can leave their information and you can always get back to them.
- A website offers more convenience for both you and your customer, your customer doesn’t have the need to walk up to your store, he can access everything and make up his decision on his couch.
- If you can learn more from other websites and standardize your marketing strategies, there is no limit to your growth.
- A website gives you the credibility to tell your potential customer why should they choose you, and you don’t have to sweat out giving presentations.
- You’re providing the benefit of not getting lost to find you, to your potential customer. How’s that? By being online in the form of a website you’re just a click away!
- A website serves as a great place to refer potential investors, to show them what your company is about, what it has achieved and what can you do in the near future.
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If you feel that a website is not really important for your business, you’ve got it completely wrong. No matter what business you are into a website will rocket up your business to the sky.
You don’t believe me, don’t you?
Let’s take a look at some stats about the internet, I’m sure it will show you how bigger a market is on the internet.
• The Highest number of websites was a billion which was in 2014 and the number has been fluctuating up and down ever since.
• There are More mobile users than desktop users, which was the opposite last decade, all thanks to the smartphones. So, don’t forget to make you are mobile super responsive.
• About 40% of the users which is close to about a billion people purchase products online, which includes software to lifestyle products.
• Currently, we are a billion short in the number of websites around the globe.
• Guess what’s the most popular website in the world? Yeah, Google followed by Facebook and then YouTube.
• Facebook recently celebrated a billion active users and Google has over 3 billion searched every day, yes every day.
Yes! The Internet is huge and powerful and how can you be a part of it? You know what my answer is, be on the internet.
Create a website and update it according to the current trends, staying in the game is very important.
Since we are talking about breaking up with your old website, I assume most of you already have a website and probably outdated.
So when should I redesign my website? Is what I hear from a lot of my clients and also some of my friends.
Well, let me put in some more points, reasons to redesign your website. The pointwise presentation is always great! Read it.
• When you realize you don’t get a lot of traffic anymore.
• When the percentage of new visitors is not exiting.
• When your SEO ranking goes down.
• When you learn you can apply new options and features on your website.
• When it doesn’t look like it belongs to the current generation.
• And finally when seeing no growth in your business.
And there is one more way of knowing that it’s time to update, which most of the firms won’t consider. A simple feedback from your existing customers will make your decision easy.
Let’s dig in a bit deep shall we?
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Deciding to go through a redesign is no easy process. However, if your site is not showing year-over-year growth then chances are that you are long overdue for an overhaul.
The goal of any eCommerce website is to convert visitors into customers and if your site design and/or structure is a barrier in that, it desperately needs to be fixed.
Here’s a list of things you need to take a keen look at.
Poor User experience.
If the users don’t like your site – they won’t use or even visit for that matter. Sometimes we create things thinking that it will work great but the visitors have something else in their minds.
Especially when your site is glitch, broken or if it doesn’t make sense to them.
Not all the users think alike especially like a designer so they might miss the actual point of creating the website “lost in translation” is what you can call it.
Sometimes the best way to identify usability problems is to ask your visitors to identify the pain points of your website and barriers between them and completing a transaction.
You can get valuable qualitative information through analytics information by looking at bounce rates and exit points, but user surveys and targeted market research can guide you in the right direction with qualitative information.
Do not invest a large amount of money on the design of your website until you have spent enough time on investigating your customers, get a proper feedback.
If the site usability problems are a barrier to your sales or lead generation, then a site redesign can potentially not only fix your sales deficits but also increase the value of the company on the whole.
When your side doesn’t play well with mobile traffic
As I have mentioned earlier in the facts about the internet, most of the user are on mobiles. If your site does not support mobile traffic you are missing out on a huge customer potential.
As more and more internet users access pages through a web-enabled device and if you don’t have a version that is optimized for that experience, chances are those visitors are going to go somewhere else that allows them to browse or buy on the go.
Mobile sites require different coding and frameworks so keep that in mind when scoping your site’s design.
Poor Branding
The only thing worse than no branding Is poor branding and your site plays an integral part in that.
Your website and design should reflect the personality and nature of your company while also helping it stand out from the competition.
Do the colors fit well together into a scheme and are they consistent throughout all brand and marketing materials?
Are photos clear, crisp and relevant to the information they represent?
Is your logo effectively displayed?
Does all of the copy and textual information flow together and present a consistent voice?
Is your website fun?
A website that does not support the goal o9f your brand will not be effective in turning visitors on to what you have to offer and will not lead to a relevant and long-lasting business.
Don’t spend a lot of time getting rid of technical issues
There is a major problem when instead of providing better customer support you spend time troubleshooting and serving as technical support.
If you spend more time fixing technical aspects your site than you do optimize it then its time to start looking into new hosting options, content management systems, shopping cart programs, or even the entire framework and navigation of your site.
It can be exhaustive to continually have to look into error messages and field emails asking why a certain feature of your website doesn’t work as intuitively as it should.
Also, if scalability was not a priority the first time you designed your website, then you might be having trouble in the future with finding ways and places to put the important product and company information.
If your site does not have the ability to grow with content and pages then chances are that your profits and sales don’t have a favorable chance to grow either.
Ranking Low on Google or other search engines
If a search engine can’t find you, a real-life visitor cannot either.
Are your landing pages or the gateways to your site, well designed and optimized in a way that encourages customers to click on your site and eventually convert?
Does your site match the expectation of query-based searches and messages found in your paid ads?
Does your page structure and navigation match your top searched keywords?
Is your site SEO friendly?
You should always remember that objects such as flash is not crawled Google or other search engine robots and that keeping a stream of informative and interesting content will help the most with optimizing your organic search results.
Make sure your top-selling products are represented well with good quality photos, good content explaining about them and helpful customer reviews.
Making things better which is already good
A website redesigning is not only for those with decreasing sales and leads- even a website that brings in net profit can benefit in the long run from a well thought out redesign.
Consider what your net profit could be a year down the road if you did a site redesign or if you kept things the same.
Consider the higher conversion rate your site could potentially have and the sales and/or lead generation you could influence with some design tweaks.
If your growth potential outweighs the immediate costs of pulling the trigger and doing a site overhaul, chances are that you’re going to be making a good business decision that will pay out in the end.
So when do you think you need to update, what are all the things you need to consider while planning a redesign?
Redesigning a website can be just as difficult and time-consuming as creating a new one, not to mention the expenses.
Since you’ve already made up your mind there are a few things you need to consider in terms of planning and process. And also reaching your website redesign objectives.
Choosing your Web application development company
Many of the redesign jobs we get are from the client who is not happy with their current Web application development company and would want to switch to a better and affordable web development company.
Want to learn about Good design or Great Design – Which one does your business need?
Therefore, it is not necessary to stick to the same company when redesigning your website.
Of course, there are a lot of benefits to retaining the same company because they know you, they know your business objectives and they know your website.
However, you must keep a lookout for complacency by the web design company so that they do not take you and your business for granted.
Plan for a Bigger leap
Most of the businesses out there try to take is easy and small, what I would recommend is take a bigger leap.
When you plan to redesign website, take the opportunity to go for something completely new and refreshed.
Shake things up and take a bigger leap in terms of website development and design.
It could be heavy in your pocket, but then incremental changes with improved interest levels from visitors will pay off.
Don’t be lazy on your content and information
When you’ve made up your mind to redesign, it’s a perfect time to revisit your content and information. Asking your web designer to use the same content as the older website is just being Lazy and doesn’t make sense of redesigning.
Asking your web designer to use the same content as the older website is just being Lazy and doesn’t make sense of redesigning.
Take this opportunity to rewrite or at least enhance the current content or scrap information on your services and products. Use impetus of the redesign to introduce new ideas and information.
Use impetus of the redesign to introduce new ideas and information.
Make your website deeper in terms of content and information. Add a knowledge base, and tools and downloadable resources.
Make it a better place for your customers and clients to visit.
Technology and Design Must Be Updated
The speed at which online technology and design usage are changing is mind-blowing. A few years ago flash was dominant. Thanks to Apple in part, Flash is on its way out.
Internet Explorer Vs Netscape is history, now there is a three-way browser battle.
Chrome, IE, and Mozilla with Safari for the apple users fighting for space. JavaScript is out, JQuery and HTML5 are the new and improved boys on the block.
CSS websites are in, tables sites are out. We can on and on about what has replaced what.
All you need to do is to ensure that your website designer is using a cutting-edge design and technology which will future proof your website.
Take a close look at the forms
Well if you ask me what is the critical part of any site that should be re-looked at, I would definitely say “the forms”.
The indispensable but also complicated part of any website. Forms should be checked for clarity, ease of use, clear JS validation and no errors.
Good forms imply to good inquiries; complicated forms mean poor inquiries. On most sites, forms tend to test the patience of any visitor and many
On most sites, forms tend to test the patience of any visitor and many leaves in disgust. Get your forms right people!
Align the new site with your business goals
Since you are redesigning, it’s already proved that your previous site was not properly or partially aligned with your business goals.
The new site should also align with changes in your business in terms of strategy, branding and product/services.
A very well redesigned site which is not aligned with business goals will never give you the result you expect.
Okay I know we both are tired of discussing how things should be; why don’t we take a look at an example which had an amazing makeover.
Before I say something I want you to look at the transformation it has gone through
I know right!
Amazing transformation in terms of Design and technology as well, the main reason I’ve taken this up as an example is that they have made the mobile version of their site which is very important in the current Market. I could talk about the content and SEO but that’s a whole another topic. I will leave links to how to work on them.
I could talk about the content and SEO but that’s a whole another topic. I will leave links to how to work on them.
Hope this helps you in some way, Cheers!
So Breaking up doesn’t always hurt, sometimes you got to let go! Especially if your website doesn’t serve the purpose. Think about all the points I’ve mentioned above and take out the flaws in your website and take your own time before you actually invest on re-designing.
Especially if your website doesn’t serve the purpose. Think about all the points I’ve mentioned above and take out the flaws in your website and take your own time before you actually invest on re-designing.
Think about all the points I’ve mentioned above and take out the flaws in your website and take your own time before you actually invest on re-designing.
NMG is one of the best Web application development company I’ve known through the years, they are an abundant talent in creating beautiful as well as purposeful websites for your business needs. Take a Sneak-Peak at their Portfolio.