In Need of a Website Redesign? Essential Tips to Know

14.7 million Australian internet subscribers use the service for an average of 5.5 hours per day. The more of this time you can get them to spend with your business, the better.

Proper web design is one of the best ways to improve business success. The way a site looks and works is often the difference between a purchase and a dissatisfied user going somewhere else. 

Still, it’s not enough to have a great site when your business begins. As you grow, you’ll have to redesign every so often to make sure everything is easy to use and up to date.

Read our guide to figure out how to make a great website, why it may eventually need to be revamped, and how to do it the right way.

Website design is a critical component for business success no matter the size or product. It creates trust which attracts and maintains customers, helps you develop a brand identity, and more. 

The first essential step in creating a great website is planning. Be sure to identify the goals you want to achieve as well as how and when you’ll meet them.

Once you know what you want your website to do, you have to decide how you want it to look. There are several ways to visualize the final product, including sitemaps, sketches, design guides, and more.

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but the text on your site is just as important as the visual elements. Make sure you write interesting descriptions, blog posts, and other web copy your customers will want to read.

Once everything’s planned, it’s time to start coding. Create a prototype and test it for any errors or offputting elements.

Once your website is the way you want it, you’re ready to launch. This is only the beginning of the journey. You’ll need to constantly check the site and its analytics to determine if and when you need a website redesign.

For more detailed descriptions of each of these steps, check out our guide to great web design.

Every business needs to update itself every so often, whether it’s a restaurant changing some dishes on the menu or a store offering new merchandise. Some businesses forget that their website needs regular attention and suffer the consequences in the form of lost sales.

There’s no single way to tell when your website needs a redesign, but lost engagement is one of the major telltale signs. There are also several other reasons you may want to consider a website revamp.

Internet users take only 50 milliseconds to develop a first impression from your website. If their initial opinion isn’t positive enough, they may not buy from your online store or come to your physical location.

48 percent of internet users said the overall design of a website is the main determining factor in how much they trust a brand. If you want customers to see you as the best in your industry, your website has to reflect that. If it doesn’t, it may be time for a redesign.

Change is inevitable, and you risk losing customers if your website doesn’t reflect this. Everything from content to images needs refreshing every once in a while as part of a proper redesign strategy.

If your contact details change but aren’t updated on your website, potential customers will get frustrated when calling the wrong number or visiting the wrong location. Old web copy or blog posts that are no longer relevant or don’t reflect your intended brand message could also turn them off.

It’s best to have a single person or a small team handling your website. They can make sure it’s up to date, sends the right message, and works well on all browsers and devices. A website redesign requires expertise, especially if there’s a lot of information to manage.   

Search engine optimization is the process of making sure your website shows up first in the results for all major search engines. It’s the best way to stand out among the 1.7 million websites available to the modern internet user.

44% of online shoppers start searching for products using a search engine, and 61% research products online. That’s a huge percentage of customers you could end up missing out on if you don’t design your site with SEO in mind.

Several factors indicate where you’ll place in search results, including navigation, text, load times, and relevant keywords. High-quality sites tend to rank higher, which is one reason why proper web design is so important.

Check here for more information on how website design affects SEO.

How your potential customers feel when using your website is the most crucial part of a redesign. If you don’t take the time to make it fast and user-friendly, they’ll likely look for the site of someone who did. 

Speed is one of the most important considerations. Any load times longer than two seconds are too long for 47 percent of users.

One way to increase speed and make your website more readable is to avoid clutter. Create content that’s organized and split into scannable sections. Use proper navigation that makes it easy to get from one page to another.

Another important consideration is optimizing your website for all devices. 20 million Australians have a mobile phone, a market you could miss out on if you haven’t already made your website mobile-friendly.

Websites with poor user experience don’t just frustrate potential customers. They also negatively impact your SEO, making it less likely they’ll see your page in the first place. 75% of Google users never go past the first page of their search results, and they’ll pass by your site if it’s any further down the line.

Poor user experience also discourages people who may have otherwise bought something or spent more time perusing your content. No one wants to stay on a website that’s hard to use or visually unappealing. If your site analytics show viewers quickly leaving your site, consider a redesign. 

Having a proper website is one of the best ways to ensure you get interested leads. If you’re not seeing enough conversion, check here for the top signs you need a redesign. 

A website revamp requires most of the same steps you followed in your initial design. You still have to do careful planning to determine how your site should look and the message it needs to send. The difference is that a redesign involves using current data to improve on what you’ve already made.

29% of websites don’t follow basic usability principles. 50 percent of lost online sales are the result of shoppers who can’t find the content they need.

Use a website redesign as an opportunity to improve user experience. If anything is making them leave the site too soon, such as slow load times or irrelevant content, be sure to change it to get them back.

A website redesign is also a great way to improve your SEO. Make sure you’re using current keywords because the words potential customers use to search for sites like yours change constantly. Every step you take to improve quality, whether it’s updating content or developing an on-brand style, can also improve search rankings.

A website redesign that includes mobile users improves user experience while helping your bottom line. 62 percent of companies improved sales by developing a mobile platform.  

One of the simplest ways to make sure your redesign is effective is to find out what’s not working properly and fix it. The best way to do this is to use analytics to find out how long users stay when they log on, what they’re buying, and more. Learning how to read data is an essential part of running an effective website.

The importance of proper website design can’t be overstated. Such a huge percentage of the world is on the internet, and potential customers will go somewhere else the moment they see a poorly-designed page.

Starting with a proper design that you carefully plan is the best way to ensure you attract and retain customers. Determine what you want to say and how to say it, then test your plan before releasing it to the public.

There’s no way to make a perfect design in a world where technology and customer need change so rapidly. That’s why your initial plan may have to change every so often. 

There isn’t a specific amount of times you need to redesign your website, but there are signs to look out for that indicate it may be the right time to start.

Look out for old, irrelevant content. Make sure your site is optimized for the highest possible SEO so browsers don’t pass it by. Most of all, make sure that the site is easy to use on every device your potential customers might view it on. 

Redesigning your website is important for the success of your business but can be time-consuming and difficult. You don’t have to go through the process alone, and hiring a professional can help you get the best possible results. Find out how we can help and contact us today for a free consultation.