You may be shrugging off redesigning your website and thinking, “I can do that later!” Does your website leave customers feeling frustrated?
We get it, updating your website is just like doing your taxes or reorganizing a messy closet – you want to avoid it as much as possible and hope it goes away. But there comes a time when every website needs to be redesigned and it's best to do it sooner than later.
Redesigning your website is more than just updating its appearance. Making sure your site is up-to-date is key to getting traffic, staying relevant on search results pages, and providing the best user experience. Here are some signs it's time for an upgrade.
Your site should be responsive and adjust to any screen size including desktop, tablet, and especially mobile. Having a mobile-friendly site is crucial if you want people to visit and complete actions like making a purchase or submitting a contact form. More than half of all website traffic is generated through smartphones.
Try testing out your site’s responsiveness for yourself. See how easy it is to navigate through content pages or complete a purchase on your smartphone. If you find it hard to take simple actions on your site, you may want to consider starting from scratch. Trying to turn a non-responsive site into a responsive site is often like trying to put a V6 engine in a horse-drawn carriage... more trouble than it might be worth. You can also test your site’s mobile friendliness with Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test.
Having a laggy site can also cost you a considerable amount of website traffic. Sites that don’t load within seconds tend to have higher bounce rates. This means that if a user isn’t able to access the page almost instantly, they will go back to the search results page and visit another site. You’re practically letting someone else steal your business!
Want to know if your website is slow? Use Google’s website speed test to find out.
When more and more tabs and content pages get added to your site’s menu, this can create a lot of confusion for the user.
Your site’s navigation should be simple, organized, and keep the user engaged. Having a disorganized menu can lead to users not completing important actions and not reaching the content page they are searching for. If your site has more than seven tabs with multiple drop-downs, it’s time to declutter your navigation.
If you think your navigation is messy, try to complete an action within three clicks like filling out a contact form. The more clicking a user has to do to reach their destination page, the greater chance they will become impatient and exit the site.
If your website references several external links and you don’t update them regularly, chances are the links are broken. Broken links can be extremely frustrating because users are not able to access the content they are looking for. If you’re curious as to how many links on your site are broken, use the handy dead link checker to find out.
When you delete a page, it doesn’t mean it’s gone forever. Search engines have already indexed your site’s pages so any page that has been deleted may show up in search results. These are called 404 pages and they usually display a “page not found” message. Since there is no page to visit, users will exit and go back to search results pages.
Needless to say, having technical errors like broken links and 404s gives the impression that your website is outdated and this leads to a poor user experience.
Have you ever heard the expression “people eat with their eyes?” The same principle can be applied to websites.
Obviously websites are not edible, but they are judged on their appearance just like entrees are! Websites that haven’t been updated within 3-5 years usually don’t comply with the latest visual and technical trends. Just like fashion, web designs go out of style. Thick borders, moving animations, abrasive color palettes, and clustered pictures are some examples of an outdated web design.
This may be hard to judge since appearance is highly subjective. To get some perspective, do some research and look at some of your competitor’s websites. Does your site look just as appealing? If not, you’re in dire need of a refresh.
Having an accessible website means users with a disability or impairment are able to navigate your site easily and efficiently like any other user. If your site has inaccessible elements like unlabeled buttons, missing alt tags on images, or forms without labels, this can hinder disabled users from completing actions. You can get an accessibility score for your site by running an audit on each page using Google's Lighthouse.
Having a modern website is crucial if you want to attract business. It’s the first impression you make on many prospective customers, and you want it to be a good one! Don’t be afraid to explore different options like hiring local professionals who can revive your website and brand.