How to Know When it’s Time for a Website Redesign

Websites are a lot like vehicles. They are created and then often require ongoing updates, maintenance, and care. Eventually, a vehicle runs its course and it’s time for a new one. It is the same for websites.

Your company’s website is an ever-evolving marketing tool to help you gain more business. But as time progresses, your website will also have to change. Just like with vehicles, there are features that may have been standard in year X, but that are not required in year Y. And there are introductions to new features that eventually become must-haves.

We’ve had many of our existing clients for several years. For some, we just do digital marketing. For others, we host their website. And for most, there was a point in time where we designed a website for them.

A new website launch is an extremely exciting time for most clients. And at that point, they think they are done. However, once you launch your website, you can expect to have a redesign somewhere down the road.

When is a good time to redesign your website? How will you know if your website truly needs a redesign? Here, I’ve broken down some of the key reasons your website would need a total redesign to help you make the best decision for your company and budget.

Your Website is Hard to Update

If you’re part of a large enough company, you may have someone on staff that takes care of the website updates for you. If you’re a small business like most of our clients, you are probably the one updating it yourself.

If your website was built in 2008, for example, and sits on plain HTML, the chances are high that you spend more time on updating the website than you would like to. If you consider the time you spend updating your website that you could spend on other things like growing your business, the cost to redo your website is worth it.

Another element that may make your website harder to update is if it was built on a template. WordPress templates are an awesome way to get a website up quickly and easily. However, if you started with a website template and ended up having to rework major parts to make it work for your business, you may find issues down the road with making changes. Templates need to be compatible with the latest versions of WordPress and if they are not, you will likely run into issues with making your desired changes.

The bottom line is that when you or your staff becomes very frustrated with making website changes, you may want to consider a new website that is easier to manage.

Your Company Has Gone Through a Total Rebrand

Rebranding takes a lot of time, effort, and money. Your website is a huge part of your marketing strategy and as such, if you’re going through a significant rebrand, you’ll want to make sure that you put your best new foot forward with the website.

Most rebranding consists of things like:

• A new logo design
• A new tagline
• New colors/fonts
• An entirely new brand guideline

As such, I would say that it’s important to update and redo your website to best reflect your new branding and get the most out of your rebranding dollars.

Your Website Isn’t Mobile-Friendly or SEO Compatible

If your website still isn’t mobile-friendly in 2019, now is the time for a website redesign.

Having a mobile-friendly (or responsive) website is an absolute must-have in 2019. Most consumers are on mobile and in fact, according to WordStream, a glaring 52% of global internet traffic comes from mobile devices. If your website doesn’t on a phone or tablet, the chances of users sticking around to view more of your website are slim.

Having a mobile-friendly website isn’t just a “nice to have” anymore. Users demand this from company websites and now, Google demotes websites in rankings that are not considered mobile-friendly. They’ve even developed a mobile-friendly test website where you can see if your website is considered mobile-friendly by Google.

Other important SEO factors to consider are:

• Does your website load fast?
• Is all of your meta information up to date?
• Does your website structure make sense?

It is possible to optimize your existing website, but depending on the above, the time spent adjusting may outweigh the cost to just redesign your website.

Your Website Isn’t ADA Compliant to WCAG 2.0 AA

If you’ve been on our blog before, you’ve seen us talk a lot about ADA website compliance. ADA website compliance is ensuring that your website can be accessed by people with permanent or temporary disabilities.

Consider a visually impaired person who needs to use a screen ready. If your website is not coded properly, their screen reading device is rendered useless and they’re unable to access key information on your website. As of 2010, Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) were developed to set standards for making websites accessible to users with disabilities. The current acceptable standard is WCAG 2.0 AA.

If you are a federally funded organization, you are required to be ADA compliant and meet WCAG 2.0 AA standards. Private businesses aren’t held to the same standard and it is currently not illegal for your website to not comply, however, you do run the risk of being the target of a lawsuit. Many law firms are targeting businesses of all sizes on the grounds of violating the ADA, and even if you win that case, the amounts you could face in legal fees could outweigh the cost to be proactive and make your website compliant.

Ready for a Website Redesign? Contact Bonita Springs Web Design Company, Atilus

Atilus is a web design firm in Bonita Springs, FL. We’ve been in business since September 2005 and have helped hundreds of clients grow their businesses online through great websites and digital marketing.

We offer web design/development, digital marketing, and hosting services to clients in Bonita Springs, Naples, Fort Myers, Cape Coral, and all over the United States.

To learn more about our web design services, call us at (239) 362-1271 or contact us through our website here.