How Often Should I Redesign My Website?

As Bob Dylan said it best, the times they are a-changin'. And with the web, the times are a-changin' faster than ever. You and your business need to keep up. And that means keeping your website current with fresh content, modern visuals, and most importantly, giving your users what they want. If your website isn't doing that, it just may be time for an update!

Now is the time, If...

Your website is not mobile friendly

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In this day and age, your site absolutely needs to be mobile friendly. As seen here, desktop usage is in a slow decline while mobile usage continues to trend upwards. Currently, in the US, desktop usage is at 52 percent and mobile usage is at 48 percent. Your website should be mobile friendly or you may be missing out on nearly half of your customers. And it won’t be long before mobile takes over desktop as the new majority.

Per Google, “In the USA, 94 percent of people with smartphones search for local information on their phones. Interestingly, 77 percent of mobile searches occur at home or at work, places where desktop computers are likely to be present.”

On top of that, Google ranks sites higher if they’re mobile friendly. In 2018, Google officially announced that they would be using mobile first indexing. This means that they are going to be indexing sites based on their mobile version, not their desktop version.

Are you unsure if your site is mobile friendly? Use this tool to find out.

Your site looks outdated

Does your website look like it crawled out of the '90s? Not only does that leave an uncertain impression on the user, it doesn’t represent your business the way it should. Users see your website as a representation of your business, and it should reflect just that. Ask yourself, if you were to visit two websites with the exact same offerings. The first looked outdated, disorganized, and visually unappealing. The second looked modern, clean, and easy to digest. Which one would you pick? Chances are, you would choose the latter.

Behind the scenes, your website may be using outdated technologies, code, and standards. This may be affecting your site speed or ranking due to standards malpractice. Make sure your website is running full steam with modern web standards and practices.

You can't manage your website yourself

Is your website built upon a CMS (Content Management System) that you can manage yourself? In this day and age, there’s no reason why you should have to tap into a professional to manage or update your site. It should be easy for you to do so. If not, perhaps it’s time for a change.

Now may be the time, If...

So, your site is mobile-friendly, it’s not outdated, and it's built within a user-friendly content management system. No need for a new website, right? Well, there’s also some other factors to consider.

You're Falling Behind the Competition

What do your competitors' websites look like? What do they offer? Is your website at least on par with your competition or is it falling behind? If you’re not at least on par with your competitors' websites you should consider a change. Better yet, exceed their sites by taking yours to the next level.

You're Not Targeting the Right Audience

Does your website effectively target your key audience? For example, if your audience is younger, does it tailor to that age group? Your website should focus on mobile over desktop if your audience is younger. On the flip side, is your audience older? If that’s the case, your website should focus on desktop over mobile. Think about your audience, research to make your website work for them, and build it around that.

Your Site isn't Aligned with Your Goals

Has your website stopped working for you? Think about the goals you want your website to accomplish for you. Is the goal to get leads? Perhaps you should take an inbound marketing approach. Is the goal to showcase your work? Then perhaps your site should be showcasing that work with image galleries, details, testimonials, etc. If your site isn’t aligned with you goals, what is it doing for you? Make your website work for you.

Your Site Ranking is Too Low

Is your site ranking on the first page of Google? Or better yet the first position on the first page? Per SEO Hacker, “...your chances of being clicked on is drastically lowered down as you get farther and farther off from the first place rank. The second place result gets 4 times less clicks than the first place ranker—talk about exponential loss!” Get yourself into that first place rank by improving your content and SEO.

Still not sure?

It may not be time for a new website. But don’t let your website and content get stagnant. You’ll be in need of a new website before you know it. Keep writing new content. Keep analyzing your pages. Take the continuous improvement approach and stay plugged into what works, what doesn’t work, and what changes you can make based on that information.

Really, you should redesign your website as often as you need to. There’s no definitive time on when and how you should make that move. There are many factors behind the answer such as competition, audience, goals, appeal, etc. If you’re asking yourself the question at all, chances are good that it’s time.