Is it Time Your Website was Redesigned?

 
Statistics prove that visitors will navigate away from a website that appears dated or has received little if any update to its news items, blogs or events. This seems logical but it is a fact that is largely ignored by many businesses. Business owners, for the large part, have no idea of the effects or the number of potential customers who are simply not impressed and leave.

To see what we mean, type in to Google a search string that best describes your business. Flick through the top 10 sites, some will grab your attention and encourage you to click further, others will not! At the end of the day, your website design and content makes a statement about your business and projects an image. Your website also reflects on your products/services and if your site design does not project an image of high quality, then it is probably time for some changes.

To reinforce this, would you want your sales force to present themselves in wrinkled polyester suits, bad ties, and odd socks? Thought not, that's why it is equally important your website should appear fresh, be well groomed, and communicate effectively.

Keeping your website looking current and well maintained gives the message that you take care of details and that your image is important to you.  More to the point, a site that appears dated and neglected will reflect negatively on your business and potentially cost you a loss of future customers.

The following represent red flags that signal it is time to revisit your website design.  The unstoppable truth is that there are many fundamental changes in Internet technologies and online business that have occurred in just the past 3-5 years; changes that may already have you considering a website redesign.

7 Common Signs that it is Time to Consider a Website Redesign:

1.    800 pixel width sites -this one is a sure give-away.  It has been a few years since monitors have been used to display 800 pixel width resolution. The standard today is 1024 pixels minimum, more often 1280 pixels, and widescreen with resolutions of 1680 pixels and higher are rapidly replacing the 4:3 format monitors.  98% of monitors use high resolution and that number will be 100% in the very near future.  800 pixel width (and smaller!) websites are a waste of good real estate and a sure sign that your site is getting long-in-the-tooth.

2.    Inability to update and add new content - The Internet has become an important medium for communication; websites are becoming more about interacting and not just putting information on display. If you are unable to update new content (e.g. via a Wordpress blog), communicate with your visitors, and provide some level of interaction then it is likely you are already falling behind your competitors.

3.    Poor navigation -let´s face it, several years ago most were thrilled to have something online and to be able to display pages and pages of information.  The logic involved in getting to the information was not always a high priority.  Users today are discerning.  Clear, logical navigation is essential to hold a visitors attention (there is the low patience threshold argument again).  Menu systems and design concepts today can be radically different from bygone days (5 years ago = by-gone!! Makes me feel old!).

4.    Can´t find your site on Google? -This is classic and so very common.  We still get customers that do not rank for their proper business name, never mind any relevant keyword phrases.  The good new is this is reversible and sometimes quite quickly.  Being an older site, you likely have earned some Google page rank (a benefit provided by Google, often regardless of SEO sophistication).  A clever developer can take that page rank and lobby it into strong page position; much more easily than the new site on the block.

5.    Mistakes, typos, and old information - Do you have areas on your current site that need corrections or information that is just not entirely accurate anymore.  Often these small changes are left untouched because there is the cost & hassle of involving web developers.  Modern sites do not face this issue anymore because content management systems are becoming the norm.  Now-a-days non-technical administrators can login to their website and make the minor changes as easily as correcting a Word document.

6.    Lack of page and file size optimization -this is typical of many older sites and sites built by developers that simply didn´t place emphasis on this particular detail. Internet users today are basically impatient. Even with high-speed connections the average attention span waiting for a page to load in measured in seconds where several years ago we just had to be more patient. Today´s developers are typically very conscious of this fact and we are getting better (through linked files, image optimization, and sparse coding) at adding more and more to a website while still managing to maintain small file size.

7.    Broken links or code errors that affect the display of your site - This is very common, especially for sites that were developed prior to IE7 and recent FireFox versions.  These seemingly small issues can have a large effect on visitors and many people will not hesitate to navigate away from a site that contains glitches caused by faults in coding.

These are all important indicators of the need to consider redesign of your website.  One additional sign is perhaps the most important and the least tangible, your site just simply looks old!  If you are bored with your site then it is highly probable you are not alone.

Website design and development have progressed greatly in the past several years -now we are in an age of CSS, user applications, social networking, and Web 2.0; terms that were barely on the edge of the radar screen only a few years ago. If your site looks tired and feels stale then it is likely a great time to look into a fresh new Internet image.

If you're a business with an online presence that would benefit from an overhaul, then look no further than Perceptant101. Based in Chesterfield, Derbyshire, we help businesses across the UK prosper on the World Wide Web. Website redesign's, improved rankings on Google, web applications that engage customers and suppliers or even a simple logo design and stationary overhaul can make significant differences to your image, turnover and competitive clout. For more information, please visit our website - http://www.perceptant.com