Let’s begin by defining the difference between a website redesign and revamp. A revamp is when we utilize the current theme and update minor aspects of the design. Since we really enjoy the analogy of the website development process to that of a new house – think of it as a renovation.
When you make the choice to stick with your current theme it assumed that your theme is:
- Free of security leaks
- No more than 8+ years old
- Utilizing the current functionality your team needs to continue growth (eComm, scheduling, integrations with your CRM and more)
- Has been undergoing monthly maintenance since launch
While some websites are simply in need of a design “facelift”, your strategy may require a full content overhaul with SEO. This opens up for a new sitemap, permalinks, and more; leading some designers to the conclusion that a website redesign is the best option.
When Should You Redesign Your Website?
It’s no secret that a website is an investment but it is essential to the foundation of your digital strategy. If you are finding that your current website is not attracting the right customer it’s time to assess.
A redesign is needed if you are experiencing the following:
- Design is outdated
- Website is not generating qualified leads
- Customers cannot find what they need; everything is living on the site but quite difficult to navigate
- Content is not meaningful, informative or optimized for SEO
- The website has too many 404s (broken links)
- Does not have a good search engine ranking for targeted keywords
- Competing websites are more modern in terms of design, content, and responsiveness
So What Are the Benefits of Redesigning Your Website?
Despite its price tag, a website, when created by a team that knows what they are doing, will generate enough leads and revenue to outweigh the initial investment.
A few benefits to your new website design include:
- Save money in the long run
- When you have an older theme you will find you are spending more to slap bandaids on a bigger issue which is site security, theme dysfunction with new CMS updates, and lack of responsiveness across mobile devices.
- Trying to manipulate a theme to be what it’s not intended for will end up convoluting the code to a point where you will have many more headaches and site hacks.
- Generate leads and increase conversions
- Decreased conversion rate can be due to a poor sitemap, content and overall user-experience.
- When all the common SEO mistakes are avoided from the beginning you can move up in the search rankings.
- Aligning your branding with your target customer
- Whether it’s B2B, luxury or a brand that is targeting stay at home moms, the visual aspect of the site needs to make sense and if it does not, the user will bounce.
- Focused and clear messaging and content
- Now that you have a chance to get it right the first time, your content should really extract the challenge your customers are looking to solve.
- In the research and discovery phase, this is an opportunity to survey your current customers to understand – why they chose you, why they love your service/product, and what solutions or messaging really resonated with them during their consideration stage.
- Choosing a CMS that your team can use
- With a new website, your team can be trained during launch to really understand how it all works. This will save you money in the future when you want to make small edits to your site or post to the blog.
- Increase customer trust
- Users that come to a well designed, user-friendly, and mobile-first website will immediately feel validation.
- Chance to showcase your portfolio and testimonial
- Portfolio sites are especially important for verticals such as design, construction, art, weddings/events, architecture, and photography. Showcase your work, client roster, testimonials, and case studies to continue to build trust and guide the user to fill out a form and take the next step.
Conclusion
The best place to begin is with a website assessment. Our team analyzes websites every day to give our potential customers unbiased information to make an educated decision. Contact our team today for a free website assessment.
