If it’s been a while since you’ve worked on your website, it may be overdue for a face-lift. Website redesigns are a chance to blow the dust off your online presence and shine a light on new services or products, reimagined branding and other buzzworthy initiatives.

How do you know when it’s time for an update?

1. Your Current Site Looks Ancient

Functionality is important, but so is your site’s aesthetic. A clunky or outdated design suggests your company is running behind the times too, and that’s not the image you want to project. Hire a professional web designer adept at marrying style and usability and you’ll be rewarded with a site that’s memorable for all the right reasons.

2. It’s Not Optimized for Mobile

Smartphones now account for two-thirds of e-commerce time, and more than half of searchers say they’re more likely to buy from a mobile-optimized website. It stands to reason that the opposite is also true — sites that render poorly or load slowly on mobile devices could well hinder your conversion rates. If your site isn’t designed for the mobile age, it should be.

3. Users Need a Road Map to Find What They’re Looking For

User experience, or UX, is everything. Consumers shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to learn more about your service or buy your product. Surf your site as a customer and see how the buyer journey progresses. If the navigation process isn’t intuitive, it’s time to rethink your design.

4. There’s an Abundance of Technical Errors

Years of constant tweaking and DIY designing clutter your website with crumbs. Those crumbs, like broken links and jumbled title tags, junk up the landscape and increase the likelihood that your site will look and/or act funny. As technical errors mount, so do bounce rates — essentially, consumers are confronted with a poorly performing or misleading product and they decide they’d rather take their business elsewhere.

5. Everyday Administrator Tasks Are a Major Hassle

As important as UX is, it’s also vital that you can complete your admin tasks as quickly and easily as possible. It’s fine to call in a professional for major website changes, but if your backend is overly complicated to the point that you find yourself with your web developer on speed dial, something has to change. Ask that your site update includes migration to a content management system like WordPress and see what a difference a user-friendly interface makes.

A word of warning: It’s entirely possible to update your site too often. Constant site renovations can prove unsettling for consumers who struggle with altered layouts and get frustrated trying to find pages that have moved or are missing.

Investing in a redesign is an opportunity to streamline the inner workings of your site while incorporating new technology and increasing overall brand cohesion. For more ways to keep your site secure and up-to-date, check out our full range of WP SitePlan services or contact us today.