How Often Should I Redesign My Website?

Some small business owners set up a website and then never think to ask “how often should I redesign my website?” Without refreshing or updating it every 2-3 years, a website looks boring, old, and uninspired. This does nothing to engage your target audience or keep customers coming back for more.

A website that has not been kept up-to-date may also drop in search engine rankings because it no longer conforms to the latest Google standards. You need to update your website immediately if your site is not
• Easy to navigate
• Encrypted with HTTPS
• Mobile-friendly
• Responsive
• Quick to load

Both Google and smartphone-dependent website visitors reward a high-quality user experience with favorable attention. A website redesign can improve the following areas that affect their perception.

Appearance
In the redesign, make sure you
• Invest in innovative graphic design that will make your website stand out and be mobile-friendly, secure, and work on desktop PCs, smartphones, tablets, and wearable technology.
• Be intentional about adding consistent branding and messaging to your website so that your website, print materials, and social media are in sync.
• Tell your story with unique high-quality images and clear concise text.
• Choose modern colors, fonts, graphics, layout, and mobile-friendly navigation.
• Cut out the clutter. Get rid of Flash animation, repetitive text, and ugly images.
• Add white space.

Functionality And Trust
Perhaps you asked “how often should I redesign my website?” and then realized you aren’t ready for a redesign. Simple updates increase trust from your target market and let you
• Insert a strong call-to-action on each web page.
• Include multiple ways to contact you
• Add new products and services to (and remove outdated items from) your website.
• Fix broke links and plug-ins thereby eliminating error messages.
• Debug and address malware security warnings.
• Remove duplicate content that makes the site difficult to navigate or update.

Search Engine Ranking
Both website updates and website redesign can improve search engine rankings if you
• Pay specific attention to the 5 must-haves listed at the beginning of this post. Your website must have easy navigation, encryption, a mobile-friendly layout, a responsive format, and it must load quickly.
• Add high-quality content and build in search engine optimization with all text and images.
• Eliminate the cause of error messages.
• Fix broken links and plug-ins.
• Remove components that slow your site down.

Now it’s time for you decide how you will answer the “how often should I redesign my website?” question. Call Tate Design at 610.725.0702 or e-mail [email protected] if you need a mobile-friendly responsive website or your current website needs updating or refreshing.