10 Reasons for a Website Redesign
1. Only one chance to make a good impression. It seems everyone goes online for research nowadays prior to making any big purchases. Potential customers will visit your site (as well as your competitors) and leave with a strong impression of your business – good or bad. Make sure it’s the impression you want to leave or you may never see them again.
2. Get increased, relevant traffic. Perhaps your site isn’t ranking as highly for search engines as it once did. There are things that can be done to help your site rank well again. Over time, search engines reprioritize what is most important when ranking websites. It might be time to think about a website redesign or optimized content tailored to make your website rise in the ranks for Google, Bing, and other search engines.
3. Time to get Social. Does your website have a blog? Can visitors easily add content from your website to their Facebook, Twitter, or some other social media account? Can they “Like” you? Viral marketing works, and it can work for you too. The key is to have a good plan, and follow through with it. But that’s an entirely different conversation.
4. Make things more convenient for both you and your user. We’ve all been to a doctor’s office, and been required to fill out tedious to then wait even longer to see the physician. It sure would be nice to be able to provide this information ahead of time with either an online questionnaire or a downloadable form. Technology enables us to make tasks like these much more streamlined and efficient-for both the customer and the business.
5. Clutter, Clutter, and more Clutter. A common mistake businesses make with their website is simply adding too much information. You run the risk of potential customers not finding what they need, resulting in a lost opportunity. Learn to categorize items into major and minor categories to help simplify the navigation process.
6. Cover the essentials. It sounds basic enough, but you have to understand why most people visit your site. People visit websites for a variety of reasons. A primary reason is to obtain information. Are your products and services easy to find? Don’t require your potential customers to exert a lot of effort to track down a phone number, directions, or other in-demand information.
7. Mobile Friendly. In the not-too-distant future, the number of mobile Internet users will trump that of desktop Internet users. This is a trend that cannot be ignored. For some businesses, it might be beneficial to invest in a mobile site that better meets the needs of mobile Internet users. At the very least, there are some modifications that can be made to the content and design of your current site that will make it much more mobile-friendly.
8. Get started in e-Commerce. Buying and selling online has never been easier or more accepted by users. Once the programming is set up, you can add/delete/edit product and pictures yourself. Consider promotions, gift cards or a “company store” to sell your company apparel and gift items.
9. Add streaming video or audio media. Let’s face it, most people will only skim your website (just as you’ve probably skimmed through this material) but they will watch your video because today’s flash and streaming video is fast and easy. That makes your website “sticky.” And if visitors spend more time on your site you’ll convert a higher ratio of your traffic into sales.
10. Simplify your life. Don’t re-key information when online electronic forms can do the work for you. Online databases can share data and image files so you’re not using staff time to retrieve it. A secure log-in restricts access to authorized users.
