4 Signs You Need to Do a Website Redesign
Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. And often times, this is especially true when it comes to websites.
For many start-up companies, creating the first version of their website is a grueling and exhausting task, even if they have a web team to help guide them. Even more so, it’s common for a new business to not have a ton of money to put towards the process, which means the majority of the work falls on the owner and management team. Because of their lack of web design knowledge, and the stress that comes with the project, the finished product tends to be less than exciting.
This is a common situation to be in, and it’s not something to feel bad about. But unfortunately, many business owners take so much pride in their creation that they don’t see the obvious – their website sucks. With that being said, if you aren’t getting the results you would like from your website, or find that any of the following problems resonate with you, it may be time to start a website redesign.
Slow Load Time
This one is kind of a no-brainer, but people hate waiting for a website to load. In fact, 40% of people abandon a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. If that statistic still isn’t enough to convince you, and your business depends on online sales, consider this: If you make $100,000 per day online, a 1 second page delay could potentially cost you $2.5 million in lost sales every year.
If you’re not sure how your website is performing, try doing Pingdom’s website speed test or Google’s PageSpeed Insights for a great overview of your pain points and how to improve.
High Bounce Rate
If you’ve noticed on your website analytics that you have a high bounce rate, meaning people are coming to your website and leaving quickly, then you need to start trying to figure out why. Look at what pages are getting the most traffic. Are people browsing multiple pages, or are they are visiting one page and then leaving?
If your home page is getting the most traffic, but users aren’t clicking through to other pages from there, then it may be an indication of poor user experience. Is there a clear path of direction for your customers? Are your calls-to-action relevant?
One of the biggest problems I see with websites is that they don’t understand the buyer’s journey. User’s are most likely not ready to buy when they first visit your website, they need more information first. By ignoring this and posting your phone number everywhere and having call-to-actions that say “Contact Us,” and “Buy Now” you may be coming on too strong. Instead, figure out how to provide your users with content that fits the stage their in and helps guide them to make their decision.
Your Website is Not Responsive
More people are using their phone as their main source for internet than ever before. So if your website isn’t responsive, and optimized for mobile, then you’re missing out. Even if you don’t sell products on your website, it’s still vital to deliver a good mobile experience. To get a better idea of how your website stacks up, try HubSpot’s Website Grader.
It’s Outdated
Thanks to ever-changing technology, if your website hasn’t been updated in the past year, it shows. From design styles to new features and code, it’s so important to make constant updates to ensure proper functionality. In addition, website’s that look outdated make a horrible first impression of your company. Keeping your website fresh helps let people know you’re still in business.
In short, if your website has one or more of these issues, it’s time to do a website redesign. Don’t let a bad website get in the way of your business’ success, turn it into a viable lead-generation tool and the possibilities are endless.