How do you know when it’s time for a redesign?
Yes, we’re web designers, so it’s probably in our best interest to tell you the answer is “every three to five years—no ifs, ands, or buts.” But we’re not like other web design companies—we’re a cool one. So we’ll give you an honest and thoughtful answer AND we’ll show you a sneak peek of our redesign currently in the works. Because we practice what we preach.
Five reasons to redesign your site now:
It looks outdated and/or all of your competitors are updating.
Unfortunately, books are judged by their covers every day, and businesses are judged by their websites. If all of the other pool cleaning companies in your area have upgraded to full-width images and modern designs, and you still use the site your daughter built for you when she was in high school circa 2004, your potential organic search customers will probably choose another company. It doesn’t matter that your pool cleaning is far superior to anyone else’s. Your website needs to reflect your high quality of work.
However, if you have a long-standing (possibly older) clientele who uses your website often, a redesign may not be in your best interest. Folks are generally resistant to change, and if redesigning means moving frequently accessed content around or asking customers to learn a new system, you may be met with a fair amount of groaning and complaining.
You’ve outgrown it.
You can outgrow your site in a few different ways. You may have a larger client base now that would benefit from more features, such as e-commerce or a log-in system. Or perhaps you offer more services now than you did originally and therefore need a restructured site. Either way, capitalize on growth spurts by accommodating new clients with site features that add value to or streamline their experience.
Your company has recently undergone branding, identity, or name changes.
Because who doesn’t love a makeover? Your site is the online iteration of your company, so it should represent you in name, style, and personality—especially if you’ve recently rebranded. A company with an uncertain image makes uncertain customers, so you’ll want them to become familiar with your new logo, colors, and name as quickly as possible.
Your content is no longer accurate, engaging, or optimized.
We know better now how both site visitors and search engines read our content, so take a critical look at what’s featured on your site. Does it represent your company correctly and well, or do you have blocks of text written in a voice that doesn’t match your business’s personality? Are your pictures misleading and/or of the cheesy stock variety? Do your pages lack interlinks, titles, descriptions, and keywords? Do you have a blog (because someone told you it’d boost your SEO), but your last blog post was over a year ago?
All of these factors can contribute to a site that has a low search engine ranking and a high bounce rate. The good news here, however, is that as long as the structure and size of your site are still suitable for your needs, you can opt for a “refresh” over a total redesign. A refresh is basically a content swap out, and it’s often much cheaper and easier than a redesign.
It’s broken or not responsive.
This one should be obvious, but you wouldn’t believe how many clients tell us that their site doesn’t need to be responsive because they don’t think their target demographic uses mobile. People: my 85-year old grandmother uses an iPad. She’s never happier than when she’s propped up on her heating pad in her comfy kitchen chair watching “The View” and scrolling through her News Feed, looking for pictures of her grandchildren. Case closed.
Now, about that sneak peek!
We can hardly contain our excitement for our redesign, which we’ll be rolling out in the next few weeks.
It’s fresh, colorful, and full of light, but our improvements aren’t just cosmetic. We’re paring down and reorganizing our content to showcase our talents and make our services easier to navigate. We’re revising our text so that it reflects our style: skilled, straightforward, and lighthearted. No more buzz words or kitschy phrases for the heck of it, and definitely no more WordPress magician.
We want potential clients to see the sincerity in our site and want that in their own. Because really, shouldn’t a makeover highlight its subject’s best features rather than try to change them? We’re the same KWC, just facing you head on, with a scrubbed face and brighter look.
