With roughly 4.6 billion people having the capability to access the internet – soon, every person thanks to the progress of Starlink – the amount of potential website traffic is overwhelming; anyone can cross paths with your website or social media.
The internet is a living entity – it’s constantly changing – either you keep up, or get left in the past. One requirement to stay relevant in any industry is keeping up appearances and revamping the company’s website regularly. Users need a congruent experience – a website that is flawless and updated accomplishes this. If you have a great product, your website should reflect that – it reaches more people than a physical storefront.
Why is Updating Necessary?
On average, it can take about six months to a year to revamp a website so it’s best to begin redesign at the three or four year mark of its lifetime and go live (public) no later than the five year point. An update is overdue if a website is older than half a decade.
- With the internet constantly changing, websites age quickly. If a website is outdated it can decrease the load speed. Studies show a consumer’s attention span is between 2 and 8 seconds. Don’t let that precious time be a loading screen. Slower load speed correlates with a higher bounce rate, creating a hole in the business’ conversion funnel.
- People make decisions quickly from first impressions. Aesthetics and content are important for UX, meaning both of these things should be updated regularly. If a company isn’t keeping up their front end appearance, consumers will suspect how well their business is functioning behind the scenes (shipping, customer service, product quality, etc.).
- An aged functionality or appearance can confuse users (yes, they can tell) and they’ll become cynical, doubting the genuineness of the business.
- With a plethora of transactions online and low barriers to entry, market competition has only increased. Your competition is likely keeping their website up-to-date. How often a website needs updates depends on how competitive the industry is – the higher the competition level, the more often a website requires updating.
The Revamp Process
Chances are high you’ll hire someone for a redesign and web development. Make sure they do it correctly. Hire someone who is up to date in web design, UX and your industry’s market. The process requires soft skills such as determining what appeals to a certain audience, whether a color scheme actually works well and what features are useful or just overwhelming.
- When the time comes, the first step is to research, searching through websites of the competition and similar industries. Take note of what a consumer would enjoy, what looks good and works for the overall experience, and what would work better than what you currently have for your clientele. What can you do better than the competition? How can you serve your users better? Ensure mobile is being accounted for throughout this process as to not damage any UX.
- Double check that the redesign works by confirming the remodel passes user usability prior to publishing. A new website won’t do any good if isn’t user friendly.
- When the new design goes live, use analytics and metrics frequently to evaluate it as time progresses and use this valuable data to guide the updates and the next design.
We have a lot of experience personalizing and developing what is needed for a website’s success if you would like help.
Just Do It
Consumers are instinctively searching in their browsers for what they need and the plethora of product/service options is daunting. Make their choice easier by showing off your business on a functional and appealing website. Having one not only legitimizes an enterprise, it also provides easy access to information. If a website isn’t being regularly updated, it’s becoming irrelevant and better options are taking it’s rank in search results.
Time for a Revamp? We Got You
