Three Questions To Decide If You Need A New Website

If you ask a web designer if your website needs to be redesigned, then without looking at your existing site they may be inclined to say yes.

This is because every web designer will feel they can improve your site and the speed of change within the industry means that most sites are behind the current trends soon after they are released.

The reality though is that for the overwhelming majority of the UK’s 5m businesses it would be impossible and impractical to redesign in line with design trends.

So rather than looking at the trends we ask businesses to balance the needs of their customers with the functional capabilities of their website. This can be split into three questions:

Is Your Business Mobile Friendly?

If your website is more than a couple of years old, then it may not be designed with people who use the internet from a smartphone or tablet in mind. The likelihood is that with more than half of all traffic coming from mobile devices this will include your customers.

Sites that are not mobile friendly appear too large or too small on a smartphone or tablet and can be difficult to navigate.

Google have recognised this and now do not show websites on their search engines when a user searches from a smartphone or tablet, which could see your website become invisible to half the internet.

If your website is not mobile-friendly (test it here) then it is time to get a new website to ensure that your customers can find your site and navigate it efficiently.

Is Your Website Easy To Navigate?

Modern consumers are incredibly impatient, if your website is difficult to use or they find it hard to find what they want, then they will simply give up and go elsewhere.

Therefore, if your website is confusing or hard to navigate then you need to seriously consider redesigning your existing site or building a new one.

Does The Design Reflect The Message I Want To Send Customers?

Branding is used to describe any part of your business that allows a customer to make a judgement about your company. If your website is tacky, lacks detail or has obviously not been attended to in years then your potential customers will make decisions based on that.

So if you look at your website, and you do not think it reflects the values of your customers it may be time to redesign your website.