How Often Should You Redesign Your Website?

People ask us all the time, “How often should I redesign my website?” And the answer we always give is, “Well, it really depends.”

Truthfully, there’s no one-size-fits-all answer to this question. But we will say this — organizations grow and evolve. They flex and adapt. As your offering and core messaging change, it’s absolutely imperative to ensure that your website clearly depicts who you are and what you have to offer. And sometimes, that might mean rebuilding your website sooner than anticipated.

Even if it feels like you just wrapped your last overhaul, if your site doesn’t represent you well, it’s worth considering a redesign.

Why Redesign Your Website?

We only get one chance to make a first impression, and your site’s look can impart a great deal of information about your business with a single glance. If your competitors’ websites are cleaner, more targeted to end users, and better optimized for search engine marketing, your business will likely yield less web traffic and lower conversion rates. If you don’t have a responsive website built to display as beautifully on mobile devices as on computers, you’re ignoring more than half the world’s web traffic every day.

Your site is the foundation of your online presence, and it’s vital that it’s built correctly with content and a user experience that reflects your users’ needs. As design trends come and go, new technologies emerge, and your business grows and changes, you need to continue to refine your website to align with current best practices. A website overhaul presents you with an opportunity to better reach your target customers and boost the effects of your digital marketing efforts.

By redesigning your website, you can ensure your site supports your broader business goals.

A website redesign offers you the unique opportunity to take a hard look at what’s working and what’s not. A thoughtfully built website should educate your potential customers and clearly demonstrate each selling point that sets you apart from your competitors. If you have lofty sales and marketing goals and you think your website is hindering them, that’s a valid concern and one that should be addressed.

Even though each situation is unique, there are some common scenarios that may be early indicators it’s time to consider a new website design.

Signs It’s Time to Redesign:

Your offering has changed.

If you’ve changed what kind of service or product you offer, your site may benefit from an overhaul. As you adapt your offering to better align with your target audience’s needs, your website may be lacking in content, visual aids, or compelling calls-to-action. Your homepage, in particular, should reflect a succinct summary of what you do and link to a more detailed explanation of your offering.

Your company has recently rebranded.

Branding provides a visual cue and reference point for potential customers. If you’re rebranding but your website reflects your old logo, colors, or fonts, you could create confusion and hinder brand recognition. Make sure to revamp your website and push the new design live at the same time you update branding materials everywhere else.

Your site’s design is antiquated.

While trends in design are constantly emerging and fading, most websites built more than five years ago will have outdated aesthetics. Fresh, clean web design can cultivate trust with your audience — or scare them off if your site looks dated and unprofessional. Certain fonts, layouts, and even color combinations can date your website. Unfortunately, if your design isn’t current, you may not appear trustworthy or credible to your target audience.

Your site doesn’t offer an excellent user experience.

An excellent user experience increases the chances of users staying on your site, exploring its content, and converting into customers, so it’s vital that you provide an experience that enables them to quickly find the information they need. A good user experience supports and never hinders prospects as they explore what you have to offer.

Your site isn’t technically sound.

Search engine optimization (SEO) doesn’t just pertain to a website’s content. Factors like load speed, image sizes, and other technical components can create a poor user experience while simultaneously impacting search engine rankings. The way your site was built (and when!) can dramatically affect the end user’s experience, and in many cases, a full rebuild is the best solution to resolve code-based technical issues.

You aren’t satisfied with the functionality of your website.

Web design and coding go hand in hand. If you want to display a beautiful, dynamic carousel of events, but your website isn’t coded to support that feature, it may take substantial resources to get your new system up and running. As your wish list of new website functions grows, there’s a good chance the best use of your dollars and time is to rebuild your site from the ground up so you have all the features you need.

You want to shift what platform your site runs on.

Not all platforms are created equal. Some are user-friendly and allow for a lot of customization, while other content management systems are more locked down. We use WordPress to build our sites, and some of our clients have approached us for a redesign simply because they weren’t happy with their current site’s back end.

And finally, your website isn’t generating leads or conversions.

It may take a user several visits before they convert, but your website can serve as so much more than a business card. Informing your users is only the first step. A thoughtfully designed and built website should gently warm website visitors until they convert into a lead.

Redesigning your website is a big project — but you’ve got this, and we’re here to help.

At 434 Marketing, we’ve built over 250 websites spanning more than a decade. We’ve seen trends come and go, but if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s this: your website is the foundation of your web presence, and it’s worth the time and effort to make sure you’re sending the right message. If you’ve been weighing the pros and cons of a website redesign, we’d love to chat!

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