How Do You Know if Your Website Needs a Refresh?
Posted on 21st October 2022
Once you have a website in place, it’s tempting to leave it be – after all, a redesign costs time and money. However, a website should always be considered a work in progress. It simply isn’t possible for a site to remain effective over time without making sure it adapts to continually changing technologies and the rising expectations of web visitors.
Here are some telltale signs that suggest your website would benefit from a refresh...
It's not performing well
And by poor performance, we mean low traffic (or the wrong traffic), low conversions and a high bounce rate. The latter is a significant problem as it indicates visitors are landing on your website and exiting right away without browsing any further. A bounce rate of 70% or above is deemed too high for most websites – and could mean something is broken. Anything between 26-40% is considered excellent.
Your competitors' websites are better than yours
Website design trends are always changing and developing. While your website may have stood out at one time, the chances are it’ll become outdated within a few years. A good way to check is to visit your competitors’ websites. If you feel those websites look and function better than yours, your target audience will likely think the same.
It doesn't reflect your brand identity
Many businesses go through a rebranding process as their identity, vision, and values evolve. Often, the website is the last thing to change, especially if it’s packed with lots of content and staff are used to the site working a certain way. However, with your website being the backbone of your online presence, it must reflect where your business is headed. That might mean changing the design, creating new content, adding customer testimonials or updating your company’s portfolio.
It's slow to load
If your site suffers from slow page load times, visitors won’t hang around to see what your business has to offer (thus, rendering your website ineffective). Google research suggests that as page load time goes from one second to three seconds, the probability of a visitor ‘bouncing’ increases by 32%. So if your website takes even longer to load – more than three seconds (as is the case with many sites) – your bounce rate will increase even more.
It's not secure
As a website owner, you have a responsibility to ensure your site is secure, particularly if you capture the personal data of visitors. Sadly, hackers and cyber thieves are getting smarter and know all sorts of ways to get into the back end of a website, causing chaos, stealing data and ruining your brand’s reputation. If you have an old website that isn’t maintained with regular updates, your site could be at risk.
Is now the right time to refresh your website?
If you can relate to one or more of these warning signs, it’s probably time for a redesign. Whether you need a complete rebrand, a more user-friendly interface, better content or improved performance, we’re here to help.
If you’re unsure whether your site is experiencing any of these issues, why not take advantage of our free website health check? We’ll put your site through its paces, looking at your overall design, content and functionality. And we’ll provide you with a report to let you know what needs improving and why. Get in touch today.
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