Website Redesign: 4 Reasons to Redesign Your Website in 2014
by Andrew Millar
When most of us think about a website redesign we immediately jump to what the website will look like. Our minds place this image here and that image there. We visualize visitors coming to our beautiful new site and immediately converting into customers.
Unfortunately, the days are long gone when you could rely on the look and feel of your site to bring in new business.
Effective websites are a lot more than beautiful graphics. They are carefully constructed machines which attract visitors and convert them into customers. Your 2014 website redesign should not just focus on giving your website a branded facelift. It needs to be focused on performance.
Here are the top four reasons to consider a website redesign in 2014, so your website is more than a virtual dot on the map – it is a conversion machine.
1 – Your Website is not Responsive
It is 2014. Not having a smartphone is like not knowing that hot dogs are commonly served in hot dog buns. With so many handheld devices floating around, Internet users are not rushing to their computers to Google this fact and read that e-mail. They are using their phones. If your website is not responsive, the user experience can quickly send visitors away and push them toward the competition. If this sounds familiar, a website redesign is not just a good idea. It is a necessity.
2 – Your Website’s Not SEO Friendly
In the past, Search Engine Optimization (SEO) was about keywords and inbound links. These two factors were used to determine your website’s rank (aka where you land in Google search results). The results varied from website to website, but often ended in keyword stuffing and a poor user experience. Today, Google is using multiple factors to determine your website’s rank including:
- Responsive Web Design
- Social Media
- Intent and Context of Content
The third item may seem strange, but as HubSpot explains, “The main goal of (this change) is to make Google far better at interpreting “conversational” language and understanding the intent of a given search rather than just a series of keywords.”
3 – Your Website is Hard to Navigate
Visitors come to your site to find information. That is it. Plain and simple. They want something. You either have it or you do not. Unfortunately, if your website is hard to navigate, you might have it, but your visitors will not find it.
Why? Because websites that are hard to navigate ask visitors to work. They force them to shuffle through a mass of convoluted information looking for the specific detail they want.
Yes, you have a lot of great things you want to share. While you may want to share them all at once, don’t. One of the main goals of your website redesign should be to make your website easy to navigate. Give visitors a clear and easy path to follow.
4 – Your Website Does Not Allow For Easy Sharing
Nothing is more powerful than word-of-mouth advertising. Social Media is not just about sharing the latest selfie from last night’s party. Consumers are using it to share products they love and those they do not. They’re providing their family and friends reviews instantaneously. And, those reviews matter. Nielsen Research says, “92 percent of consumers around the world say they trust earned media, such as recommendations from friends and family, above all other forms of advertising.”
If your website does not make it easy for visitors to share information about your company, you are missing out on this vital piece of advertising.