By Eric Hammis, courtesy of 3Sixty Interactive
So 10 years ago, you had this beautiful website designed for your company. The moment it was launched, you instantly saw an increase in sales. This website was your baby. But as time went on, the numbers began to slow down. What was once your baby has gradually transformed into an old, cranky website that isn’t producing results and making things difficult to update. So how do you know when it is the right time to get back to the infancy stage with your website?
It’s never easy deciding the right time to construct a redesign of your website. You’ve put so much time and effort to perform updates that it seems like you are backtracking by starting over. That’s not the case, however. While most websites can get by with a few updates, sometimes there’s signs that it’s best to start fresh. Let’s take a look at some of those signs.
Eyesore
Website design has come a long way in the last decade. Once you land on a website, it’s pretty easy to tell by just the appearance what decade the site was created. We all know that we’ve landed on that website that looks like it was designed when the first Apple computer was released. And what do you do when you land on a site like that? Chances are, you instantly leave.
So when your website is starting to age, it’s probably a good time for a redesign. Now this doesn’t necessarily mean your content is out of date, but perhaps just a new template will do the trick.
Finding your way through a maze
People are coming to your site to find out information about your company, whether it’s product information, your company history, specials, etc. Although they’ve come to your site, if they find themselves in an endless labyrinth, it’s a safe bet they will leave. This means it’s time for a redesign of your navigation.
This can be a tough one because you most likely know the navigation of your own site like the back of your hand. So maybe bring in some testers and see how they do with finding their way through your site. If they’re struggling with your navigation, it’s time for a change.
Error after error
There’s nothing more frustrating than making your way through a site only to find a page with an error message. Or even worse, you finally find the PDF that you’ve been searching for and the link is broken. This can drive your visitors bonkers. So if you’ve got a lot of links and items that are broken, perhaps a new, fresh redesign will rid of those pesky error pages.
ZZZZZZZZZZZ
Again, as I mentioned before, people don’t want to spend wasteless minutes on your site, so if your load time is slow, your visitors will hit the dusty trail. If your site is slowing down and you can’t fix the problem, it’s probably because your server is struggling with the amount of traffic to your site. Or perhaps your content management system is out of date. Either way, it’s a sign you need to upgrade to a new site.
Look at the overall picture
To you, your baby can do no wrong. But to others, your site might drive them nuts. The best way to assess your site is by bringing in testers and test the overall site. Take note of what your testers struggle with and use that to determine whether a redesign is necessary or not. You never know what you will find wrong with your site.