Does my website need a redesign?

Does my website need a redesign?

Posted on 15. January 2018.
Author: Dejan Krstić


Does my website need a redesign

Very often we get this question that is troubling many website owners. We will try to explain to you as short and understandable as possible what is the redesign of the website and to point out some important facts that can help you evaluate whether your website needs a redesign.

Many of you are convinced that the redesign of the website involves only a change of design, forgetting or not knowing that the change and upgrading of functionality, changes in the data structure, the way of navigation, and the manner of presenting information is considered under redesign. In the case of dynamic websites based on a CMS solution (Joomla, WordPress, Drupal, etc.), redesign means switching to a new, advanced, or even another version of the CMS. While dynamic coded custom-coded websites can be considered as re-coding or new coding using some of the latest versions of program or script languages and using modern web technologies.

Most website owners do not have enough expertise in web technologies, so many of them find it difficult to evaluate from a technical point of view whether their site needs redesign. Unlike technical aspects, you can easily assess whether your website looks old-fashioned or whether information and functionality is in line with your business and the habits of your clients and visitors.

On the technical side and depending on the way and the technology of making, your website may be considered obsolete after several years. Usually this is a period of 3 to 5 years, but it depends very much on many factors. Some of these factors will be described below in this text. From our experience as an agency with more than 60% foreign clients (predominantly USA and EU), a large number of websites in the Western market are redesigned on average after 2 years, a smaller part of clients redesign their website every year, and very rarely keep their old website for more than 3 years without any significant changes in design or functionality.

These are just some of the factors that can affect a site being considered obsolete and requiring a redesign:


Your website looks obsolete and old-fashioned

Nowadays, most of your new potential clients will first visit your website, and then on the basis of the impression they will decide whether to contact you or not. Compare the websites of your competitor and if you see that their websites are better designed and give a better impression, it’s high time you also consider changing your website design.


Functionality, navigation, way of presenting your business

Put yourself in the role of a potential visitor and try to get the essential information in as easy and quick way as possible. It is important to note that most visitors will not view all pages of your website, but only those parts that are interesting and necessary to them. Make sure that visitors can easily and quickly reach the desired information without unnecessarily wandering around the pages. Very often it happens that the visitor leaves the web site without finding the information that matters to him, and what a website owner means is the loss of a potential client.


Adjustable for viewing on mobile phones and tablets (responsive design)

The ability to display a website on mobile phones and tablets has long ago become a standard for all websites.
If your site does not have this feature, it’s a sure indicator that the redesign of your website hasn’t been done for long period of time.
We recommend that you read our article on a flexible (responsive) design.


Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

Google has long been the world’s number one search engine, most web sites in the world are basing their SEO strategy just for this search engine. The criterion, the method of indexing and ranking Google sites very often changes, sometimes these changes are hardly noticeable and do not lead to significant changes in search results, and sometimes they are drastic and as such can lead to important changes in the order of displaying your website in Google search. When these algorithms change by Google, SEO strategies for the website are also changing. Redesigned website in accordance with the SEO strategy will achieve better results in search results, and therefore increase the possibility that a greater number of potential customers will find and visit your website.
At this link you can find out more about optimizing the website for search engines (SEO).


Your business is global, and your website is available only in the local language

By owning more than one language on the website, you increase the possibility of global business, i.e. presenting your products and services in other countries. Of course, this is very dependent on your target group of clients, the types of products and services you provide. Someone who deals with a local market that is only present in the narrow radius from its place of business and the location where it is or to which the target group is the local population will certainly not have the need to present its products and services in another language. One of the essential items of a multilingual website is the improvement of the SEO strategy, i.e. the position of your web site on search engines.


Your web site takes too long to load or there are some other problems in the work of the website

In case of slow loading of the website, a large number of visitors will leave the website and look for another alternative.
Very often it happens that due to obsolescence or due to technical problems, certain parts of the website or the whole page are not loaded in the browser (viewer) of visitors. Such a website can only inflict more harm than benefit and this is a clear indication that your website needs redesign or at least a serious intervention.


Inability to update (upgrade) a website, plugins, components to a newer version

By updating or upgrading a dynamic website and its parts (plugins, components …), you can minimize or completely eliminate the problem. Possible problems can be manifested in many ways, and they are mainly related to the functionality and security of the website.


Conclusion

We just gave you some of the basic indicators that your website needs a complete redesign or at least serious intervention by professionals. There are many other factors that indicate whether your website needs a redesign and, as we have already stated at the beginning, many of these factors depend on the type of website, technologies used etc.



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