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Is my website ripe for a redesign?

June 24th, 2009

24Mar09 ~ Where's the Time?

Photo Credit: g_kat26

By Matt Cook
Point.Click Media

The title says it all. This is a common question that is asked to us all of the time. How do I know if a redesign is in order? It may be that you’ve had your website running for a few years, or just built or redesigned within the last year. Still the question pops up, and if it hasn’t yet, it will soon.

The first thing you’ll need to ask yourself is “What am I redesigning the site for?” and also “Who am I redesigning the site for?”

If you’re having trouble answering these questions then there’s likely no hurry. You shouldn’t need to redesign your website for yourself. Remember, it’s your customers who matter most. It’s quite common for business owners to grow tired of their websites long before their users do. The reason for this is simple. You see your website all of the time, perhaps every day. Naturally, you’re going to get bored of seeing the same thing over and over again. Chances are, though, that your clients and customers and even prospective clients are still only using your website for the first time or at least not as often. The information presented to them will still seem new and fresh, even after a period of a few years, provided you are regularly updating your website content.

If you are keeping your content up to date, then maybe a redesign isn’t the best solution. Perhaps you’d prefer to change focus and look at promoting what you already have.

The main goal of your website is to be found by potential customers and to help turn those prospects into more substantial leads and further sales. Even if your business has undergone a rebranding of sorts, your existing website should still do its job if it was properly built in the first place. Redesigning your website based purely on a company rebranding can be a viable reason, but only if the focus remains on the aforementioned goals. The look of your website is not what sells your information. Quality content is king with a focus on the quality.

Take a look at most news outlets. Most have very plain, clean, simple websites yet people flock to these sites every day. Why? The answer is obvious – they want to read the news. The same concept applies to your website. The fact that the menu buttons are red instead of green to match your logo doesn’t matter to the customer. If you can tell them how to save a bunch of money through your service or by using your products, then you know that will pique their interest. This is where most businesses and even so called ‘web experts’ steer themselves into trouble by wearing their design hat instead of their marketing hat.

The first step toward identifying whether or not you’ve fallen behind the times is to take a good long look at the information you’re presenting to your customers. If your current content still holds up, there are plenty of other avenues to pursue on the web in order to increase traffic to your site. Contrary to this, if your website has not been touched since the day it was launched and the outdated technology it was built with has left many broken links or images, content is sparse or outdated, or perhaps the site was never completely finished – you’re likely doing more harm than good. These are the cases where a full revamp may be in order. In any case, it’s a good idea to give your website a good audit before pursuing a different direction.

If you’d like to look at the performance potential of your current website versus the possibilities of overhauling your current approach, contact Point.Click Media Productions. We’d be happy to help.

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Posted in Branding Tips on June 24th, 2009

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