How Often Should a Website Be Redesigned and Why?

How often should a website be redesigned? Unfortunately, there's no concrete answer to this one. If there were, it would be 'whenever you feel like it!' However, there are many legitimate reasons that warrant a redesign, which is what we're examining in this article.

An out of date look and feel

Your website may be looking out of date and not use the current design trends. It is very important that a website looks good and the design layout targets your demographic. The way a website presents visually can make, or break, a sale. Your design should reflect your company's image and product, which will then also appeal to your demographic.  Web design trends change just like any fad or fashion. If you look at the current trend, it tends to have lots of white space, rounded corners and glassy, stylized elements. Most web designers would refer to this style as Web2.0. Web2.0 is just one of many styles that are popular today. Each website is different and they all should have a unique design to compliment their function. You can compare a websites look and feel to the look and feel of the latest model cars. Most car brands have a new model out every 2 years or so. The new model will always look more striking, run more smoothly and probably go faster. It is much the same with new websites. An out of date website or older model car might still get you from A to B and look ok, but a newer model will alway out perform it's predecessor.

Poor goal conversion

Your website may not be converting as many goals at what you would like it to. A goal conversion could be a sale, a sign-up or an enquiry-Basically, it's whatever you would like your visitors to do when they get to your site. There are a number of aspects that can contribute to a poor goal conversion; A confusing layout can distract your website visitor from continuing with their session. Old technology might impact the user's perception of your business, due to the site looking out of date or it simply not working. A website redesign would address all these issues and almost certainly increase your goal conversions.

Search engine rankings

Search engine rankings are the most important factor in generating sales through your website. You may have the best looking website and a very efficient goal-funneling process but without traffic, your website is useless. If your website is out of date there could be elements that need to be updated to follow the latest search engine optimization (SEO) techniques. A website redesign would potentially give your website a much better result... And let's face it... how many people actually look any further than the second page of Google?