There are only two constants in the world, death and taxes. Everything else will change over time, streets are repaved, the roof on your house will need to be replaced, your car will need new tires and your website will need to be redesigned.
Technology is of course the catalyst behind a change to your website’s design. Technology improves and new features and designs will be added. Working in new features can and sometimes will require a complete redesign of a website and that is not always a bad thing. Many experts recommend a company change their website’s design about every two to three years but in reality there is no set timeframe.
There are probably reasons why a business owner doesn’t want to change their website. Most like their site the way it is and feel that their users are comfortable with their site and will stop using it if they have to navigate a new site. A good redesign of the site will not change much of the layout so there should be no fear of updating. Redesigning the website will cost time and money, something that a small business owner may not have in abundance so it is just not worth thinking about but this is something that shouldn’t be overlooked.
There are other reasons to update the design of the website. In two to three years your business can add or subtract services. Your marketing strategy or business priorities can change. New products and an emphasis on what products you want to sell may need to be added. Along the same lines SEO algorithms are updated regularly and a redesign of the website can go a long way to optimizing your SEO strategy and if SEO was not worked into the original design there is no better time than now to do it.
Is your website generating the leads you would like it to? If not it may be time to redesign it. Logos and color schemes can change. New mobile devices with different screen sizes are being released and your website needs to be able to be viewed on them.
Perhaps the most important reason to change your website are your customers. If they are complaining that your site is slow to load or hard to read it is time to change. Do they say it’s ugly or dated? After all website design styles change over time just like clothing styles change. You don’t see anyone walking around with bell-bottomed pants much do you? It’s time to redesign the site but you can also solicit their feedback. Your customers will feel like they are a small part of your business and it will help generate loyalty.
Now a complete redesign may not be necessary. Many large sites like Amazon or Apple have not significantly redesigned their website in years. Instead their sites have evolved with smaller design changes and refinements. This requires a much more active approach to the website but it is possible that a website does not need a complete overhaul. There are other ways to keep your site fresh like adding new content (this also helps with SEO) and photos and videos.
Think about what a website looked like in the past. Since nearly all sites have been redesigned does anyone remember the Heaven’s Gate Cult? Their website is still there frozen in time from twenty years ago. There have been a lot of new developments since then, much less in the past five years. You don’t want your website to look like theirs do you?