How to Know If Your Website Should Be Redesigned

I can’t believe it’s November already! It literally feels like it was just January! (I actually say this every year.) With us being so close to the New Year, I know everyone is making plans for how they want to maximize 2019 and live their best lives.

If you have a business, you may be thinking of ways that you’d like to improve for next year. And one of the things you may be reevaluating is your website. Maybe you designed it a while ago and you’re not sure if it’s still working for you or if you even like it anymore? Or maybe you’re making some changes in your business, so you're not exactly feelin your website for the new direction you’re going in?

So many things to consider! But don’t worry, in this blog post, I overview the five reasons why you may want to redesign your website. Whether you choose to hire a web designer, like me, or to take the DIY route, these reasons are all worth considering, so you can hit the ground running with a strong website that’ll help your business make progress in 2019.

Reason #1: Your business is shifting to a different focus.

If you’re changing the direction of your business, you’ll definitely want to consider re-designing it. I started online as a Lifestyle Blogger, so when I decided to make the switch to focusing solely on web design, I definitely had to design a totally new website.

Are you doing the same? Maybe you’re moving from being a Photographer to a Business Coach? Or from a Business Coach to an Accountant? Whatever the change is, you’ll want to change your website to reflect it and here’s why.

Your new focus may require you to attract a different type of audience from your current audience. And your new focus may not be accurately reflected in your current brand design. Some brand designs work for certain areas and not for others. You want your website and brand design to fully reflect your new area of focus, so it can appeal to the audience that you’ll be growing moving forward.

Reason #2: Your design preferences have changed.

If you started your business a while ago, it’s pretty likely that your design preferences have changed a bit since then. We often start out with one vision for what we want for our designs and then as time passes, we end up wanting to go in a totally different direction.

Maybe you’re not loving the pink fonts anymore? Or maybe you want to start using a different style of photography? Whatever it is, you probably need a website redesign, so you can be sure it matches your current preferences. You want to be able to look at your website with excitement and feeling like it accurately reflects what you want, instead of cringing because you don’t like it anymore.

Reason #3: Your web design is dated or not appearing well on mobile screens.

Web design has trends just like our clothing does. So a design that was poppin back in 2004 probably won’t look very good now in 2018. LOL. If you’re starting to feel like you traveled back in time when you look at your website, it’s probably time for a re-design. Your website quality is a reflection of your business quality. So you don’t want people thinking your products or services are not up-to-par, like your website might appear to be.

And as far as mobile screens go, the majority of website traffic is from mobile devices these days. Therefore, if your website isn’t set up to look just as good on a mobile phone as it does on a desktop screen, you have some work to do. You don’t want users to have to zoom in on their screens to read your text or to have to zoom out and scroll far over to the right if text is running off the main part of the screen. Your website must be designed to be easy to use on mobile and if it’s not, you definitely need a re-design ASAP!

Reason #4: Your website was designed without a strategy.

Many DIYers use the templates on Squarespace or Wix to do their websites, which is great for making it quick and easy. However, if you just randomly pop in photos and paragraphs of text without any strategic thought about what you want people to do when they visit your website, you probably won’t get the best results.

If you designed your website without a strategy, you’ll definitely need a re-design that has your specific business goals in mind. If you want to encourage email list signups, service inquiries, product purchases, etc., your website must be designed with those specific goals in mind. You’ll want to make sure all of your photography is intentional and high quality, you’ll want to have good website copy, and you’ll want to make sure the layout is easy to navigate.

Reason #5: You’re ready to take your business to the next level and you want to elevate your design.

For most of us, when we are just getting started, we do the best we can with designing our websites with limited knowledge about what makes web design good. These “starter websites” are good for getting the word out about our businesses in the beginning, but once you’re ready to take your business to the next level, you’ll need a slick, more premium design.

When you want your business to be taken seriously, having a high quality image is crucial. The image is what people see before they even start reading more about what you have to offer. So if you’re ready to go to the next level in business and you want people to really take what you have to offer seriously, you’ll need a re-design.

Thanks for reading!