Five reasons to redesign
The company website is one of the public faces of the business, a marketing tool and a communication medium. As such, of course it needs to be kept up to date, and needs to evolve in line with your business. But how often, in reality, should you have a refresh or a redesign? Well, that depends….
Five reasons to redesign: it’s time for a rethink if-
1. Something big has changed. If there have been changes to what you’re trying to communicate then it’s time to consider an overhaul of the whole site to ensure that everything is still on target. This could be a shift in the core business ideals, or a change to the main marketing message, or it could be that the function of the website is changing: for example introducing new functionality such as e-commerce.
2. Something’s not right. The website’s all about communicating effectively with the audience: if the site isn’t performing as well as you would hope, or performance has started to drop off from what it was, then you need to take a closer look. Check the metrics for site performance, and they’ll soon tell you if its time for action.
3. Things don’t fit any more. It’s fairly common practice to continually update a site with more and more interesting and relevant content, but if the site is starting to burst open at the seams with new products, services or press releases, it’s time to reassess. Site layout, and just as importantly, architecture, should be intuitive – leading users easily towards one or two major goals. A site which has been updated over a couple of years with new products or new sections can become muddled and over-stuffed.
4. You have a new product launch. Every now and then a business might launch a new product or service that’s important enough to warrant a redesign. It might be that the new service is a slightly new direction, and causes a reassessment of how the business is organised, or just that you need to make a big marketing splash which can be supported by a new look and feel.
5. It looks dated. Eventually any design will start to look tired, or out of date, and then a redesign is called for. It’s generally considered that, with web design trends changing noticably from year to year, a website will start to look dated within about two years.
If it’s time for a redesign of your corporate website, there are a number of things to consider in terms of how you go about it… but that’s another post (watch this space). And if you’re looking for a design agency with experience in creating corporate websites which get results, look no further.