You’re reading this article because you’ve arrived at a crossroads where you’re wondering if you need a website redesign or a website rebuild.
Maybe your website isn’t generating enough activity. Perhaps the conversion rate has significantly dropped in the last few years. Website analytics has shown that the engagement level is at an all-time low.
The question is: How did you get to this point? As an entrepreneur, you’re searching for answers.
“Is it me?”
“Is it the quality of my products and services?”
“Have my digital marketing strategies run their course?”
“Is my website putting off visitors?”
We can’t answer the first 2 questions but we certainly can address the last 2. In this article, we’ll clear out all the smoke and give you clarity on whether you need a website redesign or a website rebuild.
Why Your Website Needs To Undergo Improvements
The website is your place of business on the Internet. People who land on your website will respond to what they see and how they feel. Analytics can give you data that can give clues on how visitors behave when they come across your content.
You can have the best products in the market or garner the most 5-star reviews about your level of service. These testimonials alone won’t guarantee that customers will continue to patronize your business.
Look at Starbucks and Mcdonald’s, 2 of the biggest food and beverage retail chains in the world.
Consumers troop to Starbucks whenever they want a quick caffeine fix. Likewise, consumers make the drive to McDonald’s if they need to fill up their bellies right away with fast, convenient, and affordable meals.
But over the years, these giants have subjected their stores to either a redesign or rebuild.
The reasons for such an undertaking are similar to your own reasons for giving your website a redesign or a rebuild:
- Slower traffic
- Lower sales figures
- Negative customer experience
- Poor customer feedback
- Lower productivity
- Reduced output
- Higher maintenance costs
The reasons why your business has seen better days might not be because of you, your products, and services. It’s just that the times are changing. Likewise, your customers; their tastes, preferences, and behaviors are also going through changes.
It’s likely that the elements involved in the design of your website no longer appeal to your customer base. Similarly, the features that were built into your website are considered obsolete. Customers view your website as a dinosaur compared to your competitors.
As an entrepreneur, you want to keep your customers happy. While you can continue to assure them of top-quality products and top-level service, assuring them of a website that provides excellent customer experience is another matter.
At this point, you might want to consider either a website redesign or a website rebuild.
Which one do you need?
What Does A Website Redesign Mean?
If you launched your website in 2017 and its homepage still features the same images, text, and graphics it might look dated to your customers.
Your competitors’ websites could have adopted modernized designs that are visually more appealing to the same target market. Customers are impressed and are encouraged to explore their websites compared to yours.
Perhaps an explainer video has been embedded on the homepage that’s directly linked to a YouTube channel. Videos make it easier to deliver content and are preferred by visitors over text because you can get all the necessary information in under 2 minutes.
Maybe the first step to getting out of the digital funk that your business has found itself in is to just get a website redesign.
The Benefits Of A Website Redesign
With a website redesign, the focus is to change the overall look of the website. A redesign might be as simple as changing some of the original design elements such as images, graphics, color, and typography you used when conceptualizing your website back in 2017.
It’s also possible that part of the redesign involves revising your business logo. Maybe the current logo doesn’t resonate with your customers and hasn’t made your business become top-of-mind.
Here are some of the benefits of having a website redesign.
1. Improve Customer Relations – Your customers have spoken – and you listened by implementing website design improvements that appeal to your market and enhance user experience.
2. Build Business Brand – By adopting the latest trends in website design, you’re showing your market that you’re updated and have remained current with the changing times.
3. Highlight Your Strong Points – If you’ve introduced new products in the last few years, you can include a page that features the ones that made it to your official product list.
You can also use the page to launch new products and services, discount offers, new store launches, and other exciting developments.
- Create a New Experience – Change the images on your homepage, your blogs, and the products page, and update the About Us page. Instead of using stock photos, use original photos.
These types of changes will make your website look fresh and unique. Give your customers a different experience when they’re on your website.
- Expand Your Market Reach – Improving site optimization will make your website more visible on the Internet. A website audit will identify which areas need improvement in terms of technical and content optimization.
Monthly search volumes for keywords change along with consumer behavior. After all this time, your target market might be searching for different products and services because their needs have changed.
When Does Your Website Need A Redesign?
How often should you have a website redesign?
There’s no rule of thumb although generally, redesigning your website every 2 to 3 years is a good idea. That should be enough time for your website designer to have a solid perspective of current and forthcoming trends.
Also, you would have enough data to study and determine if there have been significant changes in market behavior. For this reason, we strongly recommend staying on top of your website and social media metrics.
Here are some factors to look out for so that you’ll know for sure that your website needs a redesign:
- Website traffic has become sluggish.
- The conversion rate has dropped significantly.
- You readily acknowledge that your competitors’ websites look better than yours.
- Your competitors’ websites and social media pages are getting more traffic, and followers, and are experiencing higher engagement levels.
- You’re not getting significantly more traffic from mobile devices compared to PCs.
- Your customers can’t associate your products and services with your brand messaging.
- You have a hard time uploading blogs.
- Your website has been slammed down the search rankings by Google.
It’s not necessary for all of these factors to be present to justify a website redesign. Get the opinion of your professional website designer. Before a business goes from bad to worse, the issues that are affecting your website must be addressed right away.
What Does A Website Rebuild Mean?
However, if your website’s performance and overall functionality has been on the decline, it might be time for a rebuild.
With a rebuild, you’re focusing on improving your website’s aesthetic appeal and functionality. You’re addressing concerns about its dated look and reports of negative user experiences.
The technologies that your website was built on cannot support the changes in the digital landscape. It can’t support high-resolution images and videos and its page download speed has slowed to a turtle’s pace.
Your website has fallen down the search rankings because the standards of optimization that were used to develop it have become as current as the typewriter.
The Benefits Of A Website Rebuild
Imagine a website that hasn’t undergone improvements since it was launched in 2013.
- Google hasn’t mandated all websites to be mobile-responsive.
- Google hasn’t mandated all websites to have SSL certificates.
- Mobile devices accounted for a larger share of online traffic.
- Apple launched the iPhone 6 and 6s which both featured the extremely fast A8 processor.
Consumers who land on this outdated website will have a poor user experience, click out right away, and will end up on the competitor’s updated website.
If your website is the one in question, you need a website rebuild. Compared to a redesign which is more like a makeover, a rebuild is an overhaul.
Don’t shake your head and groan because there are many benefits to having a website rebuilt:
1. Enhanced Mobile Responsiveness
Once your website is rebuilt to become mobile responsive, it will adapt and fit any mobile screen size. If your website isn’t mobile responsive, 73.1% of its visitors will leave and not pursue their search.
2. Better and More Memorable User Experience
Check your website analytics a few weeks after it has been rebuilt and relaunched. You might see its bounce rate improve. The bounce rate measures how often visitors leave after landing on a web page. A high bounce rate means visitors didn’t have a memorable experience on your website.
3. Improved Chances of Moving Up the Search Rankings
Mobile responsiveness, better user experience, low bounce rate, fast download speed, optimized content, and improved site security are all ranking factors in Google’s search algorithm. Having these improvements on your website will surely help it move up the search rankings.
4. Faster Download Speed
On the internet, speed matters a lot. Consumers aren’t patient and want information yesterday. If your web page is characterized as having a slow download time, 70% of site visitors will click out.
Your website’s sales conversion rate will also drop 4.42% per extra second of page loading time.
Improving the download speed of your website means it won’t forego business growth opportunities anymore.
5. Help Your Digital Marketing Strategy Deliver the Desired Results
Perhaps your previous digital marketing strategy was based more on blogs and utilized social media channels like Facebook and Twitter.
Now that you’ve allocated more funds for video-based content, SEO, and paid ads, you’ll have to rebuild the tech infrastructure of your website to support these types of strategies and processes.
When Does Your Website Need To Be Rebuilt?
How often do you need your website to be rebuilt?
The answer to this question isn’t as clear-cut as for a website redesign because a rebuild is a more comprehensive undertaking. With a rebuild, you’re looking at more than just changing the look and feel of your website.
In addition to addressing issues with its aesthetic appeal, a rebuild seeks to improve the overall user experience by reviewing the website’s built-in technologies and by conducting a performance audit on the site’s technical SEO.
Among the questions you might ask are:
- Do I need to change the web host service provider?
- How can I improve the overall functionality of my website?
- What can I do to give my website a boost in search rankings?
- What measures or features can I add to improve customer support services?
- How can I keep up with the speed of my competitors’ websites?
- Do I need to change my Content Management System or CMS?
- How do I improve my site’s bounce rate?
- Do I need to overhaul my content marketing plan?
- Should I add more payment options?
- How do I reduce cart abandonment? (For e-commerce sites)
If you’re going to go for a website rebuild, hire the services of a professional web design agency such as Mountaintop Web Design. A proper rebuild will require the skills of a web designer, web developers, and experienced testers.
Conclusion: Redesign or Rebuild?
Trivia: What type of Internet-based platform is called an SoE or System of Engagement?
Answer: The Website
The website is how you engage with people on the Internet. Whether consumers are just looking for information, shopping for products, or qualifying services, the go-to place is a website.
You have to be sure that your website isn’t just visually appealing but also usable for your visitors. What’s the use of having a beautiful website if consumers can’t find value in it?
Thus, it’s important to frequently monitor the performance of your website every 1 to 2 years. Based on the numbers, you’ll have a better idea if you need a redesign or a rebuild.
Keep in mind that a rebuild costs more. If your website isn’t performing according to expectations, try a redesign first. If there’s no significant improvement in the site’s numbers, go for a rebuild.
To be sure of your decision, give us a call or drop us an email. Let’s book a time to talk about the performance of your current website. Redesign or rebuild – we can do either one.
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