Maybe You Don’t Need a Website Redesign
There are all sorts of good reasons to redesign your business’s website. The problem with a website redesign is that it costs time and money. And often times, the good reasons you may have for wanting a change may not actually be good reasons at all. They may be terrible reasons.
It’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking a website redesign can fix all your business’s problems, but pretty much the only thing a redesign can fix is a design problem.
So in order to keep yourself from paying for an unnecessary website makeover, be sure to put the kibosh on unnecessary redesigns. The following are six reasons for redesigning a website that should alert you to the fact you probably don’t need one in the first place.
1. I can’t remember the last time we redesigned the page!
Stop right there, Eager Beaver. Redesigning a website isn’t like cleaning your bathroom. Just because some of your competitors have flashy gifs or innovative interface doesn’t mean that you have to in order to keep up with them. You’re not going to have people see your redesigned website and suddenly start spending money, unfortunately.
Plus you may cause some confusion for your frequent visitors who are going to wonder what changed about your business model so much that it warranted a new page.
2. We need to stay competitive!
Yes, you do need to stay competitive. No, a website redesign won’t suddenly earn you a new corner of the market.
Staying competitive is important, but is spending the money to do an entire design overhaul of your site worth the investment in the long-run? It’s important to think about the purpose of a website’s design.
The way your site is designed serves to deliver the entire package of your company to your customers. It’s just the wrapping paper on the birthday gift. While it’s important to draw the eye, it’s not the most important part of your business model.
3. We need to get more hits!
Although traffic is an exceptionally important part of any website, redesigning it isn’t necessarily going to get you more clicks. When people use search engines to look for businesses, they don’t type in keywords that involve the design of a website; they type in keywords about the product or service they want. Which means your content is infinitely more important than your design.
Rather than redesign the site, install a blog. This is the best way to get more visitors to your site. Answer readers’ questions and provide genuine, helpful information. For example, this company wanted to sell more vitamin B12 shots. Rather than try to jazz up their site, they simply started sharing relevant articles about vitamin B12 shots on their blog. That will get more hits. A redesign won’t.
While it’s true that your website should be well-organized and easy to use, it’s not fancy graphics and exciting colors that get you new leads. Having quality content that makes people want to share it is what gives your business leads. A redesign just updates your company’s color palette.
4. I just need a fresh start!
You’ve tried updating your SEO a few different ways, and you want something that will help you feel like you’re breathing new life into your business. Hey, a website redesign could do that, right?
Wrong, unfortunately. If you think your company is tired, then putting a fancy new cover on it isn’t going to help it any more than putting a new dust jacket on an antique book is going to make it hip and relevant. Instead, address the root of the problem, whatever that may be.
If your business seems tired then change it from the inside out. Rework your strategies until you fix your problems; don’t rely on a surface, external change to do that.
5. Nobody is staying long on the site!
Once again, redesigning your site to be flashier may seem like an easy fix to the problem, but that’s just addressing the surface. It’s time to reevaluate your problem.
If people aren’t staying long on the site, it could be that there’s not enough new content to hold their interest or maybe you just need to tweak a few basic things like site navigation.
Sometimes it’s just a quick, simple fix rather than a complete overhaul. If you can fix your problem with an easy solution, try that first. It’ll save you time, effort, and of course finances.
6. If I just redesign the site, everything will be better!
This is a common fallacy for businesses. Very rarely is it a one-time solution that can fix all of your problems, and a site redesign certainly won’t be your one-stop answer.
For starters, it’s not a one-stop shop anymore. A website redesign costs to hire a web designer, but even from there you have to test the new site; keep one eye on Google’s ever-changing policies and one eye on SEO; and you still have to keep on top of minor site tweaking, social media, and marketing.
Instead of expecting a one-step one-time solution, try finding a long-term partner who knows the field and can help walk you through the steps to making your site a success. From there, you’ll have to work tirelessly to stay on top of your site because you’ll never be an overnight member of royalty who never has to lift a finger again.
At the end of the day it’s important to make an honest evaluation about what your business needs in order to increase your success. You don’t want to get caught in a money-sucking cycle of redesigning your website every time you get in a dry spell. Instead, decide what it is that you want and expect from your company and work hard to accomplish it. The secret to success is and always will be hard work and dedication.
Jessica Adams works for a local web design and marketing firm. While it is good for business when clients want a site redesign, she usually tries to help them determine the real reason for their problems.
