Gone are the days of keeping the same website design for years. Now there are trends to keep up with such as parallax scrolling and flat design. Trends come and go, but what determines if your website needs a new design is how it’s ranked on search engines. Often overlooked, web design has a huge impact on ranking.
While that may be the most important sign of a redesign, it’s not the only one. Read on to find out more!
Non-Responsive
Ever log onto a web page and watch it load as slow as molasses? Not only are you annoyed, but think of how your visitors will feel in the same situation. They might feel you don’t take the time to put love and care into your website to make it faster. This turns them off, sending them away and creating a higher bounce rate. When your site runs smoothly, visitors will stick around longer. Find out what’s causing slow loading and resolve it quickly.
Not Mobile Optimized
Today, more and more people are using smartphones in place of computers. It’s simply more convenient these days and can reach people while they’re on the go.
If your website is not optimized for mobile, you’re missing out on a lot of traffic. Having a great new design that’s available on cell phones and tablets makes for a better user experience. Especially when all the content fits perfectly on the screen.
If it doesn’t, it’ll look like one huge jumbled mess on small screens, and that’s an eyesore for your visitors. Do you think they’ll come back to see if you’ve fixed it? No, so make sure it’s optimized by testing your website on your own phone first.
Content Overload
There is such a thing as too much in the world of web design. When there’s too much content, users get overwhelmed and tend to click off.
They don’t have time to sift through archives that are years old to find one post. Narrow it down to showcasing your most popular content. This allows returning visitors to find what they’re looking for quicker and new ones are introduced to relevant content.
One thing that’s always helpful for a new design is to add a search bar. Users can find content easily and won’t have to act like a detective to seek out that one blog post.
You’re Falling Behind Your Competitors
They’re your competition for a reason. They know what they’re doing, and they’re keeping up with the changing times. If you’re not, you’ll quickly fall far behind them. It’s okay to check out what the competition is doing and take notes every once in a while. This doesn’t mean stalk their every move but rather understand why they’re doing what they’re doing and use it as inspiration.
Infuse your branding and your own style of voice into your new design to stand out from the others. This will attract new audiences who determine your website is relevant.
Outdated Design
Websites that are simple with walls of text and overwhelming colours are no more. Rather than one style being used by all sites, everyone can now design their website how they want to.
The use of video, unique scrolling and one-page wonders are all ways to set you apart.
The key is to stay on top of new web design trends and then implement them into your design. You don’t have to add every single trend, just a select few to stay significant in the digital world.
Your Website Has Dead Links and Pages
Like a slow response time, having links that go nowhere is annoying. What if someone clicked a link on your site that they wanted to go to and it redirects them to an error page? They’ll be disappointed, leave and probably won’t come back. You don’t want to leave them hanging like that so test all your links to make sure they don’t lead to lost pages or the wrong content. If you delete a page, find all links associated with it and delete them immediately.
This includes blog posts. If you have a blog on your website, make sure all external and internal links don’t lead to a dead end.
Don’t say you’ll come back to it later because you might forget. Take care of the problem quickly, and your visitors will see that you’re dedicated to quality.
Not Customizing It to Your Brand
Sure, all these trends are great but what makes you really stand out is the strength of your unique brand. If you’re a web designer, then obviously having a good website design is important. But what separates you from the rest? Is it your brand purpose and how you help others? Or is the products and services you offer that solve everyday problems?
Whatever it is, always include that in your new design. Showcase it by flaunting it on the home page or about page. Everyone loves discovering a new business or person with a lot to offer.
Why You Need a New Design
Not only will it be stunning, but you’ll also retain more visitors and gain new ones with a redesign. Focusing on your brand goals and purpose is important for people to get to know you. Your website is the first impression with a visitor, so make sure it’s a good one! This can be the determining factor for higher conversion and lower bounce rates. To succeed, staying relevant and adaptable is key. Creating a website isn’t a “one and done” thing, it constantly needs updating on both design and content.
Wrapping Up
We know how crucial it is for a website, not only to be functioning 100% but also to be very well-designed for the user. Let us take the stress away by creating your website for you! We’ve made it easy by teaming up with other like-minded professionals to give you the best design possible.
Tell us the goals you have in mind, and we’ll work our hardest to make them happen. Choose from our four curated packages that all include a mobile-optimized site, clean navigation and SEO ready capabilities.
Ready to have your perfect website built today? Contact us!
