A website does not become ineffective simply because it is old.
There are websites built years ago that still work brilliantly. Equally, there are websites launched six months ago that already need serious attention.
The important question is not “How old is our website?”
It is:
“Is our website still doing the job our business needs it to do?”
A redesign should solve problems rather than simply provide a new coat of paint. Here are some of the clearest signs that it may be time to start again.
Your business has changed but the website hasn't
Businesses evolve.
You may have introduced new services, changed your ideal customer, entered new markets or moved away from work you previously promoted heavily.
If your website still describes the company you were three years ago, it can actively send the wrong enquiries your way.
Your website should reflect:
- what you actually want to sell
- who you want to sell it to
- why somebody should choose you
- where you operate
- what makes your business different.
If those answers have changed substantially, modifying a few paragraphs on the homepage probably isn't enough.
The website looks acceptable but doesn't generate enquiries
This is one of the most important warning signs.
A website can look fantastic without being particularly effective.
If you receive traffic but very few relevant enquiries, look at the journey between someone arriving and contacting you.
Can visitors quickly understand what you do?
Is there a clear next step?
Do your service pages answer the questions potential customers are likely to have?
Are there examples of your work?
Is there evidence that other customers trust you?
A redesign provides an opportunity to rethink that entire journey rather than moving the same content into a newer-looking template.
Updating anything is painful
Your website should not become a museum exhibit that nobody is allowed to touch.
If adding a case study requires a developer, changing a photograph breaks the layout or creating a new service page involves cloning something and hoping for the best, the underlying system may be restricting your marketing.
Modern content management should make everyday updates straightforward while protecting the overall design.
EasyMediaUK specialises in WordPress and builds websites around a content management system so businesses can continue managing appropriate content after launch.
It doesn't work properly on modern devices
Check more than your own laptop.
Look at the site on:
- a modern smartphone
- a tablet
- a large desktop display
- different browsers
- slower mobile connections.
Pay particular attention to menus, forms, buttons, tables, images and interactive elements.
A site that technically “shrinks down” onto a phone is not necessarily providing a good mobile experience.
Search visibility has become an afterthought
Older websites often grow without much structure.
Five services become 20. Blog articles appear in random categories. New pages are added whenever somebody remembers something important.
Eventually Google and visitors are both faced with a confusing collection of competing pages.
A redesign gives you the opportunity to rethink:
- page structure
- service categories
- local landing pages
- internal linking
- URLs
- titles and descriptions
- content duplication
- redirects from old pages.
SEO should influence the structure of a website before development begins, not be sprinkled over it immediately before launch.
The site is slow, unreliable or difficult to maintain
Legacy themes, abandoned plugins and years of modifications can accumulate technical debt.
Sometimes repairing that debt is sensible. Sometimes rebuilding is cheaper and safer than continually patching it.
The deciding factor should be the condition of the underlying website rather than its age.
Your competitors explain your service better than you do
This one can sting.
Search for the services you want to sell and look objectively at the results.
If competitors make their proposition easier to understand, answer more questions, show better evidence and make contacting them simpler, you have identified a commercial problem.
Don't copy them.
Build something better suited to your customer.
A redesign should have a measurable purpose
Before starting, define what success looks like.
That might mean:
- more enquiries
- better-quality enquiries
- improved local visibility
- more online sales
- fewer repetitive customer questions
- easier content management
- better recruitment
- stronger positioning for larger contracts.
Then design around those goals.
A good website redesign is not really about replacing your website.
It is about improving what the website does for your business.
Thinking about starting again? EasyMediaUK can review your existing website, identify what is worth keeping and plan a new website around the customers and opportunities you actually want to attract.
Strategy. Creativity. Technology.
