How to tell when a business's website needs a redesign

28 January, 2010

• website lifespan

Letitia Power

Category: Web Design

Just like fashion, websites date. What was the rage a year ago in website design and functionality is now seen as so last century.

Having a website doesn't come cheap and continually keeping up with these trends can be seen as not necessary for some businesses.

A few questions to ask yourself to identify whether it's time for a redesign:

Is your website hard to update and maintain?

This is one of the myths associated with websites, is that they are hard to maintain. This isn't the case - in fact with technology advancements websites can be developed to be easy to update. However this will all depend on what platform the web agency is using to develop websites.

Has your website agency become hard to contact?

Being in continual dialogue with your web agency is essential as this means that you can easily contact them when your business develops a new product, service or offering that needs to be advertised online. If you're unable to contact them your website will age with the deteriorated relationship.

Is your website more than 3 years old?

As a general rule of thumb for small businesses after three years it's time to upgrade, for larger companies every year a slight redesign is optimal. This ensures that your website is upgraded with better technologies, to suit current user trends and also integrate with current online marketing tools available.

Does your website contain old information?

A business can be held accountable for out of date website content, with a restaurant in New Zealand being fined $NZ3,000 for advertising out of date prices and dishes on its website. Continually updating your website is essential to avoid potential fines.

To maximise a website, a business and the web agency needs to treat the site as an ongoing process, not a one off project. This means management strategies need to be put in place to continually monitor and manage a business's online presence and performance.

The advantages of monitoring and managing a business's website performance

By continually monitoring a business's progress online means that the chances of their website becoming dated are minimised.

To reduce the risk of a website becoming dated agencies need to work with a business to harvest their investment.

Has your website become dated?

We have a range of strategies to reduce the risks of your website becoming dated and work with you to develop the best solution for your business. Click here if you would like any information on our website redesign services.