I find that many people don’t know their site needs a little love unless someone else tells them. And even then, they might not agree. But websites should be viewed in the same manner as fashion. Things go in and out of style, new trends sprout up, new materials are created, and the processes of creation are streamlined. I would venture to guess that nearly everyone buys new clothes at least once a year. Even if it’s only to add an item or two of the year’s latest trend to their collection, whilst moving away from an item of two of past years.
So if you are unsure whether or not to redesign here are a couple quick and easy points to help you identify if a little love is needed where your site is concerned.
- Use of outdated technology. You might counter with, “But technology changes by the minute!” And it does seem to change rather quickly, however, there are many sites out there using really really old technology such as, but not limited to:
- Frames – a few are ok, but if your whole site is in frames, time for a redesign
- Tables – they’re really meant for formatting data not laying out a website
- Exclusive use of flash – you’re just hurting yourself in the usability and SEO departments
- Intro pages (flash or otherwise – that’s so 2000)
These are the outdated technologies I am talking about, and for the sanity of whoever is in charge of keeping you site updated, please be kind and redesign.
- Your site is largely unchanged from 2 years ago. If you’re thinking, “Man, I feel like I just paid for a redesign … I can’t afford that again!” Grand. You don’t have to. Maybe just get a tiny facelift done. Make sure your content is up-to-date, swap out your trendy design elements with today’s trends, or tweak the colors a bit. It doesn’t have to be major, just breathe a little bit of new life into it. For example, look at Firefox 2.0 vs 3.0. Same colors and same branding, but an updated look and feel.
- You’re not using a CMS. CMS stands for content management system. It’s where it’s at, really. Once you switch over to a CMS, you’ll never look back. Content management systems are designed with the site owner in mind. Meaning they are set up, so you, the site owner, can have complete control. Well, nearly complete control. It’ll allow you to get in there and keep your content updated yourself, whenever you want from adding new pages, images to changing themes if you want. No need for any (or possibly minimal) knowledge of HTML or other web languages. Woo hoo!
- You’re having limited luck with the search engines. Search engines are becoming more and more savvy these days making search engine optimization (SEO) very important. Even if you’ve recently put the effort into optimizing it, if your site is poorly designed, poorly laid out, and using old code, you might still experience problems and underperformance. If your site is done in tables, today’s search engines have a hard time wading through all the code to find your content and overwhelm them affecting the site’s performance.
- One of your competitors just redesigned their site. Everyone knows that books get judged by their covers despite the age-old adage not to. A well-designed book cover seems to speak of what’s to come when you open the pages. It evokes a pre-conceived notion (however subconscious it may be) of whether or not the book is worth reading. (Come on, you know you do it.) And if your site is on par with all your competitors, it’s easy to put off that big redesign. The playing field is level. But if one of them launches a gorgeous new design, you might think about doing the same. It’s a visual representation of your company that can garner new attention or reinvigorate current users, not to mention a chance to implement new features and improve on usability.
- Your users are grumbling. ‘Nuf said on this one. If you notice your users grumbling, do something about or they’ll leave and not come back.
If you find your site falling into any of these categories, then this is me tell you your site needs a little love – it’s time for that redesign.
Cross-posted from the Mindfly blog.
