We just redesigned our website. First time in 3 years and, boy, were we due. Glad it is over though, as the process takes frikkin long (always longer than it should, in my experience), and I find it taxing.
Bottom line: redesigning a website is an expensive effort and should be done only for the right reasons. However, so many firms redesign their sites far too frequently.
Here are 5 reasons not to redesign your website.
Boredom
Ask most marketers the motivation behind the redesign of their website and the top response will be boredom. When you see your website everyday, you start noticing mistakes and things about it begin to annoy you. Overtime, you may begin to feel the need to nuke the whole thing. While it is a good idea to add fresh content or tweak pages to improve visitors’ experience and site performance, blowing everything up out of boredom will simply eat into your resources.
Senior executives unilaterally voted for a redesign
Website redesign is too often the result of the whims of senior execs who come from non-marketing backgrounds. It’s important that the decision be driven by the Marketing department and based on feedback from prospects and customers. Sounds simple, but too often the inverse occurs.
Your site not “using latest technology”
New technologies, plugins, etc. are rarely a good reason to blow up an entire website. First integrating them should not require a full redo. Second, flashier isn’t always better – in, fact a site free from bells and whistles can take less time to load. The visitors of your website are likely looking for specific information about your products and services. As long as they find what they are looking for, they will be satisfied. Think in terms of buyer personas.
The website is not pixel perfect
While it’s important to be careful about quality, there are some marketers who obsess over every square pixel of their site. Steve Jobs had once famously said: “Great design is not how it looks, but how it works.” At a time when marketers are being held more accountable for revenue generation than ever before, the focus must be on making websites more effective at attracting traffic, converting leads, and closing customers.
‘They’ did it
While it’s important to keep an eye on the competition, don’t redesign your website simply because they’ve given theirs a facelift. While your competitors are busy worrying about homepage design you might instead focus on creating a killer content plan that drives leads (this tool will help you with that).
In case you wondered, most sites require redesign every 2-3 years, so you’re probably fine.
If you are in need of a redesign the e-guide below may help. Just click the icon.