Is it time for a website redesign?

When it comes to connecting with potential customers and other key audiences, your website is perhaps the most important tool you have. But no matter how brilliantly designed and well written your website is, it won’t last forever. It needs to be refreshed or redesigned to keep up with changes in design and technology trends.

If you’re considering a website redesign, here are a few questions you need to ask:

Does your website reflect your brand’s current reality?
The visual design of your website may be one indicator that it’s time for a refresh, but dig deeper and you may find that your brand position is no longer being accurately represented or, even worse, may have never been clearly established.

Is your website generating a consistent supply of qualified leads?
While reversing this trend may require adjustments to your overall business strategy, it may also require a reexamination of your supporting web strategy and tactics. This could also indicate the need for a search marketing campaign to drive more traffic to your website.

Does your website address all your audiences and their needs?
It’s easy to forget that serving your existing customers and the broader community in your industry is just as important serving your prospects. Providing additional resources, services and knowledge can help you build loyalty with this existing community and can often lead to referrals.

Does your website use technology that hinders access to your content?
With the surge of global mobile web traffic, the need for compliant technologies is critical in providing positive mobile experiences.  Technologies such as Flash now lack support by both Android or Apple iOS. This can mean parts of your website — or even the entire site — maybe inaccessible on smartphones and tablet devices.

Is your website optimized for mobile visitors?
Traditional desktop websites, while endlessly adaptable to support all your content needs, can be excessive when accessed on a mobile data network. This means long load times and large data usage. Neither of which will help you win over your mobile visitors.

Does your overall web strategy include social?
Participating and monitoring your brand on popular social networks is paramount in building and maintaining your brand’s reputation. It’s important for you to connect with customers and lead conversations about how you can serve them better.

In the end, your website is either helping you achieve your goals or hindering you from realizing them. It’s important that you continually assess the success of your site to make sure it’s working hard for you.