If you’re not getting the traffic you want or people are coming to your website, but you have a high bounce rate, which means people aren’t sticking around, there are reasons why– and steps you can take to fix it.
The bottom line is, your website may need a design makeover. Here’s how to tell.
6 Surefire Signs You Desperately Need a Website Redesign
1. If People Can’t Find You
If people aren’t finding you on Google, Bing or Yahoo, your SEO (search engine optimization) strategy isn’t working. Or perhaps you don’t even have an SEO strategy.
If you’re counting on search engines to bring traffic to drive potential customers to your site, you need to speak its language so web crawlers can find you and index your website.
This includes good keywords and elements in the right places which include taglines, titles, meta descriptions, page headers. You also need your content to be easy to read.
2. Your Content Lacks Clarity
Anything too complex or convoluted will drive readers away from your website. People don’t like to spend time reading, so it’s important to get to the point.
Your website redesign specialist will be able to tell you through search engine analytics if your content needs to be adjusted for SEO.
3. Your Website Pages Are Too Difficult to Navigate
Are your menus difficult to navigate? If they are, it’s likely you need a website redesign because people don’t want to stay. Website navigational tabs and structures need to be easy to follow.
Think how frustrating it is when you go to a store for an item and the signs aren’t helpful. It’s the same kind of thing. It’s similar to being in a big store where you can’t find the bread because the word “bread” isn’t listed on any sign.
Do you really want to spend the time walking through every aisle until you find the bread? I think not. Neither do web visitors when they’re looking for a specific page on your website.
While you might not have a page listing every item, you must have categories that guide web visitors where to find what they’re looking for.
4. You Don’t Use Responsive Design for Your Website
Responsive design is more important now that ever especially with so many people searching for products and services on their smartphone. Let me explain. Your website needs to be user-friendly on any device, a smartphone, tablet, laptop or computer.
Let me explain. Your website needs to be user-friendly on any device, a smartphone, tablet, laptop or computer. If your design is not responsive, it means that some of your text and images can be cut off the screen or page.
Your appearance of your website needs to look good for all sized devices. If it doesn’t you can be leaving money on the table which means it’s time for a website redesign. You’ll need to find a responsive website theme.
5. Your Site Speed is Too Slow
People browsing the web have a short attention span. The average attention span in 2015 was 8.25 seconds. The more technology advances, the shorter our attention spans get.
If you have a product or service the market needs, you need to give it quickly. People’s ability to focus and need for speed increases when they’re on the go on their smartphone.
This is understandable. They’re typically multitasking, in transit or in some physical place where they can’t spend too much time waiting for your page to load. That’s why it’s important your website speed be adequate.
A web redesign team can perform the necessary analytics to measure your site speed. You want it at a speed that’s as fast if not faster than your competitors.
6. Your Website Isn’t Marketed To Your Audience Target Markets
Here’s an example: A travel business sells vacations. Their primary audience up until now has been families. But now their company is extending its reach to include business travel. Their marketing strategy is to find new business prospects for V.I.P. and corporate travel.
Having a bunch of photos of families on the page is nice for their current target market but won’t cut it for executive assistants looking for travel companies who specialize in business travel.
You’ll need a website redesign to upload new photos of business professionals to attract these kinds of businesses.
Your web redesign team will need to change the keywords and site content to include business travel as well as build new pages, categories and redo their navigational menus to reflect their extended marketing prospects.
The Takeaway
When deciding if you need a website redesign keep these things questions in mind:
- Can people find you easily when searching the web?
- Does your website load quickly or does it take more than eight seconds to load?
- Do your website’s photos, navigational system, and content represent, include and speak to all of your audiences?
- Does your website’s navigation system make it easy for site visitors to find what they’re looking for?
- Does your company website look good on all devices: desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and smartphones?
Now you’re armed with the tools and information you need to decide if you need to invest in a website redesign!
ShiftWeb Solutions has empowered online businesses through web redesign and web development so companies large and small can build their internet web presence. Contact us to learn more about how we can help you drive traffic, improve conversion and increase profits.