Wondering whether your spiritual business needs a website redesign?
Design matters when it comes to any website, but it is a crucial element for the sites of small businesses. A poor website design may be sabotaging your growth rather than helping it. If this is the case, a website redesign is an important step to build the business you’ve always dreamed of! In this post, I’ll analyze 7 reasons to redesign your website, so you can improve its performance and get more leads, clients, and sales.
7 Signs It’s Time for a Website Redesign
If you’re wondering how often you should revamp your website, the good news is that someone actually measured it. An average website lifespan is nearly 2 years and 7 months. Surprised? So am I! I expected it to be at least 3, if not 4 years.
Here are a few tips on how to tell if you should redesign your website now, or if it could last a little longer.
#1 The design is outdated
I know, I know. You spent a fortune on a professional designer and loved it when you first launched. Over time, you got so used to it that you don’t quite imagine having a different website now. Just a few years ago, you considered your website modern and classy, and you proudly redirected your potential customers there.
What’s changed? Well, it’s 2023, and your website has grown old.
Now, there’s this nudging feeling of shame when you look at it – the same kind of feeling that evoke our photos from the 80s or 90s. That outfit with oversized shoulder pads used to be so stylish but is now considered a crime against good taste. In web design, just as in fashion, there are trends that change over time – but, in this case, it’s not just aesthetics, it’s also the tech behind it.
#2 Your website is not mobile-friendly
The responsive web design trend emerged around 2012, when the first smartphones were taking over the market. In 2014, for the first time, more users accessed the internet from their mobile devices than desktop. Websites based on a fluid grid that adapts to the device we use started to gain popularity.
If your website was created a few years ago, chances are that it’s not mobile-friendly, and it’s harming your sales and reputation. 73.1% of internet users reported that they leave a website if it looks bad on mobile. No one wants to pinch the screen to zoom in and find out what’s there.
In 2021, in a world where 90% of people have a smartphone with at least 4G internet in their pockets, it isn’t shocking at all. We want to read websites that look at least decent on mobile. A website not optimized for mobile is a complete disaster, so you definitely need a website redesign.
#3 Your website has bad navigation
What’s bad navigation, you might ask? It’s when you can’t find with ease what you’re looking for, or you chose original, but confusing solutions. People also get impatient with too many flyout menus, too long names, or simply too many items for someone to make sense out of it. Well, there are many ways to make navigation a true nightmare.
You shouldn’t expect your visitors to remember where the important links are placed. No matter how amazing your products or services are, 61.5% of visitors won’t have the patience to keep looking. They will leave your website if it has bad navigation.
#4 Slow loading
Slow loading, with 88% of people who leave your site, is definitely number #1 among the reasons why you need to redesign your website. Modern humans have zero patience and no tolerance for websites that take forever to load. Even if “forever” lasts only 7 seconds. In fact, 47% of Users expect that the website will be fully loaded in up to 2 seconds.
If your website is as speedy as a snail, you definitely need a website redesign and should also consider a host upgrade (or changing to another platform).
#5 Visual clutter
Users who enter your website form an opinion about it in a blink of an eye. It takes them only 0.05 second to decide whether they like it or not, and whether they stay or leave. But even if you’ve somehow made it through the first 0.05s, 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout is unattractive.
Less is more. You don’t need 5 kinds of fonts, and half of them in red, to convey the message and make your point. The times when you had to squeeze everything that’s important “over the fold” are gone forever since homo sapiens have learned to scroll (and wouldn’t stop doing it ^_^).
Nowadays, clean and minimalistic websites with carefully chosen images that reinforce the message instead of distracting visitors are the way to go, and this kind of design is also more future-proof than others. A clean website with a consistent style and color palette will make people stay longer and build your credibility. And with a better user experience, you can also expect more sales and leads.
#6 You’re not getting the results
If you’ve noticed that you’ve suddenly fallen down the Google rankings and your website is receiving less traffic. People aren’t filling in your contact form or sending you quote requests as much as they used to. Or maybe your conversion rate, which once was fantastic, has decreased over the years.
Even though you haven’t changed a thing, everything around you has probably changed significantly. No man ever steps in the same river twice, they say. Maybe your competitors have already invested in their websites that are fine-tuned to the ever-evolving Google algorithm.
Whatever the real reason behind it, it’s definitely a good time to rethink and revamp your website.
#7 You simply outgrew it
This happens very often. Your business and audience have changed over the years, and so have you. You need a website redesign and rebranding if you feel that your old website doesn’t represent you anymore, or doesn’t attract the kind of clients you want to work with.
Final thoughts on website redesign…
Why is redesigning your website important?
Your website ages just as you do, while your customer’s expectations about it are increasing. No matter how well your business’s website is designed, once in a while it will need a redesign to keep being an effective marketing tool. Even if you’re emotionally invested in your current design, remember that your website’s primary goal should be to attract your dream clients and convert visitors to customers. If this isn’t happening, you probably need more than just a little update.
Website Redesign: How often?
In very competitive industries, you should have a website redesign every 2-3 years to keep up with the trends in design and marketing. In other, it’s most likely every 4 years. But if your business website is older than 5 years, and you’re feeling embarrassed even when mentioning it, you urgently need a new one.
I’m aware that a website redesign is a considerable investment in both time and money, but it will pay for itself! So, why not revamp your website right now to give it the attention it deserves? You’ll be happy that you did.
February 4, 2023
