Is your website in desperate need of redesign?

One way to answer this question is to simply pick up your phone or tablet, navigate to your website and observe. If you haven’t tried this yet, do it now! The number of business owners who have never done this is pretty surprising, even though their phones are practically glued to their hands. 

So, you’re on the website, what do you see? Tiny text, terrible graphics, not so easy to navigate? If the answer to all of the above is yes, then we kindly urge you to consider a website redesign. All web pages have an expiration date. What seemed perfect at one point does not have to stay like that after some time. Like physical spaces, websites also need maintenance, they need to adapt to changes in the company, the users, the services or products offered, and of course, to trends. 

We wanted to point out 5 signs your website needs a redesign, so we turned to LKnet’s slick designers to share some tips on what you need to pay attention to.

1. Below Average Speed

Around 47% of consumers expect a website to load in less than 2 seconds, and 40% will just click on that little x in the upper corner if the website takes more than 3 seconds to load. So think about this. If your website is packed with heavy images, poor distribution of content, graphic elements that are not optimized for web, then you definitely need to make some changes, because all of these things add on delay seconds. 

Optimizing images for the web can have a big impact on page load speed, so with fast speed and easy navigation your users should be able to access your website without a sweat and find all the information they need. Another reward comes from Google, as they have built website speed into their algorithm and will give you a small push if your website loads quickly and is mobile – friendly (more on that later).

2. Confusing User Experience

If a website is frustrating to use, and we all know one, that means it’s time for an update. User Experience (UX) is crucial in a website’s success. If you need some perspective, 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a website after a bad experience. UX includes a variety of aspects, but always starts with navigation. Navigation is essential for the usability of the website, regardless of it's type. It has to be simple and user-friendly, and just like we mentioned above, it helps users easily find whatever information they are looking for. 

When considering other aspects, infinite scrolling could lower your bounce rate; choosing certain colours could have a positive or negative impact on your users. Listen to your community, try to understand your users’ behaviour and definitely implement the use of user analytics software to keep continuously improving your site’s UX.

3. Outdated Design 

 We’re sure you update your wardrobe from time to time, right? Well, websites are no exception. If eyes are the mirror of the soul, then a website is the mirror of your business. If your website isn’t visually attractive or updated to function in the correct moment, some users may think you’re no longer present, or even that your services are not trust-worthy. Even a two or three-year-old website will seem outdated when compared to a competitor’s website that is up to date with the latest design trends. 

But don’t think this is just about your logo or colours. Redesign also includes the content and language used on your website. 

4. Responsiveness

We are living in a multi-screen culture and your website needs to keep up with that.  According to Google, 61% of users are unlikely to return to a website that doesn’t work well on mobile, with 40% visiting a competitor’s website instead. 

Another research says that 85% of adults think that a company’s mobile website should be as good as, or even better than their desktop version. Years ago, websites were designed to be looked at on big screens of your personal computer or laptop, but today they simply must be created for use on a wide range of devices – from large screens and tablets to smartphones. 

Web traffic from smartphones in particular is growing every minute, so each day your website continues to be mobile-unfriendly, is a day of lost consumers and revenue. Keep in mind that Google is rolling out mobile-first indexing, meaning they are prioritizing sites that follow the best practices for mobile-first design strategy. So mobile-responsive just won't be enough anymore, instead, when designing a website, you should think of mobile users’ needs first and foremost.

Just start from yourself, think about your user behaviour – how much of search you do from your phone? We think you know the answer.

5. Poor SEO and Security

A very simple test is to go to Google, or really any other search engine, and type in your company name or services you provide. If your website doesn’t show up in the first few entries, or even on the first page of search results (because second is already deep web), then it needs some serious search engine optimization (SEO). A good SEO strategy will help drive more traffic to your website.

When it comes to security, you obviously want to protect your website from all kinds of attacks. If a website is disorganized, has a low - security system or a bad base structure, your data may be easily accessible. And when a website is hacked (or worse), recovering data is extremely mundane work. To prevent this from happening, the best is to redesign your website and make sure it’s secure.

Here in LKnet One of our biggest passions is delivering user-friendly web and mobile solutions that truly improve our customers’ internal processes or help them communicate with their prospects in a modern, meaningful way. In mobile development, we adopt the customer-first strategy to ensure a smooth experience and we are unstoppable until we get to that win-win solution.

Yes, we can help you with your website! Why don’t you contact us and schedule a meeting?