How do you know it’s time for a website revamp?

From the smallest local business to the most niche of organisations, it’s becoming more and more vital to have a compelling web presence as web users head online for anything and everything from information, to shopping to recipes to product discoveries and how to information. In the UK, we’re at the point now where most people will head to the internet to fulfill their needs before they leave the house for weather reports, product reviews or even medical advice.With so much online traffic to go around, it is surprising that many companies are still waiting far too long before they make arrangements to update their websites. Websites can be costly, and can use a lot of resources to set up, so once you have a website that works well for you, many businesses ask, ‘why change?’

Time As with any expensive purchase, the value of your website decreases the older it gets. Just like a shiny new sports car, once you launch your website to the world, you have a finite amount of time to make an impression with it and encourage site visitors. If your website is more than five or six years old, it’s probably time for a complete overhaul. Design Such is the nature of trends and fashion, the design of your website can age it, and an old-fashioned looking website can be incredibly off putting to visitors. You will need to do more to your website than completely renovating it every five years or so, and an annual or biannual reskin is a smart idea. Even changing something small like your page layout or text design is a great place to start. Content The mighty Google has an incredibly small attention span. In fact, that goes for any search engine. To be found online you have to ensure that all the components of your website are up-to-date and search engine friendly, otherwise Google will simply lose interest. Ask yourself, does your website load fast enough? Do you have large areas of pictures or video? Are you still using Flash or other outdated web technology? Is the copy on your website obviously keyword laden or old? All of these things affect your standing on search engines, meaning it will be difficult to be found.If your content really isn’t working for you, a solution could mean more than a simple update. A complete renovation could be needed to ensure your website works more intuitively for a more modern audience.