Does your business web design need to be updated?

Introduction

Gone are the times when websites were developed just for the sake of it or just because your competitor is doing so. Today, the concept of website development has gained a lot of significance across the globe. Your online presence has become a very crucial aspect of your business, your digital front which must develop a quick and wonderful impression for your valued customers. I mean it’s your web presence that will be kept in mind while thinking of your business. So it cannot be taken lightly at all. There are times when businesses redo their website and still find it not good enough in the eyes of the end users. Also the risk of appearing stale and outdated keeps on haunting every now and then.

Well, fret not the following post can offer quick assistance regarding that matter. This time you won’t be producing an outdated, sluggish, and confusing website, this time it’s going to be different because we will show you the sure-shot way to do it. First, let’s conduct a quick analysis of where the issue lies.

Have you Spotted the Issue Yet?

No wonder it is said that web development projects are not one-time investments, they keep ongoing in regards to support, maintenance and redevelopment, so check if it’s been a while since you have updated the site. Here down below I would like to mention some crucial key areas to look out for before redesigning the website.

#1 Visual Design

Web design is surely one of the leading factors that ensures businesses credibility. It takes just 50 milliseconds (0.05) at most for your visitor to form an opinion about your website and decide whether he is going to stay or leave. Imagine someone deciding in the very first fraction of a second, what to do and how to make them stay for a longer period. Here you need to make your visual design speak, focus on the color combination, layout, spacing, images, and a lot more. Here is a quick example for you to look at.

And here is the next layout of the same website

So I hope now you understand my point.

#2 User experience design

Another area to keep tabs on is the user experience design. Now, appealing visuals and amusing animation are fine, but what happens when a user lands on your site? A visitor doesn’t come for nothing, he or she needs to quickly get access to information or products or services they are looking for — so everything needs to be a cakewalk for them from what button to click to what section to scroll, what fields to fill in for better results and so more.

Here you need to understand what end users are actually craving for and make it possible for them to reach it in minimal time. The situation could be anything from booking an appointment to searching from the product catalogue, buying a product, learning more about your services, contacting your customer service team, etc.

Now poor UI/UX design or user experience can be quite frustrating and difficult for users to move around your website. Now, how to figure out whether the website has a poor UI/UX design or not? Well, here are a few tell-tale signs to notice.

More and more users abandon your site, sometimes even before taking any action.
High number of pageviews, but no action is taking place
Users making it to the checkout page and still not completing the purchase
High abandonment rates, especially on contact forms and surveys.

Above all, when your most trusted clients began giving negative feedback and speaking about their frustration.

#3 Does it Reflect your brand properly

Now as the name implies, this is supposed to be pretty straightforward. Your website is something that promotes or advertises for your business 24/7, it has to be able to reflect the brand appropriately. See whether the website is capable of vouching for the newly added products and services. If not, then there could be a bigger issue, and you will end up choosing the wrong customers who won’t stay for the long haul. Now, when you don’t get inquiries from the type of clients you are seeking, it means you have put yourself in the market.

The ultimate golden rule is to curate your work. So keep core tabs on the content and galleries you are willing to show on your website and get rid of the work you no longer want to do in the future. Moreover, try choosing the best of the rest and try coming up with fresh images and don’t forget to add them or showcase them proudly on your homepage. By doing so, you can easily filter out inquiries that are not fit for you. Also, keep a close eye on the content and see whether the colors, fonts, and icons are in sync or not.

#4 Web Browser Compatibility

The next area to keep a hawk-eye on is web browsing compatibility. Google Chrome, Safari, Edge, and Firefox are some of the most common yet popular web browsers. So, it needs to be obvious that your website should be compatible with all these browsers at all costs.

If you haven’t updated the website in a while, it’s high time you need to update now. After all, you don’t want your website to look unprofessional among all users. Also, consider hiring a good web designer to optimize your site for different browsers.

#5 Mobile Responsiveness

Another crucial aspect to keep in mind is mobile responsiveness. Now I am sure you must have come across several websites which are too difficult to read especially on tablets and mobile devices. This is where you need to up your game. You see in today’s times more than 50% of traffic comes via mobile devices and this is why the concept of responsive design is evolving every now and then.

Mobile responsiveness is when the website responds according to different screen sizes, be it desktop, tablet or phone.

#6 Calls to Action

Is there any point in developing a website that is not action-oriented? Of course, not! After all, you are investing so much in it, that it needs to be capable of inviting users to take proper action which will move them closer to an appropriate solution. CTAs include from filling out the form to making a call, requesting a quote, scheduling an appointment and so more.

CTAs are extremely important and effective, if your website lacks CTAs then you need to update it ASAP.

#7 Search Engine Optimization (SEO)

SEO is a practice for ensuring your website is ranked on a higher level no matter what. Of course, after all these years it no longer seems a novel concept anymore but fortunately, there are a few best practices to take into account such as:

Having a mobile-responsive website
Fast loading pages
Keeping the business profile up
Using header tags
Using proper meta-descriptions
Publishing fresh content

#8 Page Loading Speed

The last we have is the page load speed. As we all know the overall attention span in today’s times is quite decreasing, a site must load in 2 seconds or less, or else you will surely lose your potential customers in no time. Page load speed is a complicated issue but certain factors need to be taken care of to enhance the page load speed such as:

Clean code
Design elements
Hosting
Content Delivery Networks
Tracking/Analytics
Using third-party apps

And above all these factors security is one of the major concerns. No one wants to visit a site which can be easily hacked or damaged. After all, theft of information and money, and extraction of customer data, are serious offenses and can harm several individuals at a time. Moreover, your website needs to be actively maintained for fruitful results.

How to Update Your Website? Top Tips and Best Practices to Consider

So now you know why and when you need to update your website, and now we will be focusing on the how part.

#1 Review the current version thoroughly

The first and foremost step is to conduct a thorough evaluation of your website. Check every single detail and see what is working well for you and what is not. Make a clear list of tasks that need to be performed, planning rigorously is extremely important.

Double-check the visual content, from quality to relevance of the images, videos, animations, and CTAs everything must be checked in detail. See if there is something which is pixelated or outdated. Also, look around for images which no longer seem to be relevant. Moreover, discard all the old videos and files that impact negatively on the site’s user experience. Anything you find that no longer serves a purpose or mission statement must be changed right away.

#2 Evaluate your competitor’s website and see where exactly are you lacking

Another crucial step to take while having an online makeover is to check the website’s data. This includes checking your data as well as your competitor’s analytics where you can understand where things are working and where they aren’t for you. Conducting thorough analysis means you get a fair chance to understand your audience’s behaviour and tailor it in such a way as to bring out the best possible outcomes.

Here the key is to integrate proper tracking tools and analytics within your existing site to monitor the traffic. By doing so, you will be able to focus on which pages are most popular or the fact how much time the visitor is spending and what is your bounce rate, and so more. Understanding more and more about your customers is for better results.

At the same time, do keep track of your competitors, and see what exactly they are up to. Perhaps you might come across a nice idea and boost your site. Using Google Analytics, Semrush, and several other tools is worth considering.

#3 Gather Feedback from customers as well

The next step or tip to consider is gathering feedback from your valuable customers. After all, you are developing a strong web presence for your end users only so make sure it is of their taste and you instantly catch their eye. After conducting thorough research and gathering relevant feedback do not forget to apply your findings and update the website.

#4 Refresh the user experience

User experience must be prioritized in every manner. So make sure you analyze all designated user pathways and pages that are frequently being visited by end users, modify all navigation options, and enhance navigation. In addition, craft CTAs in such a manner that you happen to stand out immediately. Aspects such as button labels and search bar text are captivating and lead to increased engagement, influenced action rates, and above all simplify the user journey. Moreover do not underestimate the power of menus make sure they are well-structured and well-organised. Let me elaborate on the aforementioned pointers for you.

Ease of navigation — It’s time to analyze user pathways and page visit frequency on the established site. Also, it would be great if you were willing to modify all the navigation bar options based on the most visited and the least visited pages. Enhanced navigation does assist visitors well to exactly find what they are seeking for and this definitely reduces user frustration and stress.
Menus — Now this one is extremely important if you have a well-established corporate webpage or an eCommerce platform featuring a wide range of product selections, including mega menus. Now categorizing all your products precisely is the sure-shot way to make your consumers feel comfortable and mega menus offer the best possible way to provide a structured, organised and above all elevated browsing experience. All the users can seamlessly locate specific content whenever required.
Easy accessibility — The next aspect that must be considered for better outcomes or increased return on investment is easy accessibility. Broad usability and seamless accessibility are no longer just terms but one of the core components of any successful website available on the internet. Here for better performance, you can think of implementing accessibility widgets or apps such as All in One Accessibility, UserWay, or ADA Tray. These apps are known for adjusting your site for seamless accessibility profiles. By doing so you will attract a more and more diverse user base.

#5 Enhance the technical performance

Technical aspects are extremely important such as page loading time, responsiveness, broken links, etc. So another best practice is to improve the technical performance of the site.

Taking care of all technical aspects is important. Of course, it would be great to hire reputable web development service providers who carry immense knowledge and expertise in such scenarios. Some of the core aspects to consider for enhancing the technical performance include:

Page loading time — Now when you are developing a site, large images, background videos, and sluggish web hosting servers are some of the most obvious aspects and unfortunately these factors do end up slowing down your site. So what can be done? Well, there are certain aspects such as converting images into lighter WebP format and compressing background videos or successfully converting them to GIFs to reduce the file sizes and considering hosting charges, here you will be able to kill two birds with an arrow first, speeding up the page load time and seamless browsing experiences.
Responsiveness — Another core factor to take into account is enhancing your mobile site’s responsiveness with the help of visual website design platforms such as Webflow. Here you are bound to get a real-time view of multiple device breakpoints. Did you know that Google uses mobile-first indexing? And this is not just for the web but even mobile versions require indexing and ranking.
Broken Links — Search engines tend to view websites with broken links, especially those that aren’t maintained or outdated or broken. You see these kinds of links tend to harm user experience. All this results in absolute frustration and increased bounce rates. Also, you can think of setting 301 redirects for transferring the link power from an old URL to a new one and guide users in the right direction. Also, you can implement a 404 page to retain the user’s interest in a short time.

#6 Optimise the content

The next best practice to consider is optimizing the content. Website content is extremely important when done in the right manner; it has the potential to engage visitors and boost search visibility to a great extent.

So the content is supposed to be fresh and evergreen and incorporate different multimedia elements that enhance user experience and diversify your content presentation. In simple words, evergreen content is something that never gets outdated and stays relevant for the long haul. Also showcasing fresh content means giving assurance to the search engines that your website is always updated with featured content such as how-to guides or FAQs that drive traffic seamlessly. In addition, try incorporating multimedia elements such as informative and interesting videos from the expert. Today, more than 90% of users ask for more video content than blogs and articles. Also, when you incorporate useful videos, your users are bound to spend more and more time on your site and this increases brand loyalty. So what you get in return is better engagement, high sales, increased return on investments, and brand awareness.

Also, try incorporating effective testimonials which do add up to building user trust. Yes, testimonials are extremely important. No matter how hard you toot your horn it won’t sound effective unless someone else, a third party does it for you. Showcasing a testimonial section is a must and enhances user trust.

What’s more? Well, the importance of keywords cannot be ignored at any rate. Try conducting proper keyword research just to find what kind of search terms people use to look out for products and services similar to yours. Identify and integrate them into your content to enhance site visibility, boost organic traffic, and address audience needs and questions.

Above all, position all the crucial keywords in title tags, meta descriptions, and headings in such a manner that search engines can find out immediately and give justice to your website.

#7 Re-establish proper security

Lastly, as mentioned above, security is a major concern. A secure webpage safeguards user data and bolsters technical SEO. Try incorporating security certificates such as SSL, flag unsecured sites, warn visitors of potential risks, reduce site traffic, and decrease trustworthiness. Apart from that, when there are no security certificates present, search engines can penalize your site and rank it lower.

In addition to incorporating SSL certificates, did you know that choosing the right CMS platform can also enhance security? No kidding! There are times when external tools depreciate and become outdated which sooner or later do introduce different vulnerabilities and expose your site easily to cyber threats.

Here you need to look out for safe content management systems which don’t expose your site to cyber threats and protect the site from potential security breaches and compromised functionality.

And last aspect regarding security is choosing a web platform that features extensive built-in security mechanisms such as Webflow and assists in easily minimizing the risk via frequent security updates. Some of the common yet popular options to consider include Amazon Web Services to prevent cross-site scripting and distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks.

Conclusion

So what are you waiting for? It can never be a bad time to give your current website an instant makeover. However, we would always advise you to seek some professional help here. Try hiring a reputable and reliable web development company that assures amazing results every single time when it’s about tweaking an established site to raise conversion rates.

The bottom line is that your website is an extremely important business asset that shouldn’t be taken lightly at all or for granted. It’s like one of those hard-working ambassadors who are meant to create more and more goodwill, great first impressions, and long-lasting relationships with your end users. So, I hope we have got you covered thoroughly. In case, you have any queries, you can reach us in the comment section below. Time to get started with your website upgrade. Good luck!

Does your business web design need to be updated? was originally published in Javarevisited on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.

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