Hello there! Welcome to this blog where we talk about different ways to get the most out your website through website redesign and take it to the next level. Technology is advancing so quickly that new devices can be considered old fashioned and out dated after merely three or four years. This is true of all devices like phones, tablets, mp3 players, and yes, even websites. Being a business in this day and age requires you to constantly update your content and technology. In the 21st century, it all comes down to what the consumers can see and have easy access to. This means having a good website and typically a presence in social media. Company owners may find this frustrating, but they have to consider or keep in mind why it is important — even essential — to their growth and success. Basically, it makes your customers happy, saves you time and money, and keeps you well-connected and up to date regarding what the people want. As a company, you need to be visible, and this visibility needs to impress. If you already have a website, you must know about the importance of website redesign. You must see big online companies like Pinterest, Amazon, Facebook, Wikepedia etc constantly updating their content and websites to make them more accessible to the consumers and also at the same making the website easier to use.

What is website redesign? Redesign means to modernize, change or improve something that already exists while staying true to the initial guidelines. In the case of making a website it will obviously be designed or redesigned and manufactured with the latest technology available and keeping all the needs of the customer in mind, the company logo, remaining faithful to the graphics of the corporate identity.

There are many steps involved in the website redesign process:

Step 1: Evaluation

Identify what is working and what isn’t. Identify what the strengths and weakness of your current website are and benchmark your current data (both metrics and analytics).

Step 2: Identify your goals

Identify your goals and picture what the end result will be. What is your ultimate goal? Are you just looking for a more professional website or are you hoping to get more leads and sales? Whatever your goals are clarity is an absolute must in order to create a website redesign strategy that meets your expectations.

Step 3: Strategy Creation

The website redesign team will outline a plan for achieving those goals based on your needs. To develop a more professional image then look in depth at competitors’ websites, as well as websites you like outside your industry, to get a better understanding of what your competitors can likely do and how you can make your website better.

Step 4: Assess

Assess and outline whatever major changes you want added or removed from the current website design.

Step 5: Implementation

This is the actual making process where all necessary things are done, from wireframes, mock ups to viewing of sitemaps. Necessary changes can be made along the way.

Step 6: Review and Launch

Final part is testing the website. Run and test the website to ensure that it is functional, error free, that the forms work and most important the website works across all browsers and devices seamlessly. If there are no problems, then launch the website.

When do you know your website needs a redesign? The following will explain:

  • It isn’t Mobile Optimized: This is the most important indication that your website requires an update! If you can’t view your own business website on a mobile device, neither can your customers. With the increasing usability of mobile devices to browse the internet, it has been important for quite some time to update your site to be mobile friendly. According to Blue Corona, consumers spend more than five hours on their mobile devices. In 2018, 52.2% of all worldwide online traffic was generated through mobile phones. 51% of customers say that they use mobile devices to discover new brands and products and 69% of smart phone users also say that they are more likely to buy from companies with mobile sites that easily address their questions or concerns (BrightEdge, 2017). So it is pretty obvious that if your website isn’t available on mobile devices, the customers are going to look elsewhere. Within just a few months, more people will be surfing the web from their smart phones and tablets than from their desktop computers. Don’t waste time on letting things run their own course. If your website isn’t where the consumers are, your website will become invisible and solely for this reason, you most definitely need a website redesign.
  • Invisible to Search Engines: If you go to Google, Bing or any other search engine and search for a product or service you will find a long list of companies that provide those things. The best and most popular websites show up on the first page. Getting on this first page is another major goal your website needs to meet, because let us face it; nobody looks at the second page of a search result. Ask yourself, does your website show up on the first page of search results? If not, your website needs some serious search engine optimization (SEO). SEO is ultimately about providing the user with the easiest, fastest, best experience possible and a search engine wants to provide the user with what they are looking for, and when it can do that, both parties are happy. We know that a happy visitor will become a returning visitor. By investing in SEO you will be providing search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo critical information so they will place your site in the top 5 spots on the returns page. You can find out more about what SEO is here.
  • Change with Advancements in Business and Dated Look: Another reason one might need a website redesign is that it hasn’t kept up with changes in the business. Outdated information can confuse and irritate your customers and cause problems for your staff as well. Thus your content needs to be up to date with clear and important information. If the website is over three to four years old, the website is likely to be lagging behind in design trends. Three or four years is a long time in the website design world and, when your website is just running for the main basic reason, it is tempting and easy to put a website redesign on hold.

Over the years, the creative world of the web redesign has progressed and the competition to capture the customer’s attention just keeps becoming more intense. From different quick tips like hand-made illustrations and page motion animations to dynamic gradients and responsive logos, business websites need to be redesigned to be fresh, memorable and maybe even innovative and inspirational. Web designers often notice that despite what they tell you most clients make their decisions emotionally or personally as opposed to logical decisions so it is important to be visually appealing. An updated and modern design is not just for aesthetic; it is one of the key factors in the customer’s purchasing decision. If this is the website redesign, you website will be more reliable and trustworthy. It will also look more professional and give your business that extra edge over other business websites.

  • No Consumer Value: A potential visitor may visit your website once, but if they do not find anything helpful, useful or valuable to them, they will not return. So in addition to current product and service information, you have to fill your website with customer-focused content (like regularly-updated and informative blogs, exclusive mobile web design content, etc.) that keeps the customers coming back for more. It must be understood that a strategy made many years ago might have been to get as many enquiries as possible through an onsite contact form. Today, though, businesses are trying to build authority through blogging and email subscriptions. The aim of the business website is or should be to help generate leads, enquiries or direct sales — depending on the nature of the services being provided. If your marketing activities are constant but you are seeing a decrease in your online sales or leads, it could be a sign that your website is not connecting with your audience.

Whether it is an out dated content-management system (CMS) or a poorly designed call-to-action area (CTA), a lack of key website features will act as an obstacle in your marketing process. If your strategy today is extremely different from when you started your business, it is only natural that your website is evolving to align with your goals and marketing efforts.

  • Website just isn’t Working: Being forced to wait forever for pages to load only to be presented with broken links, outdated offers, and a layout that isn’t optimized for a modern day browser is major deal breaker. Not only is it frustrating, it makes the customer less likely to view that website as being reliable. The website might not be at this level of broken, but certain areas of the website may be old and in need of an update. For example, maybe the website hasn’t been optimized for the latest browsers, or there is linking to old pages that no longer exist and were never properly redirected. These issues may seem small, but they play a significant role in the overall effectiveness of your website. Neglecting this for too long can have a significant impact on your traffic and marketing efforts.

Dynamic websites are very useful in website redesign. The biggest advantage of having a dynamic website is that they can be easily updated as per the needs of the business. When using dynamic website design, it is far easier to update and manage the website. Instead of needing to create new pages, you can change your pages as things change. This is particularly useful if you’ve hired a website designer because calling a webmaster so they can make changes to your site can cost you a lot of money. Part of running a website today is being able to customize your actions to the needs of your customers. People browse as individuals, and demand to be treated as such. Whether that means using social media buttons or the collection of cookies, dynamic website design allows you to do all of the things mentioned. This gives you a chance to know more about your visitors and give them the best experience possible. In a dynamic website, you have all of your content organized in a database which makes it much easier to manage and edit. For example, if you uploaded a certain number posts on your website on a certain topic, in a dynamic website you can simply search and filter according to topic and delete those posts all at once.

Dynamic have many interactive features that users have come to expect from modern websites. By investing in these websites, you show how serious you are about your business.

How do you spot a modern spider? He has a website!

Hello there! Welcome to this blog where we talk about the things that your website must have and will take your website to the next level. The secret to taking your website to the next level is to have an effective website design! Having knowledge about what things a website must have and how they can be added via website design is crucial for development.This blog will help you gather the knowledge you need regarding website design.Let us first establish what a website is first:  A website is basically a collection of interrelated web pages, which include text, images, videos and hyperlinks. It has a common domain name and a presence on the web server.

The importance of websites is now growing due to the growing usage of the Internet by consumers. It is important (essential, actually) to have a website for your business as it helps the users gain credibility. More and more customers are shopping and looking for information online and if you are present on the internet, you have an equal chance to increase your sales and develop a sense of trust and credibility among the consumers. It also provides a means through which you can directly connect with the consumers and get feedback. Another advantage is that having a website is less expensive to advertise on than the radio, newspapers, television etc.There are many types of websites you can create!

Imagine if websites like Gmail, Facebook, Wikipedia, Youtube, Amazon, Yahoo, didn’t exist. It’s unimaginable! They are all such important tools used in our day to day lives. Think, why are these websites so popular and important?

Let’s jump right into it: What are things a website must have?

1. A Logical Draft

Obviously, it is more important for a website to be useful. Before you even pick a server or type an HTML tag, you should first plan out how you would like the website to work, what kind of content will be displayed and how it will be displayed.This is important both for consumer experience and for Search Engine Optimization, since Google considers the content and structure of a site when it ranks for search. So, chalk it out and make a design for the site (something called “wire framing” and make sure it makes sense and is intuitive.

2. Navigation

Easy navigation around a website is one of the up-most important things a website show have when it is in its designing stage. There is no point of having a really creative and exciting website, if the consumers are unable to use it and navigate around it to find all of the important information they are searching for. Navigation is best understood as the method in which you explore and move around the website.

Without navigation, websites can appear unstructured and disorganised. Here are some reasons why good navigation is one of the things a website must have:

  • The navigation bar or tools is a clear indication that your website is reliable and filled with knowledge.
  • People have a clear picture of what is on offer and what they can find and expect from the website. The consumers are also encouraged to explore more if they are able to clearly see the navigation bars and links.
  • Navigation tools help in breaking up the website into categories and groups in a logical and understandable group.
  • Good navigation can speed up the viewers’ search.
  • Navigation should be simple to understand, which will generally mean that the consumers will stay longer and will return because it is a pleasure to use.
  • Good navigation works well with Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), in that it enables the Search Engine Spiders to properly crawl into sites and index them. It also helps in improving web usability which basically means that if the website is not accessible by a link, the website will not be found by the search engines.
  • Good navigation can place websites highly on search engines.
  • Good navigation will allow visitors to search the website for longer period of time, giving them faith in where they are and what they can receive from your website.

3. Crucial Business Information

This is another important thing a website must have. You need to clearly define your company. A good company description can get the reader’s attention and interest. We all have short attention spans, so keeping the amount of text minimum but just enough to get the message across is important. People should be able to skim through the text available. Try to include all the vital information in a comprehensive way.

Depending on your business, you should have a few things on your website that fall into the realm of “information.” For example, restaurants need a menu and a list of locations (ideally with directions or a map). The retailers need to put product images, and the service industry has businesses that rely heavily on customer service and referrals need to put some testimonials on their websites. A wedding planner could have one of her recent brides write about her experience with the business. A web designer should include screenshots or links to previous work.

Another important thing a website must have is an easy to remember web address. It should be easy for a user to type the web address in the Web browser or email address.

4.Contact Information

Among things a website must have, display of contact information is very important.  Providing easy to find contact details is important as not every customer will click through a series of pages just to get to your contact details. The contact information must be placed in a prominent place such as the top left or top right corner. It is also a good idea to display the contact details on each page of the website so that the customers can get in touch whenever they want to. It is important to note that the consumers should be provided with more than one way to contact you, that is, phone number, email address, chat and contact form. Put yourself in the customer’s shoes and try to understand the goal of a potential customer.

5. Security

Security is another thing a website must have. One of the best ways to keep your website secure is switching from a standard HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol) to HTTPS(HTTP Secured), which adds an additional layer of security and encryption. It works by using a SSLCertificate (SecureSocket Layer) which protects the data and any sensitive information that is passed between server and browser. This ensures that any information your customers and clients provide on your website is secured and protected, which in turn makes it more difficult for a third party or hacker to get their hand son the information.

You need to renew your domain occasionally otherwise this will wreak havoc and leave your website vulnerable to hackers. When you first purchase your domain name you have to decide how long you want to buy it for, and after that period of time has passed, it expires. You have to renew it. You will be presented with the option to automatically renew the domain once it expires, which is highly recommended. Leaving your website open gives other people, including your business competitors the chance to buy your domain.

6.Mobile-Friendly Experience

With the dependence on phones growing day by day, making sure your website is accessible through mobile devices is now one of the important things a website must have.More than 60% of internet users access online content through mobile devices.In April 2015, Google updated its SEO algorithm to include mobile responsiveness. This basically means that if your competitors’ website is mobile friendly and yours is not, their website will show up in Google searches before yours, which is not ideal.

7.Social Media Icons

Social media is a fantastic way for your customers to learn more about your business and stay up to date with what offers are available to them. It is a way for them to connect with the business on different platforms and for the business to put some personality behind the brand. These icons are especially important when you are posting content. The whole point of posting a blog or uploading a portfolio is to get people to see it and by providing them easy means to access that content, you will be able to reach a wide audience with a strong impact.

All of these things mentioned above are what makes popular websites popular. They are all keeping themselves updated with the changing times. Your website must too if you want to be successful.

So, how can you make your website that extra bit better? Through the website design of course! The website design is the face of your business online. As Steve Jobs once said, “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like. Design is how it works.”

If the website design is faulty, the website will look inferior and of poor quality. Website design is a broad term that encompasses a wide variety of tasks, all involved in the formation of webpages. These are essentially two types of web designs you can decide on: static and dynamic web design. Static web design is typically based on HTML code and dynamic website design is built with superior and refined technologies according to the information available in the database. You can learn more about static and dynamic website designs here.

Hiring a professional web designer to build a clean, neat and professional looking website, making sure that all the things a website must have are present, is the correct way to go. The web designer will make sure that the website has all the things a website must have by performing these duties and roles:

  • Designing engaging and responsive landing pages
  • Optimising sites for maximum speed and scalability
  • Conducting website testing
  • Ensuring website function and stability across devices i.e.desktop, mobile, tablet
  • Working with marketing and research teams to incorporate brand elements and relevant market research findings into website
  • Providing internal support and external customer service throughout the build and launch process of the website

Web development services help your company to increase product knowledge, maintain communication between you and potential clients, sell your products or services, generate leads for the business, and increase the popularity of your company and much more. To have a successful website, make sure your website has all of the things mentioned above. Take the necessary time to do some research and find out what is best for you. Remember, you can always outsource this project to web designers. By getting professional help in creating and maintaining your website, you will be able to always stay ahead with the newest trends and technology. This gives you an edge over your competitors!