Five signs that tell you it's time for a website renewal

Your business changes, and so should your website. When your website is no longer serving its purpose, it is time to consider a website renewal.

A website renewal is the process of overhauling your website in order to improve usability, performance and more. A renewal may include redesigning layouts, auditing content, improving navigation and user-journeys, and modernizing the technical backend. A well executed renewal will not only bring massive value to your business, but also positively affect the user experience.

Is it time for a website renewal?

Not sure if it is time for a website renewal? Here are 5 signs that your website might be in need of a professional redesign.

Sign № 1: Your website does not fit your brand anymore 

Whether you just finished a massive, 12-month long rebranding process, or haven’t updated your brand in over 20 years, if you find that the visual style of your website does not reflect your brand (or the times) anymore, it is definitely the right moment for a website redesign. 

A visual renewal can address the following aspects, helping your website stay fresh and competitive:

• Overall branding

• Page layouts

• Typography

• Icons and Illustrations

• Photography

• Colors

• CTA buttons

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Sign № 2: Your website breaks on mobile devices and modern browsers

Browser technologies are always changing, and so are user expectations, design practices, and device standards. Technologies that were the backbone of your website a few years ago, now leave your website crumbling and unusable on modern devices. The technical backend of a website needs to be updated regularly to make sure that it is safe, usable, and follows modern web standards. Only this way can you always provide the best possible experience for your users. 

Some technical aspects you might want to re-evaluate during a website renewal:

• Web hosting plan

• Content management system

• Plugins

• Third-party integrations

• Accessibility

• Responsiveness

• New devices

• And more

Sign № 3: You’re struggling to update your content and keep using “hacks”

In the best case scenario, you’re using a simple, out-of-the-box solution, and spend hours googling how to add an Instagram feed to your website. In the worst case, years of manual fixes have made your website slow and clunky to work with, and every small content update requires hundreds of small work-arounds and code snippets that only one of your colleagues knows how to do (they are on vacation currently, of course...). 

In either case, a renewal with a professional agency is your opportunity to finally get a website designed according to your specific needs, and make sure that the content management system is easy to use.

Sign № 4: Users are having a hard time navigating your website and don’t find your content

Every day you get the same emails and calls for information that is already on your website? Users drop off before completing their purchase because they can’t find the shopping cart?  

If your website’s navigation is hopelessly confusing and information is scattered around seemingly at random, it is time to start from a clean slate, and re-evaluate user paths and content structures.  

Tip: A good way to check if your current structure makes sense is by conducting a thorough investigation. Check out how we do this at Contrast: Good UX Practices for All Businesses

Sign № 5: You cannot showcase all your business offerings on your website

As you keep improving and growing your business, your strategy shifts, your company values get updated, and you launch new and exciting products and services. Unfortunately, your website is old and inflexible, so your customers never get to know about any of this.

A website renewal can make sure that your website reflects your current strategy and services, and that potential customers know exactly what you’re doing and why. 

Changes in business that might call for a website renewal:

• Your mission, vision and values get reprioritized

• Your business experiences a sudden growth

• You are offering new services and products

• Your target customers have changed

• Your company undergoes a major reorganization

• Your business model shifts drastically, i.e. doing online retail

To sum up

As the web and your company develop, you might find that your old website suddenly becomes a major roadblock in your operations, instead of connecting you and your customers. So, if any, or all, of these signs feel way too familiar to you, it might be high time to start thinking about a website renewal. 

Message us to find out more about how Contrast can help you tackle the mammoth that is a website renewal in a painless and strategic way!

☞ Related: Once you are ready to start the process of improving your website, check out our guide for preparing for a redesign: How to Prepare for A Website Redesign