Small business owners know how to grab an opportunity to better their business when it presents itself. Last year, surveys showed that up to 46% of small businesses didn’t have a website. This year, that number has dropped down to 29%. Better yet, almost four out of five small business websites are mobile-friendly, which shows just how much stock small business owners put in keeping up with the times.
And it’s not without reason, at least when websites are concerned. There are more ways than one a website can be useful to a business. But for all their usefulness, just having a website doesn’t necessarily guarantee any kind of business results. To get results, small business owners probably have to work with a web design company when making new websites. And, in some cases, they might do it to fix the existing ones.
A Bigger Budget Is a Cue for Website Redesign
The cost of development is one of the most common reasons why businesses decide to delay creating a website. Still, business owners have several ways to build a business website on a shoestring budget, either by doing it on their own or by finding really cheap web design services. And while the results of that kind of work can be good for a while, they should be revised as soon as possible.
When circumstances change and when business owners can set aside more funds for their website development, they should consider hiring a professional design company that will audit their website. Based on their recommendations, business owners can decide whether they need to improve on the existing website or build a new and a better one from the grounds up. The key takeaway here is that websites that weren’t built by professionals or were built on the cheap could usually do with at least a touch up from a professional design company.
It’s Been a While Since the Website Was Built
Even a professionally developed website will need to be redesigned or completely rebuilt from scratch after a while. Web design changes with time, and if a website was designed 10 or more years ago, it will show. And the customers will notice it.
How a website looks plays an important role in how the people who visit it perceive it. Outdated website design will speak volumes about the business behind the website, and none of it will be good. And all of those negative associations that are brought up by web design that’s obviously outdated will be linked to the business, its products, or its services.
It Needs New Features
A website needs to stay on top of current trends not only in the way it looks but also in the way it works. Maybe the biggest evidence of this is the rise of mobile-friendly design. Just five years ago, responsive design and other design philosophies that were aimed at providing a better user experience on mobile devices weren’t nearly as popular as they are today. And today, they are a necessity.
But business owners might also want to add additional features that will expand their marketing options. Adding a blog section to a website and populating it with high-quality content is one of the best ways to increase organic traffic. Businesses can also choose to offer their customers to buy things online, which would require them to either add a store to their website or build one from scratch. Either way, expansion is a necessity of business, and it’s something that should be handled by professionals.
It Doesn’t Perform Well
One of the telltale signs of bad website performance is a high bounce rate. A website can have great traffic numbers, but if the vast majority of those visitors leave the website without converting into leads, that’s a big red warning sign that the website should be looked at.
Maybe the copy isn’t persuasive enough. Maybe visitors have a hard time navigating the website. Maybe the forms are too long, and calls-to-action are not prominent enough. Maybe the website is lacking content that will serve as social proof. All of those are reasons that lead to high bounce rates and low conversion rates, and they can be fixed by a professional web designer.
The Website Doesn’t Reflect the Business Anymore
Finally, business owners are well aware that, with time, businesses change. They can grow or shrink. They can reorient and move into a different direction. They can change their visual branding. In other words, they can become something completely different from what their websites present.
And that, of course, is a problem. Business websites, at their best, are the digital extension of a business, and as such, they should paint an accurate picture of what the business is. If they don’t, they can present problems that range from confusion among the customers to fraudulent behavior. So if the point comes when the business changes so much that it’s not accurately and truthfully represented by its own website, the website needs to be redesigned.