Rebuilding a website is a vast undertaking and shouldn’t be done lightly. So, today, I’ll break down five reasons why it might be time if you’ve been asking, ‘should I rebuild my website?’.
Why you should rebuild your website
Rebuilding a website can positively impact your business. But it can also be a risky operation if you have an established site with a long history. Always ask for the advice of an SEO specialist before redesigning a website. SEO is likely impacted by any rebuild.
Administration is hard
While it may not be impacting how your website looks to customers, admin can reduce the effectiveness of your work. A poorly organised website that is difficult to modify in the backend is a pain for staff. If the site is hard to manage, staff are less likely to want to do basic maintenance tasks. This includes updating the site frequently and managing content or orders.
If you invest in a content marketing strategy such as weekly blogs, this can be even worst. You could lose precious time if it takes your staff a long time to make them live. This lost time can be even more noticeable for e-commerce sites with lots of products or orders. The quicker your staff can complete tasks, the better for the business. If you or your team complain about slow loading or clunky order management, it may be time to rebuild.
It poses a security risk
Some website’s become out of date in a technical sense and can open your site up to hackers. While your site might appear to work well and look good from the outside, out of date, technical aspects can’t be seen by the public and may be present without your awareness. Some of the most common culprits are outdated frameworks, not using the latest scripting language or server capabilities, or out-of-date plugins and extensions. All of which can leave your website open to attack or be manipulated for nefarious reasons.
If your site is ancient, or you don’t have any maintenance on it, you may be at risk. However, the first port of call would be to consider a website audit to discover whether or not your site is a security risk plus if it can be rectified. If not, it may be time to rebuild your website with the latest technology.
The site Speed is too slow
The loading speed of your website is a critical factor in SEO and your customer’s user experiences. If you have a slow site, many people will leave before all the content has loaded. Likewise, search engines can recognise a slow website and reward competitors with faster sites. Speed can also impact your staff’s ability to manage the site effectively, so if your website is particularly slow for users, it’s a clear indication that something is a miss. This could be down to a technical configuration, similar to the ones discussed in the security section, or it could be because of the content you have on the site, such as lots of large, uncompressed images. Whatever the cause, a very slow site could be the primary reason to rebuild your website optimised for speed.
The website design is outdated
While technical SEO, content writing and on-page copy are vital to your marketing and SEO strategy, design is as essential to your audience. Your site has to look good to present your business as professional, trustworthy and able to perform its services. Ugly, old school designs don’t have any place in today’s digital world when there are so many incredible web designers out there. If your website design is quite old and does not align with best practices, you could lose many potential clients. Another indicator of a poor design is whether or not it reflects your brand and your styling is applied consistently. These are both key for brand recognition and trust. If you feel a bit embarrassed about how your website looks, a redesign is on the cards.
You’re not achieving your goals
The biggest reason you may need to rebuild your site is that it isn’t doing what you want it to do. If you are not gaining traffic from a comprehensive SEO strategy, no leads are coming through even with lots of traffic, or your online sales never max out, it could be time to reconsider a rebuild. An SEO audit, content audit, or general marketing consultancy can explain why your website may not be performing well. But if you have explored all avenues, sometimes starting from scratch can be the best course of action.
Freelance Website Design for the Long Term
If you are questioning whether you should rebuild your website, let’s work together. I offer a range of audits and reports which can help you determine what’s working, what’s not and what to do next. Should a website redesign be the best option, I can provide a fully costed proposal with suitable choices for your needs. Get in touch today.