Ten Indicators it is Time for a Web Redesign

By David Pfeiffer, Digital and UX Strategist

Introduction: Website Entropy is a Harsh Mistress!

The last version of your website probably took a lot of time and money to produce. You may have hoped that it would remain relevant for years, but all websites make a gradual decline into irrelevance. We call it “Website Entropy.” This happens in several ways; 1) the competition coops or repositions your brand advantage, 2) the information on your site is no longer up-to-date, or 3) your design becomes dated.

As your website is often your potential customer’s primary brand impression, it is a key revenue contributor.

But, when is it time for a website refresh?

Checkout our ten indicators that it’s time for a web redesign below. If any one of these indicators are triggered, contact your design firm and/or web developer to fix the problem. If multiple indicators are triggered, consider it time for a redesign.

Additional Resources (click “+” below)

Learning Something Good from Something Bad

Yes, you can learn something good about website design by looking at bad web design! Brenda Barron tells us what she learned by looking at 10 bad websites.

Learn from the Best

Yesterday, we looked at some bad websites, today let us look at some great ones. “The Awwwards” is a great website about other great websites! Here are some of the best business websites:

One foot in front of the other

Forbes magazine has a useful article on how to execute a successful web redesign project. The author, Haris Bacic, outlines setting goals, how to select a design team, key performance indicators, process tips, and launch considerations.

Good Website Pages

In his article, CMU Professor, Jim Papoun, outlines five questions to consider when evaluating a quality web page.

Website Entropy is a Harsh Mistress

Website Entropy is a Harsh Mistress!

Indicator #1: Stats don’t win the Game, but they can tell you how you’re doing

As in any sport, statistics are important indicators of performance. When is the last time you checked your website’s statistics? If your website stats are going in the wrong direction, this is one indicator that your website is crying out for help. Hint: if you don’t have Google Analytics installed on your website, you can check your website basic stats at alexa.com/siteinfo

A Drop in Site Traffic 

Site traffic is the number of visitors that come to your site. A non-seasonal dip in traffic over several months can be an indicator of various problems: dated design, loss of position in search rankings, competitive effects, or less relevant content. Be sure to check the year-over-year stats to take in account any seasonal variations.

Bounce Rate

If the site’s overall “Bounce” rate has increased then it is likely that users are coming to your site and not finding what they are looking for or poor search keyword alignment. A rising bounce rate and low “time on page” can indicate increasingly irrelevant content and/or a dated design.

Additional Resources

The Bouncing Ball

What are some typical Bounce rates? Today’s article by Ann Smarty outlines some typical stats– the good, the bad, and the ugly. Keep in mind, that these are guidelines; bounce rates will vary by industry.

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Letting Air Out of Your Bouncing Ball

Reducing Bounce rate can be as easy as looking at the keywords that are bouncing and making some adjustments to the page content and layout. In today’s article, Carrie Hill outlines two simple ideas for reducing Bounce rate on your website pages.

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Three Basic Search Engine Marketing Techniques

There are many methods to drive traffic to your website. In today’s article, Randy Duermyer  outlines the 3 basic Search Engine Marketing (SEM) methods and why they are important.

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Raising the Rank

What good is a website if no one can find it? Marziah Karch, a Google expert, discusses a couple of basic tips to improve your Google search ranking to bring you more traffic. The article discusses a couple of points such as keyword usage, the subject of next week’s articles.

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Stats don’t win the Game, but they can tell you how you’re doing

Indicator #2: Location, Location, Location (Where is your website located?)

The old real estate adage applies in the digital world as well. Is your business website located where your customers can find it? Search keywords are used by your customer to find your products or services. Unless you rely solely on referrals or digital ads for new customers, a top 10 position on the Google search engine results page (SERP) is very important to your business. 

Are you getting enough web traffic to satisfy your business goals?  If not, consider focusing on Search Engine Optimization (SEO) or Pay-per-click (PPC) ads to increase traffic.

To check the “location” of keywords related to your domain, go to spyfu.com/seo/keywords/domain, enter your domain and then select the “Page One Keywords” in dropdown menu. You will then see a sample of your page one keywords.  If you need target keyword ideas, Spyfu has a complete set of tools that will suggest target keywords. More ideas on increasing your findability in the additional resources below.

Additional Resources

Traffic Quality, not Quantity

It’s not only about the amount of traffic to your website, but the quality of that traffic. For instance, are the people visiting your website even interested in your product or service? In today’s article, Randy Duermyer outlines how to select the right keywords for your website using free online tools.

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Preview of http://help.spyfu.com/en/articles/3044929-find-popular-keywords-amongst-my-competitors

Competitive Keywords

Sometimes the best way to see what keywords you should be targeting is to look at your successful or up-and-coming competitors. In today’s article, Sidra Condron talks about how to view your competitor’s popular, organic, and Pay-per-Click (PPC) keywords.

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Preview of https://support.google.com/adwords/answer/2999770Keyword Traffic

To see what keywords you should be targeting and what levels of traffic those keywords are receiving, check out the Google Ad Words tool. The following Google Help page provides an overview of the tool and a guide on using it for keyword discovery.

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Preview of https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4LCnRJnPNow

Keyword Discovery

If you like to learn by watching videos, the following link provides an overview of Google Ad Words and how to use it for keyword discovery.

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Location, Location, Location (Where is your website located?)

Indicator #3: Looking at someone else’s paper is not cheating!

When is the last time you’ve looked at your competitors’ websites? You should have the best website among your competitors as customers will typically review websites of prospective vendors before creating a buyer’s short list. Your website’s relative quality is a strong indicator as to your position in the market.

By performing a periodic review of your competitor’s website, you can glean valuable lessons about what to try and avoid in your business practices. Let’s say you notice that one of your competitors has posted a discount coupon— did it affect your business? Did you note more posts on their social pages? This and other methods can indicate the success or failure of various business practices.

The ease of access to information and removing pain points for the customer makes for a positive user experience. If your competitor’s website has a better look, is more useful, has well-organized information, and supports mobile responsive, it is time for a website refresh.

Additional Resources

Cheater, Cheater, Competition Eater

Keeping tabs on your competition is a prudent business practice. Today’s article outlines how to determine your competitors, what you need to know, and what to do about it.

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Not Measured, Not Managed

Once you have a sense of how you are doing against your competition, you will need to track  future progress. In today’s article, Tim Berry writes about how to track your competition on an ongoing basis.

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Mine is better than yours

In this week’s kick off article, Ann Smarty outlines the three big things to look for when comparing your website to your competitor’s site.

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Swimming with the big fish

An important part of comparing your website to your competitors is to compare the website traffic. In today’s article, Jennifer Johnson shows us how to use the Alexa website tool to compare your website to the competition.

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Looking at someone else’s paper is not cheating!

Indicator #4: If you don’t know, ASK

Have you asked your customers and prospective/outsider groups if your website is useful and appealing? Both audiences will provide useful information in different ways. Not knowing how both groups perceive your website is like driving blind.

Customer Survey

Customer surveys might sound like a big effort, but with tools like Google Forms, Survey Monkey, and Amazon’s Mechanical Turk, it’s neither difficult or expensive. Survey results can provide a level confidence and certainty to your marketing strategies and tactics. The survey should be anonymous so the customer will feel free to provide both positive and negative feedback on whether the website and business practices are relevant, influential, appealing, easy-to-use, and easy-to-locate important information.

Prospect / Outsider Survey

A survey of the prospective customers and even non-industry people provide useful comparisons between you and your competition. These surveys are typically done blindly, where participants are asked to choose the best and worst elements from a set of 2 or 3 websites (one of those sites being yours). This allows you to see how others perceive your website in relation to competitors.

Additional Resources

The Big Five 

John Jantsch, author of Duct Tape Marketing, lists five general questions you should ask your customers in his article, which is a good starting point for creating your survey. Later posts will outline specific questions for various types of websites.

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So, what do you think of our website?

Knowing what your customers think of their website experience is essential for customer retention. One method to find this out is to ask them to fill out an online survey. Today’s article from Google, talks about the benefits of adding their free web survey tool to your website. There are many similar tools available on the Internet.

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What do you want to know about your website?

So, what kind of question should you ask your customers if they opt-in to take your survey? The following article is a list of questions you may ask to best evaluate your website. It is best to keep the number of survey questions few— 5-10 questions at most.

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What about Products?

If you sell products on your website, you’ll want to ask your users about the findability and usability of the product information. The following article is a list of questions you might ask your customer about your product-oriented website.

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If you don’t know, ASK

Indicator #5: O Mobile, Mobile! Wherefore art thou Mobile?

Have you ever looked at your website on your phone? As of now, 50% of all websites are viewed on a mobile device. And if tablets are included, then it is well over 50%. 

Most websites viewed on a mobile phone operate just like their desktop site except smaller. On mobile devices, the hover-over menus don’t work and everything is hard to read, forcing the user to zoom in on portions of the page. This is a poor user experience that frustrates customers, and drives them to websites that are mobile-friendly.

A mobile-friendly website responds to the smaller screen by adjusting the layout of the page to operate like a mobile app creating a positive experience for the customer. 

Bottom line: Your website needs to be support mobile devices.

Additional Resources

To Be Mobile or Not to Be Mobile

Mobile websites provide several important opportunities to increase customer engagement and sales. Today’s article by Priya Viswanathan outlines why you need a mobile website for your customers.

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Native vs. Responsive Apps

What is the difference between a mobile-responsive website and a mobile app? This question and more are answered in today’s FAQ article by Priya Viswanathan.

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Going Deeper

A broader mobile strategy might involve deeper engagement and monetization strategies. Today’s article by Priya Viswanathan outlines “6 Essential Elements of an Effective Mobile Strategy” which explores what mobile apps might do for your business.

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Connecting with Mobile Apps

Would my customers benefit from an app on their mobile phone or tablet? Today’s article explores why you might consider a native mobile app instead of a responsive website for your business.

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O Mobile, Mobile! Wherefore art thou Mobile?

Indicator #6: Skimming and Scanning

Don’t assume people will read your website! Just like you, people are busy and don’t always have time for in-depth reading. Web page content must be scannable – this is the ability to consume content on a page without reading all of the content. You can do this by presenting a clear visual hierarchy with paragraph headers and lists, short sentences, and paragraphs to break down content into bite-size chunks. If you have significant text blocks on your website without titles and visual hierarchy, then these pages need a redesign.

If more detailed content is required, downloadable white papers would be preferable with strong titles and table of contents, allowing people to find the sections of the document that most interest them. 

Additional Resources

 How do you read the web?

How do people read on the web? Today’s article by Jakob Nielsen of the Nielsen-Norman Group, is a study of how people read website copy and the effect of making it more scannable.

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Readable Web Copy

Applying the lessons from yesterday’s study on how people scan web pages, Pamela Wilson of Copyblogger outlines 8 simple ways to get more people to read your website copy.

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Catchy Headliners

Titles are the door into your website content. Pique the interest of your web page visitor and invite him in with great titles. In today’s article, Jeff Goins provides 5 simple guidelines to write catchy headlines.

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Content Visual Hierarchy

Visual elements play an important role in the scannability of the hierarchy of your website content. Rachel Shillcock’s article provides an overview of the basic visual elements that can help users understand the relationship between blocks of content on your web page.

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Skimming and Scanning

Indicator #7: Where do I go from here? – The Call to Action

Every web page should have a purpose, driving the user toward a decision. This decision might be to buy a product, call sales, explore product details, configure a product or sign-up for an email newsletter. This is the “call-to-action” (CTA), and every page should have one or more CTAs. 

Have you checked each page for a clear call-to-action? If not, you will likely want to reorganize your content to match what is known as the “buyer’s journey.” The buyer’s journey is made up of the typical steps a customer takes in coming to a decision to buy your product or service. Content organized in this fashion makes it easier for a customer to power through their decision process and end up executing your call-to-action.

Additional Resources

 A little more information please

So what is a call-to-action? Today’s article by Ginny Soskey defines a call-to-action and a checklist for effective CTAs.

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Do As I do, Not As I Say

Good call-to-action language and visuals can be hard to describe except by example. So today’s article by Kathryn Aragon outlines 20+ examples of effective calls-to-actions using words and visuals.

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Preview of https://blog.hubspot.com/sales/what-is-the-buyers-journeyAll of Life is a Framework

So, what is a buyer’s journey and why should I care? The buyer’s journey is a selling framework for your website as described by Hubspot in today’s article. 

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Building Your Journey

An understanding of the buyer’s journey to conversion (e.g., downloading a white paper, contacting a salesman or buying a product online) can guide your content development. In today’s article, Laura Patterson talks about the process of mapping out a buyer’s journey.

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The Dreaded Question: “Where do I go from here”?

Indicator #8: Every Web Page is Your Home Page!

It’s difficult to predict what web pages a search engine will  present to your website visitor. This means that every page must answer some basic home page questions below. If your pages do not answer these basic questions in less than 10 seconds, the user may “bounce” to another website.

  1. What is this website about? – This question is usually answered by the header, tagline, navigation, and footer. The user will scan these items to figure out the scope and context of the website.
  2. What do they have here? and What can I do here? – These items are discerned by the user’s scan of the page content, pictures, and calls-to-action.
  3. Where am I? – the page should have strong breadcrumbs (e,g., Home > About Us) so the user can orient themselves in the overall structure of the website.
  4. Is there someplace better I should go? – This question is most often answered by the main navigation, links (CTAs) on the page, and the footer.

The answers to the above questions are intentionally designed for every page of the website, if not, the website needs to be refreshed.

Additional Resources

Preview of http://www.sharpfishmarketing.com/website-design-think-of-every-page-as-a-home-page/Every Page?

In today’s article, Daniel Souers discusses why you should think of every page on your website as a home page.

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Preview of http://opticalcortex.com/content-recirculation-making-every-page-a-homepage/Recycling Content

So, how do you make every page a home page? As George Hastings points out in today’s article, content recycling is beneficial to your website environment.

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Are you hiding your best content on your home page?

“Every page is a homepage. If you have some sort of amazing secret sauce that only exists on your homepage, half of the people coming to your site will never see it,” says Jay Baer, author of today’s recommended article.

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Preview of http://blog.hubspot.com/blog/tabid/6307/bid/31097/12-Critical-Elements-Every-Homepage-Must-Have-Infographic.aspx1000 Words about Your Homepage Picture 

Here is great infographic outlining the “Critical Elements Every Website Homepage Must Have” by Lindsay Kolowich. These elements should be kept in mind for every web page.

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Every Web Page is Your Home Page!

Indicator #9: Great Photography and Design is worth a thousand Impressions!

It’s amazing how quality pictures can dress up a website. Amateur photos negate good content whereas interesting photos connect readers to your content. Buying great stock photos or even hiring a professional photographer is worth every penny. 

Like great photos, design is critical to engage the user’s attention. Little things like fonts, picture placement, spacing of elements, and titles guide your eye through the information on the page.

Look at websites you like, taking note of the flow of the page elements. Then look at your website. Does the page grab your attention? Is your eye guided along a path by visual and title elements on the page? If not, then maybe it’s time for a website makeover.

  Why Professional Product Photos Can Make or Break Your Business

Today’s article by Andreea Ayers talks about the importance of professional-looking photography and some things to consider when choosing sources for your web photography.

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Preview of http://www.awwwards.com/awards-of-the-month/Your Website Selfie

Your website is often an expression of you or your company’s values and sense of self, like a selfie. Today we point to “Awwwards.com” website to “find your selfie” website. Click on the page below and adjust the “Category” filter menu to see the best websites in your area of interest.

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Preview of https://www.dmnews.com/data/news/13056988/infographic-5-databacked-reasons-why-good-website-design-is-so-important5 Data-Supported Reasons Good Website Design is Important

Today’s article is an infographic on “5 data-backed reasons why good website design is so important” by Omar Akhtar. It speaks for itself.

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Preview of https://www.dmnews.com/customer-experience/news/13058082/infographic-how-your-eyes-move-on-a-websiteHow Your Eyes Move on a Website

Here is Another infographic on how the eye moves around a web page, once again by Omar Akhtar.

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Great Photography and Design are Worth Thousands of Impressions!

Indicator #10: So, what’s your story?

There’s a lot of talk about storytelling. This is because our brains are wired to relate to and remember story patterns. While we all know what a story is, it’s not always easy to define it. The basic story elements are as follows:

  1. Something has gone wrong from the way things should be.
  2. We identify the problem and attempt to solve it.
  3. We are successful to getting things back to normal or better than normal.

If you apply this paradigm to product selling, the website would identify a problem and show how buying the product will resolve their problem.

So, what’s new about that? Modern storytelling includes emotional hooks for the hero (the customer) and are careful to construct meaningful backstory from which the story is based upon. The result is a story that fits into larger narratives and brand positions. It’s not just a product or service, it’s part of your lifestyle, identity, or outcome.

If your brand or selling points needs to be brought to life, it’s time for a website redesign.

Preview of http://www.creativebloq.com/netmag/your-website-needs-tell-story-heres-why-21410811Your Website Needs to Tell a Story – Here’s Why

In today’s article, Gene Crawford talks about the importance of storytelling with 5 example websites.

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Preview of http://www.copyblogger.com/meaningful-marketing-story/The Amazingly Simple Anatomy of a Meaningful Marketing Story 

Demian Farnworth outlines the elements of creating meaningful marketing stories in an infographic.

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 6 Storytelling Techniques for Great Interaction Design

So, you have a story to tell, but how do you work it into your website? Jerry Cad outlines 6 techniques to employ storytelling in your website.

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Preview of http://www.dtelepathy.com/blog/inspiration/30-compelling-examples-of-visual-storytelling-on-the-webVisual Storytelling on the Web

Warning: this article will take you to the bleeding edge of storytelling websites. These are a great way to spark some cool storytelling ideas for your website.

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So, what’s your story?

Comments

Email me at: david@jondpfeiffer.com

Contact Me: jondpfeiffer@gmail.com

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