{"id":79295,"date":"2017-06-01T07:57:15","date_gmt":"2017-06-01T15:57:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/graphpaperpress.com\/?p=79295"},"modified":"2017-06-01T09:39:59","modified_gmt":"2017-06-01T17:39:59","slug":"redesign-website","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/graphpaperpress.com\/blog\/redesign-website\/","title":{"rendered":"When to Redesign Your Website"},"content":{"rendered":"
The first impression that you leave on your audience today is based almost entirely on your website. Because your website plays an oversized role in the success of your business, it’s vital that you\u00a0to take it seriously.<\/p>\n
Just like any real “brick and mortar” business, your website requires regular maintenance (like sweeping the floor and taking out the trash). If you neglect the upkeep for too long, your site will grow digital cobwebs, it will look antiquated, and your business will suffer.<\/p>\n
Hopefully, that’s not you. If it is, there is one simple trick that can help set you back on the right track: A website redesign.<\/p>\n
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If you’re like many of the websites owners who I work with, you might not really know when you need a website redesign. While there is no silver bullet here, I tend to recommend these same simple tips every time I’m asked this question:<\/p>\n
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If you aren’t achieving the goals you’ve set out for your business, the easiest way to make an positive impact is through a website redesign.\u00a0Now, you might already have a website that you love and that you think is beautiful. That’s great!<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, many website owners conflate beauty with effectiveness. That’s a big mistake.<\/p>\n
Effective websites solves business problems. They are designed to have efficient sales funnels<\/a> and get you customers. Effective websites feel simple and are easy\u00a0to use.<\/p>\n Without compelling content, a design is just decoration.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n To craft an effective website and start achieving real results online, you need to start from zero. Ask yourself these questions:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n A cluttered website leads to high bounce rates (visitors leave without taking any action on your website). It communicates that you’re messy and have difficulty distinguishing between signal and noise<\/a>.<\/p>\n Between all the new\u00a0plugins, widgets, social media links, sidebar links, newsletter subscribe boxes, and popovers, there always seems to be a new “must have” gizmo waiting to be added. Without paring down the plugins, widgets, and other visually distracting elements,\u00a0you’ll likely\u00a0end up with\u00a0a website that’s cluttered and\u00a0difficult\u00a0to navigate.<\/p>\n Cluttered websites cause decision fatigue<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0make browsing the website painful. Sigmund Freud\u2019s Pleasure Principle suggests that all human behavior is driven by two primitive desires, avoiding pain and gaining pleasure. Removing all unnecessary bits from your website helps your visitors avoid pain and focuses their attention on what’s most important.<\/p>\n Before choosing a new design, edit down\u00a0your\u00a0plugins, widgets, gizmos and whirly birds down to those that are 100% critical for operating the website. Ask yourself these questions to remove clutter from your website:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Websites are complicated beasts. There are literally millions of lines of code all working together to make your website work.\u00a0When things go wrong, it can seem overwhelming.<\/p>\n So while it might seem obvious, a broken website is\u00a0good indication that a website\u00a0change should probably be in order. But here’s the thing: Many website owners don’t know their websites are broken; their visitors do.<\/p>\n If you’re running a WordPress website,\u00a0I use this method for troubleshooting:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Most businesses evolve over time. If and when that happens, it’s important to update your website so that it\u00a0accurately reflects your present day mission, products and services.<\/p>\n This is the perfect opportunity to redesign\u00a0the branding and public face\u00a0for your business. Because\u00a0design is fundamentally about solving problems, it’s important to clearly define\u00a0the exact problem that your business is attempting to solve.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Now, you’re probably thinking “that’s obvious,” but you’d be surprised just how many people still don’t have mobile-friendly websites.<\/p>\n According to research conducted by Google,\u00a061% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they had trouble accessing and 40% visit a competitor\u2019s site instead.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n That’s a stunning statistic.<\/p>\n Your websites need to be mobile-friendly in order to\u00a0succeed online today. Otherwise, the majority of your visitors bounce to your competitors. Now remember, having a “mobile-friendly” website really involves two critical components:<\/p>\n Thankfully, Google has a couple useful tools to test to see how your website stacks up:<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Like fashion, design trends change\u00a0quickly. When the parallax effect popped up on the scene six\u00a0years ago, it quickly became the go-to design trend that everyone wanted. Parallax soon became one of he most\u00a0overused design gimmicks<\/a>.<\/p>\n Truthfully, design cruft<\/a> litters the web. If you design just for design’s sake, your message will get muddied and achieving your real business\u00a0objectives becomes harder.<\/p>\n “Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it\u2019s decoration,” said Jeffery Zeldman<\/a>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n If you avoid trendy design gimmicks and instead focus on delivering compelling and succinct content, your design will start to\u00a0reveal itself.<\/p>\n Now, if you’re like many of the websites owners who I work with, you might be worried that doing a complete website redesign will take a lot of effort. Depending on which platform you’re using to power your website, this very well could be the case. If you’re using a hosted platform, you’ll likely run into design limitations.<\/p>\n However, if you’re using WordPress<\/a>, it’s just a simple click of the button.\u00a0All you have to do is find a WordPress theme<\/a> that fits your style, and upload and activate it. It’s really as simple as that.<\/p>\n Have you redesigned your website recently? Let us know if you have any additional tips in the comments below!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The first impression that you leave on your audience today is based almost entirely on your website. Because your website plays an oversized role in the success of your business, it’s vital that you\u00a0to take it seriously. Just like any real “brick and mortar” business, your website requires regular maintenance (like sweeping the floor and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4765,"featured_media":79299,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,212],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n
2. Your Website\u00a0Is Cluttered<\/h3>\n
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3. Your Website is Broken<\/h3>\n
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\ndefine( ‘WP_DEBUG’, true );
\nThis code tells WordPress to\u00a0turn on debug mode, which will load PHP warnings and errors in the browser. The error messages will help you pinpoint the issue, if it’s a PHP issue.<\/li>\n4. Your Direction Has Changed<\/h3>\n
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5.\u00a0Your Website Isn\u2019t Mobile-Friendly<\/h3>\n
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6. Your Website Abuses\u00a0Yesterday’s Design Trends<\/h3>\n
How To Redesign Your Website<\/h3>\n