FAQs: Web Design
Do I really need to redesign my website?
Most experts will tell you that if you have a small to medium-size website, then you should plan to redesign it every 3-5 years. That will allow you to keep up with technology and design trends and provide your visitors with the best possible experience. If that seems excessive to you, then consider the following questions when assessing whether or not it's time for a redesign.
Technology is always advancing: Your website isn't a brochure; it's built using the technology in use at that time. And as we're all painfully aware, technology is constantly changing. So your website may be based on antiquated technologies (e.g., outdated code, Flash animation) that no longer work on newer browsers or mobile devices.
Mobile is not optional: If your site hasn't been rebuilt in the past few years, chances are that it's not going to perform well on mobile devices. Not only does that impact how well it does on search engines, it also makes the site more difficult for visitors to navigate. With mobile usage at an all-time high, improving your website's performance on mobile devices has become essential.
Outdated look: Design trends change and so your website may look a bit out of style within a few years after it was designed. So you'll want to ask yourself how important that is to your brand.
Navigation not very intuitive: Many times websites have elements added after they're initially built and the placement and navigation can start to feel awkward. Or maybe the web designer wasn't very gifted at creating an intuitive flow of content and navigation through your site. If people can't find what they're looking for, they'll be frustrated and leave.
Brand image and message: Does your website accurately reflect your brand? It's possible that your business could have changed over the years or maybe you've just refined your message. Since your website may be the first impression people have of your business, you'll want to make sure it accurately reflects your brand.
So if the 3-5 year redesign seems excessive, think about how much has changed in your business in the past 3-5 years and think about how much technology has changed in that period of time. If you consider your website to be essential part of marketing your business (and you really should!), then it may be time to think about that redesign.
If you're not sure, then contact us and we're happy to consult with you.
What Is Responsive Design?
With the rise of mobile, websites needed to perform well on small screens as well as large ones. An early solution was to build a separate site that was mobile friendly, but that meant maintaining two separate websites. Then along came responsive web design which allowed the exact same website to work well on any size screen by "responding" to the device it was being viewed on and changing the layout of the page based on the size of the screen.
For someone used to things staying where you put them, responsive design took some getting used to; your website didn't look the same on mobile as it did on the desktop. But responsive design was quickly adopted as the preferred method for developing mobile-friendly websites. Responsive design optimizes the layout and improves the user's experience whether they're accessing your website on a desktop or mobile device. And just as importantly, having a site that's responsive means that Google considers it mobile friendly which is increasingly more important in determining how well your website will rank on search engines.
But is responsive the end of the discussion on mobile optimization? Not if Google has anything to say about it. Have you heard of AMP (Accelerated Mobile Pages)? Here's an article discussing the differences between mobile-friendly and AMP. Google doesn't always hit it out of the park, but nevertheless it will be interesting to watch as this evolves.
Questions?
Feel free to contact us with any questions you may have. Thanks!