How often should you update your website’s design?

 When it comes to the design of a website, you want it to be the digital representation of your business—your virtual storefront. In most cases today, your website is your company’s only storefront, so once it is built, you don’t want to change it too much. Treating your website like it’s a building, there are three ways to look at updates and changes.

  1. The Building itself
  2. Seasonal Changes
  3. Remodels

First, the building itself will have a personality that should reflect your brand, product and what you are selling or trying to accomplish with your website. If you are just starting out on your web building and design process you should make a list of your goals.

Can people purchase goods from your website? Yes or No

Is your website purely informational? Yes or No

Do you have a blog section that will need content to be created regularly? Yes or No

Can users sign up for a newsletter? Yes or No

Answering goal-related questions will tell you what type of website designer you should work with, how costly your site will be to build, and the estimated maintenance or what we like to call Utilities for your site.

Second, are Seasonal Changes. Just like putting Halloween decorations up in a storefront, your website can reflect seasonal changes, promotions, and holidays. Most of the time, we will utilize a slider or banner on the homepage to show these seasonal changes. For example, when managing the website for an athletic hat company the website banner would change to promote different hats. Whether it was for the Tour De France, March Madness basketball, the Olympics, or a holiday like the 4th of July or Halloween, the banner would change consistently on a monthly basis. This can show your customer that your website is up to date and your company is still active and sell seasonal products. While seasonal changes might not be for every business, this is a great tool for companies that sell a good or service.

Finally, Remodels. Your website has been built, so you have the “building” but, maybe your company has changed. This has happened a lot in recent years where a 3-year-old company may be selling something completely different than when they started. The world has changed and so have many organizations. Maybe you have added a product to sell or removed selling altogether and are only consulting. When you go through big changes like this, it can be time for a website remodel or even a complete re-do. In many cases, though, you don’t need to blow the site up and you just need to put on a new coat of paint. What that looks like in the digital space is updating stock photos, changing site colors to reflect a new brand look, updating services or products, and re-working an About Us. A good example we have is our client Imagine Cattery. As a British Shorthair cat breeder that specialized in Black Silver Classic Tabby cats recently found she has a market for Black Smoke cats. So, we have taken photos of the black kittens to update the images on her website. The photos are being edited and will be uploaded to her site to reflect her new product and give the website a small facelift.

While it might seem like a good idea to completely re-do your website every few years or if you find it is under performing, if you started with something solid the proverbial good bones can be re-designed to fit your company’s needs today. Excellent, reputable Web Design Companies can help you decide which you need, a new building or just a remodel!