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Why Redesign Your Website

Posted by Raymond on Sep 16, 2010 12:45 PM

You every wonder why your favorite website gets a new look every few years or so? The same reason you might change the look of your living room by either rearranging the furniture or painting it a new color. Websites need a new coat of paint just as much as you need to change that 5 year old hairstyle.

Updating Design

It is good to update your website design about every 5 years.

The same way companies may completely change their marketing strategy, websites need the same treatment. Whether it is adding or changing a few different looks and features on your website or a complete overhaul, changes to your website will be noticed. It's just like buying a new dress or shirt; you want it to be noticed.

Change and being noticed with change are good. But why is it a good thing? The main reason for changing it up is to be on top of your competitors. Your competitors are most likely going to be changing up their look also. Of course, you don't want to do exactly the same thing they are. This is why knowing your competitors, having a good knowledge of current web technologies, and knowing what you want in a new design will come in handy when redesigning your site. The best way to do this is by doing some homework and checking out your competitors' websites - All of them. This way you will have a good idea of what you are up against in your specific field.

Looking Forward

You might have your ideas in order for a redesign, but is the design up to date with today's (and tomorrow's) trends? Your new website doesn't want to be looked at as going back in time. You want your website to be looking fresh and new. This goes the same for how it is developed. If you have been paying attention with what has been happening on the web in recent years, you might have seen the web trends in style and function. Not only is style important but function and structure is just as important. As time goes on, new technologies are being developed and websites need to adapt to these new developments.

You will want to make sure that your site is being composed with standards called XHTML & CSS.

These standards fairly new but are being adapted throughout the web community. These are important because they help Search Engines index your site. Also, past web design trends include Tables and Flash. Tables have been replaced by XHTML & CSS Standards. Flash Animation has been known to increase the allure of a website with showing displays of animation with different objects. The bad thing about Flash is the loading times and the fact that the content within your Flash element will not get picked up by Search Engines. Alternates for Flash are the best way to get the results you want with the flair you need. Alternate technologies include AJAX and the new JQuery. Make sure your website developer is well versed in these technology languages.

Content, Content, Content!

After design and development are in play and your new website is up and running, it is the owner's job to maintain the content in it. Content is the mainstay of what Search Engines index for when a user searches for a site. Search Engines also like to see content changes within the site every so often. The best way to do that is to have a News & Events section featuring the latest news about your company. One of the most popular variants of the News & Event section is called a Blog.

It most definitely would help your website if you had an up-to-date blog.

Blogging is very popular due to the fact that people love to talk (write). What better way to get people to read what you write than publishing it to the web. Plus, Search Engines love any type of new content. You will notice that there are many different blogs throughout the internet. Some websites are purely blogs. Some websites have a blog as part of their website.