How Often Is A Website Redesign Service Needed & Why?

May 9, 2024

Sure,
you might expect this article to be slightly biased, considering it’s written by a website redesign agency, but stick with me and consider this – If you had a 6-year-old iPhone, that’d never had a software update, would you expect it to work?

I was recently listening to NVIDA’s founder Jensen Huangs speak about Ai processing power, eventually reducing the cost of development to zero. So in the past where you’ve had developers build software, who were paid a wage, operating out of an office, using toilet paper and drinking company coffee, Ai will eventually do the same job with zero cost of production. That’s nuts!

Now this article isn’t about Ai, but instead the rapid change of technology and how if you’re not staying up to date with your website, it’s likely to result in you facing lawsuits and missed opportunities. Yes, it’s that serious. Businesses are actually getting sued for large amounts of money because their web forms aren’t working. So, if you’re planning a website rebuild every four years, you’ve got the right mindset. However, if you see your website as a living, breathing animal that needs to be fed daily, that’s an even better mindset. 

Our Website Redesign Agency Suggests Every 3-4 Years

Here’s why a new website every few years makes sense.

• Speed of web development changes
• Function & the visually impaired 
• Forms are scary
• User experience
• Style, trends & loading speeds
• Google updates

In the following sections of this article, we’ll cover why the above points should be considered in the redesign process.

Speed Of Web Development Changes

If your website developer isn’t up to date with the latest technology, they’re charging you too much in the cost of changes. For example, Thinkroom builds WordPress websites with a development tool known as “Bricks”. It allows us more opportunity to make changes across 100 page websites within 10 seconds, as opposed to manually changing every page when developers use Elementor or other builders. So instead of receiving an invoice for four hours of monotonous work from your web guy, you may even get those future edits for free.

Without getting too geeky on you, new tech allows us to create complex layouts super fast. In fact, we can design certain aspects without writing a single line of code. A website’s brand identity can be changed within seconds. Lightweight, efficient code means faster page loading times and better overall website performance. Plus, using new technology to redesign websites means you’ll get responsive design that looks great on any device, from desktop computers to smartphones and tablets, without needing to write separate code for each screen size. And the list goes on.

All-in-all, it’s much, much faster.

Redesign Projects For The Visually Impaired

The Google gods have released a number of updates over the years, specifying that your website needs to be readable, and even to accommodate for the visually impaired. An example of this is that when your site is resized for different screen sizes, it can’t lose its readability. 

We’ve all been online, part way through filling out a form and wanted to push the “next” button, only to have the rage boil up inside us because that damn button is nowhere to be found. They call this an error in the cumulative layout shift. In simple terms, your website needs to keep its Sh1# together. Government websites are the worst for this.

I was recently on the Sr1 L4nken Government’s Visa site, and Chrome wouldn’t open the application. I had to use Safari instead. How many people would have been stressed out of their minds because they left their visa application to the last minute not understanding why the frustrating website wasn’t working properly? How many missed flights? The cost…

Yup, every browser needs to be accommodated for too or you might face legalities.

People also need to be able to read what your website says. If the contrast is too low, or the font is too small, you’re going to get unofficially penalised, but here’s the thing. The rules are always changing. The goal posts are being moved every few months and if you don’t comply, eventually, you’ll lose your online authority.

The Good news is that there’s usually plenty of warning. So if you’re working with the best digital agency in your area, they’re going to be well aware of the risks, the solutions and keeping your online presence afloat.

Forms Are Scary

Sooooo…

People in Europe are being sued because their web forms aren’t working properly. 

Again this is related to the visually impaired, but if for whatever reason someone can’t fill in an online form correctly, and let’s assume that form is attached to an emergency related website, such as a Doctors practice, then the contact form is critical.

You may think that your business doesn’t warrant a serious response to this based on the nature of your industry, but it also comes back to best practices, and being slapped around by the search engine ranking authorities for bad behaviour. It’s a matter of – comply or your organic traffic will die”.

User Experience In Web Design

Custom website designs that are purpose-built for a pleasant customer journey and target audience are where it’s at. The design process should be all about the customer, not about you, and definitely not about SEO. It’s a “customer first” principle.

Now to be clear, if you’re going to redesign an existing website with the priority of putting your customer first, it doesn’t mean you should ignore optimisation altogether. Redesign your website for SEO, but engage a user experience and user interface specialist to lead the charge. They’re the architects of your project build & are they’re completely customer centric.

If this all seems complicated, hunt out a website redesign agency, or digital marketing team that knows their stuff. An agency where their services include not only web designers, but an SEO division (both technical and content SEO) as well as UX/UI designers within their team. 

Custom Redesigned Websites? Really? 

There are some reasonable templates available out there, especially in the ecommerce website space, but not many make the cut without custom web coding. Yes, customising anything tends to cost more in initial investment, but with the right agency design team, you’ll get a website revamp that ticks all the boxes allowing you to grow your online traffic and remember, if the agency is up to date with technology, you’ll save thousands on development changes over the years to come through efficiencies and best practices.

Style, Trends & Loading Speeds

Let’s face it, most business owners know nothing about the design and development of websites and how they work. So when they’re looking for a redesign agency, they start their journey with a visual freshen up in mind.

If you’re still reading this blog, you’re one of the few doing your research thoroughly, and although a freshen up is always a great idea, you’ve learned a lot of other factors that may even be more important.

But that said, hiring a UX/UI designer for your design projects keeps you up to date with design trends. You’ll get slick, modern design elements and functional, responsive web designs that convert traffic into leads. Responsive websites rank higher, which that alone is worth every cent, I’d say.

Size Does Matter 🌶️

So when you’re rebranding, you can take this opportunity to improve the elements you’re using. For example, if you have an MP4 animation, or a gif on your website, it’s likely that the size of this could be several megabytes. With today’s technology, we can use SVG files, for both animations and images, that can reduce the typical size down to just a few kilobytes to improve loading speeds.

Fast is good, because unlike you with the fancy laptop and the latest iPhone, your customers might use a cheap android phone that lags when loading websites, or maybe they’re using a slow internet connection. Either way, you need to be lightning quick. It’s user experience again. Make it fast, usable and easy for the customer.

Google Updates Affect Online Presence

We touched on this a little earlier, but the goal posts are always being moved, with the goal of improving the experience of the user. Google’s had many updates suggesting best practices and if they’re not followed, sites can fall off a cliff in their organic search result rankings.

Imagine having an online business that delivers you 100 leads a year, and next month you get zero. That’s how quickly it can happen, hence the term “falling off a cliff”. 

Thinkroom has a client that gets 44,000 leads a year through an application form. If that’s ever compromised, it’s a big problem. Again, there’s plenty of warning, and as long as you’re not trying to trick the system (Black hat SEO) you’ll most likely be fine, provided your agency stays up to date with technology and policies.

A website redesign gives you an opportunity to renew your technology, so you’re operating within the expected best practices.

Professional Website Redesign Services Include

If handled by a digital agency, you’ll expect to receive the following. Other web design services are likely to miss many of these steps which are critical to your online success.

• Digital strategy
• User interface design services and planning.
• User experience consideration.
• Ensuring your SEO doesn’t fall off a cliff. So many web developers get this wrong.
• A blog to increase content to draw in more website traffic
• A hierarchical structure to your products or services that Google likes and rewards.
• Customer heat mapping and deep analysis of your current website analytics.
• Custom design for elements like gamification that can be used for advertising.
• Consideration of top performing Google ads and landing pages.
• CTA variations and testing.
• Video capability.
• SVG & Lotti file capabilities.
• Responsive across all screen sizes and devices.
• Critical maintenance services.

The list goes on…

The message here is an experienced digital agency knows the additional services to elevate your rankings and give your website the foundation that’ needed to grow. 

Wrap Up: Why A Digital Agency Will Revamp A Website Design Every 4 Years?

As a web redesign agency, we’ve found that after four years, or there abouts, there’s a real need for an update to comply with best practices. But If we take our minds back to the start of this article, you’ll remember me discussing Nvidia’s approach to Ai reducing the cost of production to zero. Technology is speeding up. 

So although we suggest 4 years at the time of writing this blog, it may be a complete redesign within 2, in years to come. IT comes with an investment, of course, but as time goes on, redesigning your website is likely to lower in cost. 

But, it’s not a set and forget scenario. Your website is a living, breathing animal that needs to be fed. If you have an SEO team working on your online presence, they’ll be optimising for good practices continuously. A full redesign is only needed occasionally for any, if not all, of the reasons stated above.

If you’re good at business, you’ll forecast buying new computers every few years, servicing your equipment every 6 months, and your website is no different. Change your mindset, and you’re likely to have the edge over your competitors with opportunity in your online presence.