Does your website need a refresh? Tips for staying on-trend
How can you tell if your website needs a refresh? Think of it like a haircut. You don’t have to have it done, but boy, will you look great afterwards – and that’s important. The way you look determines how people perceive you and what experience they expect. The same goes for your website. Keep it fresh and on-trend and it will always look great.
As time goes on your website ages and becomes tired, from either an aesthetic or mechanical perspective or both. The longer your website goes without some TLC, the more problems can build up. When using a CMS, plugins, themes or other software, keep them up to date so you don’t run into system errors. Make sure all of these moving parts are updated to the latest version, so they work as well together as possible. There’s nothing worse than a system failure due to overlooked updates.
Staying ahead of the curve
You’ve heard the saying, ‘Keeping up with the Joneses.’ They’re the trendy family that always looks great and attracts the most attention. You want your website to be them. Follow design trends and note things you like when using other websites. Keeping an eye on what your competitors are up to is also smart – you never want to fall behind in your industry. If you feel your website isn’t looking or operating quite as well as others, it might be time for a website facelift.
When we talk about a website facelift, it doesn’t mean giving it a whole makeover unless it’s absolutely necessary — we know this is a huge process. Having a simple, regular procedure to keep your website looking its best is a good idea. Think about:
- Updating your homepage – This could include a banner, your intro text, adding in some SEO friendly keywords or replacing old images with new ones.
- What your audience wants – You should always want to keep your audience engaged and entertained. Make sure your website is easy for them to operate, but change it up to keep them coming back.
Keep it regular
Do these mini-refreshes regularly, whatever that looks like for your business. If you let them go for too long, your audience might not expect new content so it could be missed when you do make a change. If you have a digital marketing agency this should be a top priority so you already have a copy of the schedule.
After a while, these mini-refreshes can stack on top of each other and become disjointed. Just as you have a regular content schedule, you should implement a long-term website overhaul schedule to help keep you on track. A full website overhaul is ideally completed every three to five years to ensure your brand continues on-trend and meaningful. Keeping it fresh will keep people engaged.
