How to know if it's time to rebuild your website or if you just need a refresh
Websites need a lot of attention. People keep telling you that, but who has time to update their website all the time? Before you know it, it's been years since anything has changed on the site. We're here to help you determine whether it's time to rebuild the site or just refresh the design and content.
Should I rebuild my website or should I just update it? It can be a tough question to answer if you don't have the proper resources and information about your site. Here are some guidelines and questions you can use to answer the question.
Redesign or Refresh
When It Was Built & Speed
Was your site built from scratch in the last 3 years? YES -> You can probably just do a Refresh. What if you paid a lot of money for your website 10 years ago? Unfortunately, the price tag doesn't determine if you need to rebuild or refresh the site. How fast is your website? Don't know? You can use tools like Pingdom and Google's Page Insights to help answer that question.
Business Needs
Is your website meeting the needs of your business? YES -> Refresh. BUT there might be tools a professional can add to make your website add more value to your business... which can lead to a rebuild. Is your website bringing in clients? If the answer is no, your site might be built on an older platform or with older tools that are not search engine friendly.
Responsive Design and Aesthetics
Does your website look great across all devices? If not, most likely you will need to Rebuild the site. Check out your competitors. If you look at the competition, how does your site compare? Even if you have a much smaller company, it still doesn't mean your site has to look "small." If the problem is only how the website looks, start with a design refresh and go from there. If you haven't heard from your web designer since the 90s, it's time to find a new partner and move on up!
Your website should:
Be responsive
Look great across all devices and browsers
Bring in clients
Look attractive and modern
How to Avoid a Complete Rebuild
The Platform
Choose a versatile platform with a good reputation. Some companies tout ease of use, this feature or that feature, or a major cost savings. Too good to be true? Sometimes. We have come across clients who have used trendy, inexpensive web builders and in a year or two the company is out of business. Not only does the company have to completely rebuild, but they have to worry about being able to migrate content from the old site, if it's even still up. As Wix Experts, we are partial to Wix. Other reputable platforms include WordPress and Shopify, which we also have experts on.
Maintenance
You spent all that money building the site, why are you letting it gather dust? Keep your website dust-free with a maintenance plan. If you see a difference after 3 months with the minimum maintenance plan, then it's probably worth it to upgrade your plan. What's a few hundred dollars to you, if it's bringing in more business? Maintenance plans also bring peace of mind.
What should you expect with monthly maintenance? Here are some things you can ask for that will increase your online presence and help make your website more robust:
Blogs or content writing and updating
Social media content
Ad creation
Keyword research
Competitive reports
A "local report card" - how are your directory listings
Directory listing management
Email marketing - creation and management
Progressive web app setup
Speed check - look for ways to speed up your site
You and your web designer should come up with a monthly, quarterly, and yearly maintenance schedule that is right for your business.
Have more questions? Feel free to reach out to us at hello@pixlrabbit.com