Is vintage ‘in’ when it comes to websites?
We all know when it comes to fashion that styles come and go. But when it comes to your website should you follow fashion? Should you change your style just because what you have is out of date?
Indicators that you need a website redesign
The short answer is you should change your website’s design whenever you feel that it’s out of date and not appealing, or when your bounce rate increases or time onsite declines.
Both of these are indications that visitors are not finding your site helpful or it easy to use. More investigation will help you determine if this is related to content or if this is related to user interface.
Current website design trends
Current trends in web design are towards more simple sites that are easy to navigate on mobile devices. Sites these days avoid images in carousels and gradients and backgrounds or buttons, elements which slow down a web site’s load time when accessed by phone or tablet.
You may have also observed that many sites have motion which is activated upon scroll of the page or upon touch or hover. These animations replace long outdated Flash web sites. However, you need to take care when choosing to use animations on a web site. They must make sense, and reveal content in a pace and style that fits the user’s needs. Creating animations just for effect may be cute, but not necessarily suited for your website visitor. For every web site your guiding question must always be:
“Who is visiting my site and what do they want to do here?”
So what if you spent a great deal of money five years ago to create a web site and now you find that it is no longer up to date –what should she do?
What are your options?
If you have a content managed platform web site, you may be able to change your site’s theme thus giving your site a new look and feel. If you have a static site you may have to have your entire site rewritten.
Bottom line you must budget for a new site every three years or so in order to make sure that your site is fulfilling your business goals and meeting your customers’ needs.
Need a new design for your site? Or need your website completely redone? Contact us at 843.628.6434 to discuss how to go from outdated to current with your website.
PS—Charleston PR is getting a new website design in the coming weeks…we’re a bit like the cobbler’s children who are the last to get new shoes!
