You create a website based on your current needs and use the abilities, skills, and resources you possess at that moment. However, circumstances and everything else can change, which requires making adjustments. When is it worth rebuilding a website? Learn about the main warning signals.
Apart from changing abilities, resources, skills, and needs, there are other reasons why you should rebuild a website.
Firstly, a website can also wear out and be subject to trends and technological advancements. Just like clothes, cars, phones, or laptops need replacement, so do websites.
Eventually, new technological options emerge, providing faster or better solutions to old problems, as well as changes in fashion. It is worth taking advantage of all these changes and staying up to date with both technology and fashion.
Changes in fashion
One of the main issues related to a website is changing trends. An outdated look that does not comply with current trends can significantly affect the popularity of your website. Therefore, the UX of the site and its effectiveness are measured through conversion or specific action completion rates.
When is it worth rebuilding a website in order not to lose customers, and at the same time follow the latest trends? You can’t update the design five times a year, as each change in the appearance of a website involves additional investments.
However, an outdated template or obsolete solutions raise users’ suspicion and decrease customer interest. Therefore, check which signals are worth paying attention to in order to start modifying your website at the right time.
While some updates may not be significant, others can significantly affect your position in Google or the usability of your website. Therefore, make sure to follow the actions of the competition and leaders in your industry, as well as current trends and new recommendations from the Google search engine. Thanks to this, you will quickly notice what is missing on your website.
Lack of mobile responsiveness
Is your website not responsive? Then you need to change that as soon as possible! After all, you can lose a significant group of customers this way. The number of people shopping via mobile phones is growing at lightning speed. If your website is not adapted to the needs of Internet users, they may choose not to use it.
Also, note that mobile responsiveness is now a standard that not only affects the convenience of users but also the position of your website in the Google search engine.
Sometimes you adapt the page to mobile phones, but errors still appear. Remember that not only the screen size is important but also the operating system that your users use. If you have (or can obtain) data on the most commonly used mobile systems or the average screen size, the website responsiveness will be more effective. You can ensure that your site will display as you want on critical devices.
Also, remember that phones are not the only mobile devices. Some tablets differ even more in their functioning and screen size.
Since we’re already on the subject of responsiveness, we also need to address the browser compatibility issue. Remember to check your website in all popular browsers – Firefox, Chrome, Opera, Microsoft Edge, and Comodo Dragon.
Increasing Bounce Rate
Do you notice a constantly increasing bounce rate on your website? It means that people who visit your website quickly leave it. It could be due to incorrect SEO (search results promise something that the website doesn’t deliver), sluggish UX, or an outdated and unappealing design.
You may have high traffic on your website, but users don’t spend much time on it. Perhaps they can’t find useful information on the website? Or maybe the appearance and navigation hinder their usage of the site. It’s certainly a clear signal that your website requires changes. Maybe it would be a good idea rebuilding your website?
Find the reason for the high bounce rate. Conduct a thorough audit of your SEO strategy, analyze the website’s navigation and performance issues, and compare the graphic design to current trends in the market. Then, once you find the reason for the high bounce rate, begin modernizing the website.
You can also install software to monitor user behavior on the website or generate heat maps. This way, you’ll see how users behave on your website, which parts of the site they stay on longer, and which ones they leave. It may help you find elements that annoy them.
Outdated Appearance
Remember that a modern, attractive, and clear appearance of a website can interest many viewers – even those who are not potentially interested in your offer. However, an obsolete template can effectively discourage internet users from further browsing the site.
A website is a symbol of your company. Therefore, it must be tailored not only to visual identification but also to what you want to convey to your clients. Additionally, with the help of a website, you can effectively start building your brand and gain more credibility and the reputation of a modern company.
If your template is no more than two or three years old, you don’t need to change everything. Maybe refreshing the design and adding a few new elements will be enough. If you are using WordPress, you have an easier task because you will find hundreds of plugins that add color to your site.
It can be a social plugin, floating elements that follow the scrolling website, or various buttons, calculators, or generators that add flavor to your website. However, remember not to overdo it with an excess of plugins. Then your site may dangerously slow down.
The user visiting your site pays considerable attention to appearance, so take care of this aspect of your website!
Appearance in business is extremely important! Take care of the right colors, graphic design and other elements that affect the aesthetics of your business! Read this article and you will learn everything about appearance in business.
Are you still wondering when it’s worth rebuilding your website? Do it when you receive signals from customers that it’s tough to navigate your website. Remember, intuitive and easy navigation is crucial – after all, users want to find the information, products, or tabs they need right away. Therefore, modify your website if you see navigation problems on your site.
Note that websites with extensive offers and multi-level menus usually have the most problems with overly complicated navigation. In such a case, pay particular attention to making the website easier to use and more intuitive – well-thought-out internal linking will help you with this, among other things.
Very often, this problem is much more complicated than it seems and leads to the necessity of a significant overhaul of the entire website or even designing and rebuilding a website from scratch. Thoughtful navigation is a crucial issue for a website, and it cannot be underestimated.
A website with an unthoughtful structure will struggle with many problems – not only reducing the number of users but also a low conversion rate, which is the most critical business indicator because it shows how effectively you sell your products.
Neglecting SEO
Another signal indicating that it’s time to rebuild your website is a low ranking in search engines. If you neglect SEO, you will become invisible to users. Moreover, in the case of outdated websites, even effective SEO actions may not yield too many positive results.
In such a case, the best solution is to add a new subpage, such as a landing page with a competitive keyword, or create a new website. This way, you will gain a modern-looking website with attractive content and multimedia tailored to the needs of the Google search engine.
Remember that your position in the search engine is not permanent forever. After a successful SEO campaign for an important keyword, many companies give up on SEO, which is a big mistake. Such a website quickly loses its position in the ranking.
Therefore, treat SEO more like accounting or production, such as permanent business activity included in the company’s strategy. Many companies make the mistake of treating them as goals to achieve and then moving on to the next ones.
The website is running too slow
Is your website taking too long to load? Then make sure to modify and optimize images and other elements on the site. It will make it easy for users to complete transactions and make their experience on the site truly enjoyable.
Modern internet users don’t like waiting, so a slow website will not encourage them to consider your offer. On the contrary, a slow website can lead to an increased bounce rate, as impatient users will simply close your site if it takes longer than 5 seconds to load.
Fast hosting
You can speed up your website in many ways. Firstly, make sure to choose the right hosting. A fast and efficient web server is the foundation for the loading time and smooth website operation. Such hosting must necessarily use the latest generation of disks: SSD NVMe.
Take advantage of UltaHost’s offer, and you won’t regret it. The latest components – not only SSD NVMe drives but also branded memory modules and top-of-the-line processors – will make your website run lightning-fast. Multiple server locations to choose from and VPS with CDN Cloudflare support ensures low latency. UltaHost is a solution for people who want to have a fast and stable website.
If your website is hosted on another server, don’t worry! UltaHost guarantees you a free transfer of your website from the current server to the new one. Place your order and wait for the team of specialized experts to take care of everything.
Optimization and caching
Secondly, you can optimize it. If you run your website on WordPress, this article will help you optimize your website for SEO and performance:
Once your website is properly optimized, you can install the appropriate page caching plugin on WordPress. Check out our comparison of the best cache plugins for WordPress for even better performance.
Conclusion
Designing and placing a website on a server does not solve the problem of being present on the internet once and for all. Both your skills and resources change, as do circumstances, competition, and trends. Moreover, the website itself ages by releasing newer and newer technologies.
To stay on top, you need to constantly take care of your website. Take care of the current look in line with the latest trends. Keep your website clean and make sure it loads quickly and operates stably. Fight constantly for the highest position for the most important keywords.
Conduct active monitoring of your website. In addition to the most critical metrics, such as the number of unique users or page views, check the bounce rate, analyze heatmaps, and monitor the conversion rate.
Ensure fast and appropriate hosting for your needs. Fortunately, UltaHost allows you full scalability of services. As soon as your server starts to get overloaded, you can switch to a more efficient one. Optimize your website and use caching techniques, both internal in the form of plugins and external in the form of CDN networks.
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