The Importance of Web Design

Websites are Grand Central Station for everything you do online. Without a good website with useful content and even better web design, you are doing yourself a disservice as a business with an online presence.

Web design is crucial.

We are firm believers in outstanding websites. We will tell you that all day (and all night, if you let us) because your website is the digital face of your brand. It is one of the constant things that represents your business without fail.

So, how do you know if your existing website is performing well? Or better yet, how do you know when it’s time to switch things up?

The 11 Signs That Your Website Needs a Redesign

1. Your website is underutilizing content.

You could have the best content in the game, but that doesn’t matter if your content is not SEO friendly or if it’s difficult for users to find, understand, and share. Not sure how your content measures up? You may want to consider a content assessment. (We’re happy to help.)

2. Your website takes an eternity to load 

We live in a world of impatient people. You can blame technology and the desire for instant gratification for that one. However, we aren’t in the business of working against the truth. And the truth is, if your website is so loaded down with unnecessary programs and content that it takes more than three seconds to load (and that’s being gracious), people will click away from your site and onto your competitor’s site.

It is too easy today to get what you want when you want it, so if you aren’t catering to getting things done quickly and efficiently, then go ahead and count yourself out.

When a good web development team redesigns your site, you will have a website that graces potential customers with what they want in an instant.

3. Your branding is not thorough throughout your website.

New logo here. Old logo there. Times New Roman here. Helvetica there. Every color of the rainbow is utilized on your website because “eh, that looks alright.”

If anything matters today more than it did yesterday, it’s the details. With so many people playing the same game and competing in the same space (welcome to the age of the world wide web), those tiny details you may be prone to batting your eyelids at are crucial to your success. Cohesiveness equates to professionalism.

4. Your website provides empty promises.

Click. Click click click click click. It looks like a link. It talks like a link. But it isn’t acting like a link. Having your webpage littered with expired links or links that are irrelevant is hurting the legitimacy of your page.

Maybe you have a landing page that only displays the name of your company and nothing else. This page looks like it should go somewhere or provide something, but it doesn’t.

These kinds of things are hurtful to your business because they offer genuine frustration to your potential customers. If your customer has to dig to find what they want, they won’t even want it anymore.

Make it easy. Make it useful.

5. Your web design is jumbled and hard to navigate.

We’ve all stumbled upon one of those web pages that looks like it was designed in the back bedroom on that old Dell computer running Windows 95 (you know the one).

There is so much information on this website, much of which is irrelevant. There are muted colors and lots of dropdown menus. It’s just too much and not enough, all at the same time.

If your website reminds you of an AOL chat room, it may be time for a redesign.

6. You don’t have responsive web design.

We’ve already talked about the links that go nowhere, but what about the images that won’t load? The pages that load a little too slowly or aren’t all there? Maybe your dropdown menus don’t quite work the way they should or don’t end up where you need them to go.

You could have 101 elements, but if they don’t function properly, what’s the point? With a web redesign, a web development team can take all of those fun features and make them functional.

7. People are visiting your website but not staying.

It happens all of the time. You have all of the technical ability to draw people in, whether it be through your SEO strategy, your social media marketing, or your on-ground referrals. Whatever it may be, people are coming to your website, but they aren’t staying.

You have to find out what kind of troll is hiding at the entrance of your website turning people away. If people can find your website but have no desire to stick around your website, something is wrong. The whole point of having a website is to have a place for people to linger, learn, and hop on board what your business has to offer.

If you cannot get to the root of why people are leaving, doom and gloom are in your future.

8. Your website is more than five years old.

“You’re just saying that because you want to redesign my website.” Nope.

Here’s the thing: this world is full of technology that moves fast, meaning trends, techniques, and marketing strategies are always changing. Society moves even faster, and to keep up, you have to speed up.

What worked five years ago may not work today. The type of programs you were running on your website five years ago could very well be outdated and slowing you down. Do not think once you create a digital strategy that you’re done. The creation is just the start. Evolution is necessary every step along the way.

9. Your website was designed without user experience in mind.

Maybe you designed a website because you needed a website. Now your business is growing, and you’re having to keep up with more competitors. It’s time to level-up.

Part of the difficulties businesses face in growing is learning how to balance the business side of things with the small business mindset of taking care of every customer that walks through the door.

With digital marketing, your front door is the first page of your website. You want to make sure that you are offering your customers convenience and value. You want to make sure your website is guiding your customer through the motions the way you would if you got them through the front door of a  storefront.

Your web design must have user experience in mind.

10. It ain’t secure.

Your website needs to be secure. Like we have said before, every page of your website needs to offer value, and part of offering value is offering security to your customers.

The more confident a customer is about your business, the more they will be willing to interact with your business. Creating a sense of security includes having brand cohesiveness, working links, beautiful graphics, speed, and actual security through SSL certificates. You cannot skimp on the comfort of your customers. Ever.

11. Your site isn’t mobile-friendly.

Approximately 81% of Americans own a smartphone. Worldwide, mobile devices account for half of all web traffic. This means if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on potential business and leaving money on the table. Your website MUST be designed with a mobile version in mind.

Don’t Fear a Website Redesign

People fear change. However, we know the only certainty in life is change, and that’s okay!

Sometimes change is what a brand needs to reinvigorate the life it once had. Change can also be necessary to bring in new customers and entice old customers to stick around.

Sometimes these changes aren’t even drastic, but they make a giant impact. We believe the little things matter, and that includes the font and logo sizes used throughout your website as well as the load time of your pages. Sometimes we need to prepare for much bigger changes. But the one thing we must remember is that change is inevitable.

Your web design is a reflection of your business. Clean, vibrant, and useful web design presents your business to the world as a clean, vibrant, and useful business.

How Gravity Junction Can Help

Gravity Junction is a marketing firm that caters to any and every location across the US, excelling in digital marketing strategies and website design. Website design in Atlanta is part of our specialty. Our approach to digital marketing is offering kickass web development services and an in-house web design agency that can design or redesign your website. The benefit of using Gravity Junction over traditional web design companies is our ability to see the full scope of your marketing plans before executing your web design, allowing your brand the cohesiveness it needs to stand out against the competition. Contact us today to see how we can help take your brand to the next level.