I often meet companies who say they want to redesign their website. I usually ask them why and the answer is always the same: - "We don't think it feels good or is modern enough".
I usually confirm by saying that the website is the hub of digital marketing and incredibly important. Then I ask if they have any data to back up what they feel about their website. When I ask that, they usually look at me strangely and say "data"?
Hold on now! For now, here is my exposition that I draw for all those who are thinking of redesigning their website. Here's how I think about it: redesigning a website usually involves a big investment and work that takes time (often 3-12 months). In addition to the money itself, it also takes time away from the company's internal resources.
Then I've seen that once you start working on the website, questions arise about the company's brand. "Should we really be working with these colours and images? Does the logo look good?" Etc.
And then you're doing a much bigger job than originally intended.
Therefore, I urge you to really think before taking a big decision like this.
Redesigning a website because it doesn't "feel" good can't justify such a big decision. That's why I'm asking if they have any data to back this up. Unfortunately, the answer is often no. Which means they haven't plugged in any analytics tools that tell them how the website is performing. If you don't have any data, can you tell if the website is good or bad?
Or more importantly. If the website has no visitors? How do you know if it's good or bad?
Below are some recommendations on things that should be done before making a decision to rebuild your website.
Step 1: Set up analytics to find out how your website is performing
If you don't have any analysis tools set up, I recommend you install them. To start with, I recommend setting up:
Google Analytics - which tells you where all traffic comes from, how visitors move around the site, if they leave, where they leave etc. Lots of exciting data that is important in working with the website.Google Search Console - This tool shows your organic results on Google. What people search for to find your website. As well as how different pages perform on Google and many other exciting things.
Google Tag manager - With this tool you can set conversion goals to really see what actions visitors are taking on the page.Hotjar - Creates a heat map of your pages to see how people move their mouse or click on the page. Where people are most likely to click or not click. This gives very good information about what you need to fix on the website.
Google Optimizer - This tool helps you A/B test your website based on the data you get from the analysis tools above and then run tests without rebuilding your website. In other words, you run tests on the existing site by adding modules on top of the home page. You can therefore test new buttons or texts before a new website is published or even started.
Step 2: Collect data and analyse
As you can see, the above tools can help you capture lots of exciting and relevant data to help you make the right decisions for any home construction. Using all the data collection above will help you find out how your website is performing more accurately. What's working and what's not.
Another thing that is also important to take into account is the fact that very often not many people visit the website. Very often we see that companies have only a few visitors per month. This is also important to take into account for a future website. Why spend a lot of money on a new website that nobody finds
Step 3: If you don't have anyone visiting the website today
If the data shows that very few people visit your website, it will be very difficult to gather enough data to know what is good or bad. If this is the case, my recommendation is usually to start working on efforts that will make you start driving more traffic to your website e.g. SEO (search engine optimization) and Social Media. Alternatively ask family, friends, acquaintances and existing customers to go in and click around the site and then give brutally honest feedback.
When it comes to websites, appearance and user-friendliness are of course important, but content is even more important. When I come to a website that has really good content, I tend to forget what it looks like. For example, I don't think Neil Patel's website is the most beautiful thing I've seen but he makes up for it with lots of great content about digital marketing. I know he drives millions of visitors to his website thanks to his blog. Please check it out here. https://neilpatel.com/blog/
My point isthat with really good content you can gain the trust of your visitors. Another bonus is that Google loves good content and with the help of a blog, for example, you can start driving traffic to your website which you can then analyse using your new analytics tools. Worth knowing is that it takes time to get up in Google's organic search results (6-12 months), about the same amount of time as it takes to build a new website.
If you want to learn more about digital marketing and how to get started, you can read our blog post by clicking here!
Step 4: You have visitors and you have data
Now you have collected a lot of data and you have a good enough basis to make a decision. So what do you do? My recommendation would be to first work with Google Optimizer to be able to A/B test different hypotheses that you have. For example, that a button is the wrong colour or that a text is bad or that an image is too big and so on. You can do this yourself or get help from us at Contitude to do these tests.
Once you have tested different hypotheses and gotten answers about whether it was good or bad, I think you should contact a web agency to get a quote on what a new website or updated website would cost based on all the data and the analysis you have done.
Step 5: Now you can redesign, update or keep the website as it is with a clear conscience
Now you can make a decision with a clear conscience about what you want to do with the website. It is the data that determines what you will spend your money on. Whatever you do, I want you to think about what the goal of your website should be and how you can make it convert as well as possible. After all, a website should be a lead generator that drives traffic and then converts visitors into warm leads that salespeople can then process. Or best of all that they buy directly.
If you want to learn about conversion optimization, I think you should read this blog post: What is conversion optimization?
Summary
Don't make rash decisions based on emotions. Find out the facts through data and analysis. It will probably save you a lot of money and, above all, valuable time. If you decide to redesign your website, make sure it is not only attractive, but also user-friendly, content-rich and conversion-optimised!Good luck!
If you would like our help with data analysis and advice, please book an appointment with me below!
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