New year, new website! Maybe you are unhappy with your website, maybe you are happy with it but know it can be even better. Either way, if the new year is getting you excited and making you consider levelling up your website game, this is the post for you!
Time to check if you should act on all that excitement building up inside you. The more of the following reasons for wanting a new website you identify with, the more you will benefit from having a new website! Let’s start.
1. You do not have a website yet
Let’s start with why you would want a website at all. Maybe you have been having success so far with just social media and wherever else you are online and offline. Fair. Unpopular opinion: not everyone needs a website!
There are many advantages to having a website though.
Your website can be the centre of your online presence – the place where you direct people from all other platforms (e.g. social media, email) when they are looking to buy or get more information about your products/services.
It also has a higher chance of ranking on Google, where many of your potential clients are probably looking for you. So, in addition to helping convert your existing audience, your website can also generate new leads for your business!
2. You want to add e-commerce to your website
Not all websites need to sell products directly to customers. Sometimes you only want to provide information about your products/services and then direct visitors to where they can go purchase them.
However, if your products/services can be explained easily and do not require a lot of customisation, it is definitely worth it to consider adding them to an e-commerce website, where your visitors can quickly order and pay for them.
An e-commerce website can provide you with a steady flow of orders, unloading the sales part of the process off your shoulders and allowing you to focus only on fulfilling orders instead!
3. Your products/services have changed dramatically
You do not always need to create a new website just because your offerings have changed. Typically, you will just either add, edit, or remove products/services, maintaining the structure of the website intact. However, the simplest option is not always enough.
It may be that your offerings have changed so much that you will basically have to redo the whole website anyway, giving you the perfect opportunity to start from scratch.
Or it may be that your new offerings mean that you have essentially changed the industry and, therefore, the expectations your visitors have of your website are different and you need to redo it to satisfy them.
4. Your website is not optimised for local search
We cannot talk about websites without talking about SEO, or search engine optimisation. It is how we can help your website appear on the first page of Google results when people look for your business and its products/services.
Local SEO is when we optimise a website to appear when someone searches for that type of business near them. For example, if you are a bakery in Dublin, you would want to optimise your website to show up in the results when someone looks for ‘bakery in Dublin’.
If you deliver products/services in a specific location and have not taken the time to optimise your website for local search, this is something you will want to do to attract more visitors near you. You do not always have to create a new website to do this, but sometimes it is the most efficient way of doing it.
5. Your website is not optimised for global search
Still, on the topic of SEO, every time you change your target audience you will have to adapt your website to suit them.
For example, if you are an Irish business now expanding to sell your products/services in another country, you may want to have a different version of your website that suits their language, currency, and even cultural preferences.
This does not always mean creating a new website, but not all websites are able to support multiple versions. That’s when you need to consider creating a new website on top of which you can build and grow your global business!
6. Your website is not easy to navigate
Your audience should always be at the centre of how you create your website. Your website needs to be easy to understand and navigate so that its visitors always know what their next step should be and it does not take them too long to get there.
There are always ways of improving user experience in your existing website, but in certain cases in may be worth it to just start from scratch and do it right from the beginning!
7. Your website does not feel unique
Do you feel like your website does not stand out from the crowd? As web designers, we are always working towards a balance between adding unique touches to websites while keeping a pleasant experience and performance for the visitors. There is no reason why you cannot have both.
Just like with user experience, you can improve the look of your website without starting from scratch, but sometimes it is best to redo the whole thing (especially if you are using an overused template).
8. Your website builder is not flexible enough
All website builders have limitations, both in terms of e-commerce functionalities and in terms of cost proportional to traffic.
Maybe a website builder has been great for you until now (like Squarespace or Wix), but it is too costly when handling the amount of orders and traffic you need it to. This is when you should consider a website builder that is more focused on e-commerce (like Shopify) or more flexible (like WordPress.org).
It is not always possible (or even desirable) to move an existing website from one website builder to another. That is why many times you will need to start from scratch on your new builder. Do not see this as a hurdle – see it as an opportunity to create an even better website for your visitors!
9. You want to rebrand
Maybe you have had some bad press in the past, or maybe you are just in need of a fresh start due to recent changes to your business or its offerings. In both cases, rebranding your business is an option you should consider.
Your brand is what your business is seen as by your audience. It involves your image across online and offline platforms.
To rebrand, you first have to become clear on what you want to stand for and look like. Then, you go through all the platforms where you are, including your website, and change (or redo) them to portray your new and improved image!
10. You want the support of a web agency
Maybe there is nothing wrong with your website – you are just tired of doing it all by yourself and want to bring in a web agency to take care of it!
Bringing in a web agency like Digitaliser does not automatically mean they will have to build a new website for you. Sometimes keeping and possibly fixing your existing website is the best option.
Other times, the web agency will notice that your website cannot efficiently be optimised (for example to rank highly on Google) and will suggest that you build a new website instead when you start your collaboration.
Either way, you will have the support of the web agency and will soon have an effective website that works for you and that you do not have to work hours for!
How many of these reasons apply to you?
If the answer is at least 1, we recommend you contact web agencies and ask what your next steps should be.
Maybe the best strategy is to optimise your existing website, maybe it is to create a new one, or maybe there are other online platforms you should consider first. Either way, a web agency will be able to advise on what the best thing to do is.
We at Digitaliser can help. If you want our support, feel free to contact us!
