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Redesign or Refresh: Web Ready, Part 1
by Mackenzie Fogelson, M.A.
Printable Version
In just a few short weeks, the year will close its doors. With a New Year right around the corner, will your company be Web ready for the New Year? In the first of this two part series, learn more about what can be done to prepare your Website for the New Year.
Part One: Redesign or Refresh?
Here’s the scenario….you already have a Website. It
has been serving you well but you’re ready for a change. Do
you redesign your Website entirely, or do you refresh it with some
minor updates? How do you decide?
Redesign
Determining whether your Website requires a redesign depends
on many different factors: the demands of your industry, how long
you’ve had your existing Website, how much your company has
grown, and how your image has changed or evolved.
Redesigning a Website means getting a new start. It means redefining the goals of your business and creating a fresh new look to compliment and illustrate this direction. Here are some reasons to redefine and redesign:
- Your Company Has Grown
Since the creation of your existing Website, your company has undergone some pretty significant change; you’ve been growing, and your image has been evolving over the last several months...or even years. As a result, you’ve been thinking about updating the look of your company: your logo, your print marketing materials, and of course, your Website.
- It’s Been a While
Depending on the demands of your industry, if your Website is more than 2 years old, it’s probably time for a redesign. A redesign will prompt the need for your company to evaluate where you’ve been, and where you want to go. A redesign will reflect the new goals of your business and a new Website can help illustrate these goals, leading your company in that new direction.
- Navigation Needs Updating
One of the biggest and most important reasons for a redesign is the navigational structure of your Website. Your navigation should reflect the growth of your company, as well as its new goals. Certainly there is content or pages on your current Website that seem obsolete or insignificant. Additionally, there are probably pages or sections that don’t exist on your current Website but have become necessary. These items should be addressed and incorporated properly into the navigational structure of a redesigned Website, maintaining efficient and effective usability.
Refresh
Perhaps your marketing goals, or your budget, don’t
allow for a complete redesign this year, but you are still interested
in refreshing the look of your Website. Here are some ideas
for updating your existing Website without undergoing a complete
overhaul.
- Content Update
If it has been a few years, certainly the content on your existing Website needs refreshing. Even if that means revising some phrasing here, and adding some new information there, updating the content on your Website will assist your company in portraying a current and updated image.
- Image Update
The images on your Website contribute to the overall look and feel of the design. If you choose not to invest in a redesign, changing the images throughout your Website can make a big difference. Review the existing images that reflect the look of your company. What images could better represent your products and services or bring a new personality to your Website?
- Add New Pages
Perhaps there are new products or services that your company would like to feature on your Website without investing in a redesign or requiring significant changes to the navigational structure. Evaluate what pages need to be added to the existing Website. Your current navigational structure should allow for some minor growth without requiring major changes.
Web Ready 2007, Part 2
Once you’ve addressed whether your Website requires a redesign
or a refresh, you will be ready to determine how to drive visitors
to your updated Website. Stay tuned for the second part of
Web Ready 2007; learn what can be done to drive targeted traffic
to your Website.