Knowing When Your Website Needs To Re-Designed

By Mark Walters

Regular re-designing of websites is necessary because of the speed at which the Internet evolves. Bandwidth increases, new technologies emerge, and website users' expectations change.

The effects of having a poor or out-dated website can not be understated. A website is often the first point of contact between yourself and prospective customers and, as such, making the right impression is critical. If you make a bad impression with your website, then you can be sure that their business will not be coming your way. So, how do you know if your website is doing what it is meant to be doing?

It is best to start with a list of what your website does, or what it is supposed to do, and how well it achieves those objectives. It may be difficult for you to be objective, so talk to a few customers who use the website, or friends who are not familiar with your website and who are not afraid to tell you what they think about it.

Next create a list of of what your web site does not do, either because of outdated design, or capabilities it does not have. List all of the features or capabilities that you would like the website to have. Then, create one sentence which describes the primary purpose of your website and one secondary purpose. Everything on your list should support your primary and secondary purpose.

Try not to get caught up in the mindset that it necessary to totally overhaul the design of your website. Often, making just a few changes, or adding one or two extra capabilities is the best approach to take. If you make changes simply for the sake of making changes then you will just be wasting time and resources. You may also alienate existing customers of yours who may feel overwhelmed and confused when they visit your website after the re-design.

It is important to establish an exact budget, or a budget range for your website re-design. Once you have come up with a figure or a range, then seek bids from various web design companies - do not just contact one and go with their first offer. Let website design companies know up front that you can spend around a certain amount, and the sorts of changes that you are looking to make, and then ask them to give you their best price. - 33376

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