Sometimes, the need for a website refresh is obvious: you updated your branding, your company underwent a merger, or your page was slow to load. These examples stand out; you can see and experience them, or perhaps your employees pointed them out. But there are other, less obvious, signs that your website could use a little redo. And if you don’t know about them, you might not check.
Visual Appeal
Visual appeal is one of the top reasons companies update their website regularly. However, it goes beyond colors and icons; the flow of your website is also critical. A website should look good, but it also needs to be usable.
Your website’s UI (user interface) and UX (user experience) ensure the site works hard for your brand. They should strike a balance between aesthetics and functionality. Is your site easy to navigate? Is the button text clearly labeled and easy to read? Is your content structured in a way that demonstrates you understand your users’ pain points? Does your color and imagery fit the context of your product or service? How does your site translate on mobile? These are all questions of UI and UX design.
Tools like Hotjar can help you review your current user experience and provide critical feedback to your web design team on needed enhancements.
ADA Compliance
The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) was passed in 1990 to provide equal access and opportunity to disabled individuals. As more of our world moves online, ADA protections have also extended to websites and other forms of digital content. Failing to meet compliance could result in significant legal action, like this lawsuit against Domino’s.
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) outline the standards websites must meet to ensure ADA compliance and avoid the courtroom. However, your compliance needs should start well before building a website. During the branding process, designers should ensure that color palettes, text, patterns and more pass basic readability tests, ensuring that the site is not only ADA-compliant but is generally easier to read due to appropriate color contrasts.
Tools like accessiBe can provide extra accommodations by placing a widget on your site that allows users to customize their experience based on their unique needs.
SEO
Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is the process of optimizing a website for search engine ranking. While it’s typically more associated with Google, SEO can also be used to gauge whether your content is reaching your audience. It doesn’t matter if you have the best content in the world if people can’t find it.
Technical SEO refers to the technical aspects of your site content, from ensuring your site speed and security are on par to focusing on how your pages link together on your website. On-page SEO focuses on creating meaningful and valuable content using keywords. A good keyword strategy takes the things your target audience is already searching for and creates relevant content around them.
Tools such as Semrush are widely used by companies and agencies to provide an under-the-hood look at website SEO rankings. They produce reports that serve as an initial guide to implementing improvements from a technical and content-based standpoint. Semrush also gives insights into other places you can optimize for keywords, such as meta tags and alternate text for images.
Security / Data Safety
Security is another reason for a website refresh. Is your site still running on HTTP? If so, moving to HTTPS is a first step in ensuring your site is secure. It also signals to your users that security is top of mind for your business.
Starting with a web security audit is the first step to solving potential security weaknesses. As cyber-attacks continue to rise, users are looking to companies to do whatever possible to keep their data safe. Even if your site doesn’t house user information or enable login to customer portals, basic site hygiene, such as regular checks of user accounts and permissions and securing your site’s CMS (content management system), will reduce potential threats in the future.
Integrations
Last but not least, plug-ins. If your site can’t handle the latest updates for your current plug-ins or isn’t designed to use them in the first place, you should really consider a website update.
The range and versatility of website plug-ins have expanded a lot in the past few years. There are plug-ins for everything from Google Analytics to pop-up banners and eCommerce. These useful tools provide an easy way to expand your site’s design and functionality without the need to go deep into the site’s code.
Looking to refresh your website? Contact us today to ensure you approach your refresh from a 360-marketing perspective. Trevelino/Keller approaches each site build from a sales and marketing lens, meaning you’re getting more than just visual appeal; you’re also getting a site designed around your customers.
