Three Bad Reasons to Update Your Website’s Design

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Web DesignAs any good web master will tell you, the perfect site design is always one revision away. Many of us feel that there is always an element that can be improved, a function that can be made more accessible for visitors and a module that can increase earning potential. Ever so often, a website may be in need of a drastic overhaul in order to incorporate new elements and trends that were not present at the time of the initial design. What many webmasters do, however, is justify a redesign of their websites without giving the proper considerations due diligence. This can lead to grave mistakes and the abandonment of a great site design for a pipe dream. If you have considered a site redesign but do not know where to begin or if it needs to be done, then please continue reading to find out about the three most common bad reasons that lead web masters to redesign their websites.

You’re Bored with It

This is a common problem for webmasters who spend hours upon hours meticulously inspecting their websites. It is to be expected that if you are pinging for SEO via content creation on a consistent basis, that you will begin to notice slight flaws and areas that could be improved on your website. The reality, however, is that most individuals do not see these same flaws nor spend anywhere near as much time on your website as you do. While functional elements can always be tweaked and altered, an entire site redesign should not be done if the sole reason behind it is that the current design bores you or has been in place for several months. Your users will not mind a six-month old design as much as you think: trust us.

Your Competitors Have Updated

Anyone who reacts blindly to whatever their competitors do deserves the heartbreak and potential troubles that can follow – this is not a sound strategy. Many web masters still fall for this common bad reason to redesign a website, which can result in occupying your resources that would otherwise be better served elsewhere. It depends on the type of site redesign, but a competitor may build their website from the ground up – this can have negative connotations when it comes to pinging for SEO. As a result, your competitor may suffer a temporary ding when it comes to SERPS and other SEO metrics. Be proactive, not reactive: just because your competitor’s website was inferior does not mean that your website is currently inferior.

You Want to Improve SEO

As mentioned above, some site redesigns can throw a temporary wrench into select search engine rankings. If you truly want to improve your SEO, then there are usually several better solutions than a total site redesign. The problem is that many web masters focus solely on search engine optimization but do not take the time to then ensure that their websites are optimized for lead generation. What good is traffic if it does not translate into shares, subscriptions or conversions? Unless you have a website that was designed many years ago and has not since been updated, improving your SEO with a site redesign is generally a dumb idea.