How Often Should Your Website be Rebuilt or Updated?

When the question arises of how often you should rebuild or update your website, it is very usual to think – why is it required?

Well, when you just keep one thing for long, it leads to monotony.

The same holds for a website too.

If you have had the same website design for years, then the people who follow you might be bored.

Also, the website should change with the market demand, technological developments, and changes in trends. It would be wise to hire dedicated programmer and order an updated website that stands up to the current demands.

Before we come up with the numbers about how often your website should be updated, here’s some information about the technical factors that you need to look into.

People think that the first impression lasts forever, and hence, it would be good not to change the website. Well, this does not work in the present digital dynamics.

Website design and development is the place where there are a lot of changes happening every day. If you do not walk hand in hand with these developments, then you may not get the exceptional results to overshoot your competitors.

When you started your website, there might have been some lags, some resource issues, and so on.

If your website has passed a considerable period, then it’s time to upgrade its UX, design, and contents.

For instance, the images that you put 2-3 years back may appear impractical in the current situation. Similarly, the layout and content might look a bit old. Experts suggest that 38 percent of people run away from websites that have old content and an unattractive layout.

It’s time to fix the problem and retain the fan following.

Adopt the latest technologies

The websites built these days have animations and interactive elements. So, if your website runs flash, then you will not be able to cope with the current challenges.

In a world where a massive population uses iPhones and iPad, more than Flash jQuery is welcome.

This is only one example.

Just like the platforms, gadgets, and OS change with time, web design solutions and website development factors should also stay high at another level.

As a business, you should adapt yourself to the new technology. It will bring in many benefits, and it also has the potential to make you the market leader if you follow the best means to attain the goals.

You have your competitors getting ahead in the race by merely being digitally smart

When you were the king in your business segment, you felt that your business and your website did very well and impressed many people and customers.

But, in this competitive world, it’s not possible to stay ahead in the market without intelligent strategies. There are counterparts who are digitally smarter, and this took them to newer heights.

So, it’s time to make several alterations to your website design. This will help you match up with what’s new.

For example, your website might have some loopholes, such as slow loading time, lack of quality images, and poor integration. Seventy percent of the users would not use the website again or quit quickly if the website loads slowly.

Don’t you think this is a loss for you?

Sometimes, you need to make the decision in which you have to forego old and embrace new. Your website signifies your brand and the story of your business. It has to be updated with time, or else it might become history soon.

The website should be optimized for mobile phones

With time, things are going bonsai. The massive increase in mobile usage has offered users to perform almost all online activities like watching videos, playing games, social media engagements, e-commerce shopping, etc through their smartphones.

Your website should also be optimized well so that it looks great on the mobile phone too.

You ought to rebuild or update your website if it still works only on laptops and desktops. If your website looks poor on the smartphone, then you ask the developer to take action in regard to updating your website to be all-device-friendly.

In the year 2019, 48.7 percent of website traffic came merely through mobile phones.

This shows what you are lacking.

The latest websites should ease navigation, optimized look, and content layout that is responsive and works on all platforms, including smartphones, functional elements, and an intuitive interface.

Your brand messaging and audiences have changed

Rebuilding or updating your website becomes important at a certain level, especially when your brand messaging has changed. Suppose your business has grown multifold since its inception.

This means, there is a need for updated content and rebranding to get through the targeted niche. This will be possible if you alter your brand image.

A new website design with updated targeted content is the need of the hour. So now, while you are making the desired changes, you must re-enter with a bang.

Your brand should get much-deserved recognition, and for that, you should create the right message via building the website with a lot of many nuances. Rebuilding the website will have a lot of positive impact on your business, which you will be happy about in the future.

Choose a good and future-oriented content management system along with the best and most progressive website design. Your target should be to provide the best user interface, a better load time for the website, and a perfect customer experience with a new design.

Perhaps, this is the time when you can get rid of outdated technology and switch to modern ones. If it’s an eCommerce website, then a rebuilt version might give a pleasant experience to the users. You will get an idea about the better response system in no time.

The shopping experience matters the most to the people. Eighty-seven percent of the people feel that when they have a personalized shopping experience, they are willing to buy from that online store.

It is therefore vital to take the help of a programmer and make the much-needed changes to your website.

Understand about website rebuilding and updating the timeline

Now it is vital to understand what should be the ideal frequency for rebuilding or updating your business website. Most web developers and the business community feel this timeline should be approximately two to five years.

This is the timeline for changes in technology, design change, and also changes in the goals of the business. With a fresh design and web development strategies, there can be many benefits that a business can fetch.

Again, the timeline is not a compulsory benchmark and depends on numerous parameters and business objectives.

The business has to assess its needs, the way the business has picked up, the response from online customers, and the changes in goals and brand image.

These things should be potent enough to specify the timeline for updating the business and rebuilding the website.

Remember, you are being watched.

As per one of the reports, users form an opinion about a website in less than 50 seconds. So, here’s what you need to work out to enhance the business website’s reputation.

A professional and expert solution can provide you with the right solutions. It is therefore prudent to rebuild or update the website.

You will need the guidance of an expert web developer and dedicated programmer

If you have made up your mind to rebuild or update the website, then you should have a detailed word with the dedicated programmer. The web development process has a lot of proximities, and one should decide how the steps need to be taken.

It will be a complex question of whether you just need a new web design and content update for your website or you need complete rebuilding.

People have confused about the terms, and they feel that redesigning is rebuilding and vice versa. Both these words are different and hold different technicalities. It would therefore be good enough to discuss the points and all the details about the website with an expert.

Remember, it’s not just about design; it’s about content too.

Eighty-two percent of people feel positive about the company when they read the good content.

But rebuilding a website is a little tricky as one has to go through different aspects of SEO and the user-friendly perspective, and generally these services are expensive, so business owners prefer to hire dedicated offshore developers which perform the same task in a cost-effective way without affecting the quality of the outcome.

There are two concepts: Cosmetic redesign and a complete redesign

When it comes to choosing the website redesigning concept, there are two concepts about which you need to know. The first is a cosmetic redesign, and the second is a complete redesign.

You can discuss this with your web developer and ask him about the questions you have in mind.

Cosmetic changes in website design: When it comes to cosmetic design, it would be a makeover of the webpage design and adding of new content. Sixty-nine percent of North Americans think that a website with good content is a perfect thing for the website.

Website design is truly important, and that’s why recently, Google’s John Mueller said that a website that is not good enough could also affect the search engine rankings.

If your website is older than 2-3 years, then you ought to do some assessment that will guide you to take up the processes well.

In this case, there will be the addition of new content, making changes in the logo, changes in the text, alterations in layout, update on the user interface design, and information about new products and services. Here you may not face many technical changes.

But yes, while doing these changes, one should also work towards making the website mobile friendly and with better loading time. You need to get expert advice for this.

Complete changes in website design: This is a long process and involves front-end as well as back-end development processes.

Here you need to do changes in design, content, and navigation too. Even the web development aspects will change.

As compared to the cosmetic redesign, the cost will be higher in revamping the entire website.

But one needs to take this decision when a website doesn’t meet any of your current requirements technically.

Remember, your website is the front face of your business. If it does not reflect your actual business activities and offerings, your audience might not get the perfect solution from the website. Additionally, you miss the sales and revenue targets.

There will be too many changes that might come up, such as changes in coding. Since this process is a complex one, expert assistance is beneficial.

There is a very good demand for good, dedicated programmers because more and more businesses are getting into the new alteration mode to revamp their websites.

The employment for web designers and developers might increase to the extent of 8 percent by 2029. This shows how you need to keep an eye on what your competitors have been doing or are going to do.

Decided to rebuild the website: Set a few important goals

What’s vital is that you have the right goals in your mind while you are planning to rebuild your website. You should assess and analyze the performance of your old website.

Along with this, you need to capture your entire business offerings, range of products, resource information, business model, etc.

And Google analytics will help you to know how a particular content was performing.

The old SEO solutions would go away when you are going to rebuild the website.

Thus, while you seek help from a skilled programmer, it would be better to tell them about how the old website for performing. You must tell them why you want a redesign and what goals you have set for the current website.

By doing a detailed discussion, there would be some fruitful solutions that you can fetch. Like, you can discuss what goals you have in mind. These may include the following:

• Reduction in bounce rate
• Reduction in cart abandonment
• Smooth user experience
• Getting more engagement from a target market
• Generate better leads
• Better branding strategies

By setting the marketing goals and discussing with the developer what was lacking previously, one can come up with the basic solutions that one seeks.

It is important to note that a range of 26 to 40 percent of bounce rate might not be bad for a website.

But above that, it would not be good. The 70 percent bounce rate for a website is quite disappointing and needs some strategic solution quickly.

You may discuss this with your web developer. This is a technical thing, and the designers and developers know how this can be sorted. When you get an experienced programmer, you get all these solutions with finesse.

How to select a reliable developer for a website update or rebuild?

If you were satisfied with the way your old website was created, you could carry on with the same professional team.

But, if you want to work with dynamic people or someone who has relevant knowledge about the current website design and development trends, then it would be prudent to hire dedicated programmer who is the best in every way and has knowledge that can create a perfect web development experience for you.

The very first step is to make the master plan.

While going to change the cosmetics and user interface or revamping the entire website, you must make a master plan which will show up your future business goals and the experience for the people who would visit the website.

One must keep the latest SEO trends in mind, and this will help in implementing digital marketing strategies.

When you do the tasks in the right direction, you are sure to get the relevant fruits for the same. At the same time, knowing your audience will make a whole lot of difference.

When you decide to rebuild the entire website, there will be a lot many challenges to come along the way. But, the right combination of website development strategies will form the foundation for a better future for the business.

Final thoughts

Of course, every website should not lose basic details like contact information and address. People look out for transparency and security.

Experts say that 44 percent of the people will not further scroll the website if it lacks the details like addresses and contacts.

These are very basic things but are quite important.

So, while the project gets a nod to rebuild the website, it is vital to have a proper check about the old things that are relevant. They will be relevant in the new website building process as well.

So, be open to the ideas of staying stuck to the basic goal and keeping an eye on the sky to set new targets.