Does Your Website Need a Makeover?
by Herman Drost
An old Web design can be compared to an old house. It's lost its luster, it's in a
state of disrepair, and no longer looks attractive. The current design of your website
may look the same. It's outdated, unattractive and in need of a makeover.
Top Seven reasons to redesign your website
1. Outdated design
Perhaps your current design is several years old. You may have designed it yourself or
had it designed by someone else who didn't know what they were doing. Whatever the reason
it may be time to get a new design so you can give your business a fresh look that will
attract and retain your visitors. The first impression a visitor receives of the business
should be a pleasant one.
2. Difficult to navigate
Website visitors should be able to navigate your web pages to find information quickly
and easily. For example you may have navigation links at the top but not at the bottom of
your pages. When a visitor reaches the bottom of your page they will need to scroll to the
top to navigate to other parts of your website. To solve this problem include navigation
links at the bottom of your web pages and links to the internal pages within your content.
3. Code errors
If your website contains many HTML or XHTML errors this will make it difficult for the
search engines to spider your pages plus it will take longer for them to load. When
redesigning your website make sure your web pages validate correctly.
4. Slow loading pages
Website loading speed is now one of the ranking factors for Google. This makes sense
because people want to access information quickly with their high-speed Internet
connections. Your site should load within a few seconds. Slow loading pages are often
caused by large images, videos, javascript, code errors, broken links or a slow server.
5. Pages are not search engine friendly
If your site is not optimized for the search engines you're losing a lot of traffic. To
optimize your web pages your main keywords should be included in the title, description
and keyword meta tags. They should also be included in your headings, subheadings, main
content, links, file names and image descriptions (alt tag).
6. Lack of accessibility
Most websites on the net are not accessible to people who are vision impaired. They may
be blind, colorblind or have difficulty reading small text on the screen. It may cost you
more to make your website accessible to all people however it will expand your audience.
7. Web copy is sloppy
If your Web copy does not inspire your visitors to take action you may have to rewrite
it. You can do this yourself or hire a professional copywriter who can hypnotize your
visitors with words that will get them to take action.
Hire a professional web designer to redesign your website. Make sure he or she has many
years of experience so you will not only get a great design but receive help in marketing
the site to make it profitable.
Herman Drost is the Certified Internet Webmaster (CIW) owner and author of
iSiteBuild.com Affordable Web Site
Design and Low Cost Web Hosting Subscribe to his "Marketing Tips" newsletter for more
original articles at: subscribe@isitebuild.com. You can read more of his in-depth articles
at: http://www.isitebuild.com/articles">iSiteBuild.com
More General Web Design:
• Reciprocal Linking Overload - Any old link back will do?
• The Importance of Color in Web Design
• Building an Effective Website
• Finding a Reliable Web Hosting Company
• A Random Walk Down Web Street - Litter Revolution
• How to Create an Amazing About Page
• Website Landing Pages that Capture and Convert
• What is "Above the Fold?"
• What is Metadata?
• The Ten Parts of a Business Website
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