The Website Refresh (Not Website Redesign): The Ultimate Guide
Once you start a website, you need to be able to "refresh" it from time to time. Look at how websites such as Amazon and YouTube started and then grew. But a complete redesign isn't always necessary. Here's what you can do instead. Fresh is in our name Geoffresh after all. 😏
It's no secret that a website is one of the most important parts of modern day business. It's the virtual front door—often the very first impression. And most people take a website to be an extension and reflection of the business in real life. Taking the website as an indication of what they can come to expect from working and/or buying from said business. So a poorly designed website can really hold a business back if its value is underestimated.
So let's talk about what a website refresh involves, and how it helps businesses not fall behind.
What Is A Website Refresh?
A website refresh is about redux, not redo. Refreshing the look and way people experience your website, by making the existing structure better. Alterations, not a complete overhaul.
It's like that saying about a house—no need to demolish when the bones are good.
Here's a list of the usual changes a refresh improves:
- Color Palette
- Fonts
- Navigation
- How Content Is Layed Out and Organized
- Plugin and Software Updates
- SEO
- UX Adjustments
- Cyber Security Checks
The above could require minor adjustments or a little more elbow grease, but nothing on the scale of a website redesign. Website refreshes can take anywhere from 1 week to two weeks, whereas a brand new website or website redesign can take anywhere from 1 month to a few months.
For complex websites (or those requiring more advanced features) an agency like ours would definitely be better equipped to assist. Saving you time, frustration, and money if you can believe it.
How Do you Know When It's Time To Hit The Refresh Button?
The Risk of NOT Refreshing
When considering whether to refresh your website, the potential risks of opting out of a website refresh should also be taken into account.
Not updating your website regularly can have a negative impact on your online presence and can make your business appear outdated and stagnant.
If your website isn't running the latest software, then you run the risk of advanced techniques, such as SEO, being ineffective due to your technology being out of date. Your e-commerce site not syncing properly with Google Merchant, and so forth. Your website would also vulnerable to hackers and security breaches, which can be very costly for your business.
Ultimately, not refreshing your website may result in lost respect and trust as well as lost customers. Therefore, the risks of not refreshing your website far outweigh the benefits of leaving it as is. And compared with a redesign, it is so much more economically and doable.
But once the refresh is done remember, you need to be invested in taking care of your website regularly. Making changes to it, to suit your customers changing needs, showing them what they didn't even know they needed, and tending to the website like you would your own image.
Websites only become cumbersome and overwhelming when neglected—and we can help you figure out a system for keeping it fresh.