Web design is a tremendously stressful process. It requires a vast amount of attention to detail on a number of different levels and when you have done it once, you are very keen on never entering that ring again. Sadly though, trends, user behaviour and your business changes over time. These changes need to be met with a website redesign. Here are 9 tell-tale signs that your redesign phase approaches:

1. Poor Search Engine rankings
   This could be the result of bad coding – flash sites, sites using frames and sites which has text coding in HTML are more difficult to optimise for search engines.
2. Your site is not optimised for mobile use
   Most users prefer browsing the web using their mobiles, but when they come to your site and it is not suitable for mobile viewing, users have no problem redirecting themselves to a similar site which is optimised.
3. High bounce rate and low time on site
   In association with your Search Engine rankings, your analytics indicate that people are not spending time on your website. This commonly indicates that users do not find your site helpful, a restructuring of landing pages is in order to solve this problem. Also re-evaluate your wording and the quality of your descriptions.
4. You are not proud of the site
   If your website looks dated, or if you apologise to people for its looks, it is time to give the website a facelift. Design trends are changing at quite a pace and while it’s not viable to keep up to the second, you should not have a site that looks like it is straight from the 90’s. Many people, myself included, tend to judge a company based on their website.
5. The website is difficult to update
   In this day and age, there is no reason why your site should be difficult to update. Employ someone to setup a new, user-friendly CMS with which anyone in your office can do necessary content updates.
6. Your design is too complex
   Every page of a given website should have clear call to actions, as well as a clear indication of where to locate what information on the website. If your website is not straightforward and easy to navigate, it may take away from your sales.
7. Your content is dated
   If your content has not been updated for more than 3 months, or the content does not reflect the nature of your business anymore, a redesign is needed urgently. A good rule of thumb is to update your entire website every 2 to 3 years.
8. The competition is evolving
   This is one area in which keeping up with the Joneses is necessary. If your competitor offers Live Chat, you need to. Also look at their entire offering and identify where you can improve your website, or make your offering more than the competitor’s.
9. Social Media awareness
   Let your site visitors know that you subscribe to various social networks by making links available on all your webpages. Make is easy for customers to find you and engage with your brand.