Editor’s Note: This post was originally published in 2015 and was updated for accuracy and comprehensiveness on December 7, 2017.
So you think it’s time for a website redesign. Your existing website has not received any love from you for about 5 years and it has now become a realisation that your website is the first thing prospects view when researching. Now suddenly it’s important!
Here’s a few interesting stats to reiterate the importance of having an efficient, mobile-optimised construction website:
- 48% of users say that if they arrive on a business site that isn’t working well on mobile, they take it as an indication of the business simply not caring. (Source)
- A single second delay in your website loading time can result in a 7% loss in conversion, and 40% of web users will abandon a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. (Source)
- You have 10 seconds to leave an impression and tell them what they’ll get out of your website and company. After this time (and oftentimes before), they’ll leave. (Source)
As Marketers or business owners you look at your website almost every day and the site can quite easily become uninspiring and familiar to view; as a result, the easy thing to do is to have a complete redesign. However it is crucial here to not make any brash decisions based on personal opinion only: instead, consider how efficiently your website represents your construction business in the eyes of your key target personas. Do you feel like your website provides a pleasant online experience by displaying the right content quickly and efficiently, or did reading the above stats make you feel slightly ill at ease?
Well without further ado, here are my top 5 questions to ask yourself and others before redesigning your website:
1) What problem am I trying to solve?
Ask yourself this question and seriously think about it. Why do you even have a website? What is its job? To create more leads? To engage with visitors? To increase the number of people on your database by sign up’s? Whatever the objective is, make sure any changes on your website are geared towards that one goal. Most websites try to be everything for everyone and end up failing to do anything. As briefly touched upon, look at who comes to your site in line with your construction marketing personas: how do they get there and does your website fulfill their needs or requirements? Analyse your traffic on a monthly basis using Google Analytics and review the trends you’re finding – by analysing drops or increases in traffic levels, this will help you to not only measure your website’s effectiveness but also what specific pages are working to attract and convert.
2) Is the design my problem or my content?
Most of your website visitors are looking for some sort of information. The design helps people make a judgement about your website as soon as they land on a page. Poor design may reflect an unprofessional or amateur look, but the content is king. A good website with awesome content is what visitors want – not generic information which is widely available on other websites (including your competitors). Remember this – content is what converts, the design just helps with the process of converting. You can download our helpful Content Marketing eBook here.
3) What will the high percentage of returning visitors say when they see a new site?
Don’t you just hate it when changes are made to popular new websites which make it difficult to find that same section you keep coming back to read? Don’t you just hate it when Facebook changes the layout of their timeline? Admit it. You do. Everyone does. That’s because many of us find change uncomfortable. So when redesigning your website, consider those returning visitors and what they keep coming back for. Make sure you keep them happy by implementing changes that will only enhance their current user experience, rather than impact it. Furthermore, ensure returning visitors and those signed up to your content are informed of potential changes well ahead of time.
4) Have I tested certain elements before making the decision to redesign the website?
Have you tested that form on the contact page? Have you tried to make the ‘download brochure’ call-to-action button/icon bigger? Have you tried using images which contain real people or your product in situ? A complete redesign may not be necessary until you have absolutely tested as much as you can on your existing website. By making small changes often and tweaking elements within the website, and then monitoring closely what happens, you should end up with a significantly improved website with a higher level of conversions. However the age of your website will significantly impact your decision here – chances are a website that’s even three years old hasn’t been built using a responsive template. We access the internet from an absurd amount of different devices now, all with different screen sizes. You need to account for the wide range of screen sizes your users will view your website on, and implement responsive design to cover all your bases.
5) Have you surveyed your website visitors?
What percentage of your website visitors actually completed the task they needed to do on your website? If you have a product selector tool on your website then how do you know that all 100% of visitors to that page actually completed their task? Surveying your visitors and asking questions is the best way to really get an idea if it’s time for a redesign or a restructure. You can use a range of survey tools to ask the right question to the right visitor at the right time.
For example, we used a survey which asked the question ‘what shall we write about next?’ but this question only pops up for returning visitors. Why? Well we want them to keep coming back and provide them information which is relevant to them. Other questions such as ‘what could we do to make this page more useful’ or ‘for what reason did you visit this site’ will help you understand how visitors use the site and why they visit your site.
Of course there are lots of other questions which could be asked before redesigning your website but these are the fundamental questions in knowing exactly why you want to redesign and for whom.
When was the last time you did a site redesign? Did the redesign work for you? How did you measure the impact of a site redesign?
Over to you!
For a useful free guide to creating an effective lead generation website for your construction business, download our eBook here, or give us a call on 01908 671707.
