Every once in a while, the need for rejuvenation arises. As individuals, people get makeovers at such times. They change their hairstyles, wardrobes, cars, or just about anything that can be tuned up. As a site owner, it is about that time of the year when refreshing your website design is ideal. Sounds easy, right? Wrong.
Refreshing your website design is not in itself an easy undertaking. But with proper guidance, one might begin to wonder what all the fuss was about in the first place. Refreshing a site owner’s page is a process best carried out meticulously.
Currently, there is almost no unique or exclusive website anymore. Every day newer websites are erected across various niches of internet life. As the competition intensifies, so does the need for websites to stand out. Refreshing your website using these rips might just give you that edge required to stand out in your chosen niche.
Top Steps to Take in Refreshing your Web Page
1. In-depth Scrutiny
The first step would involve an in-depth scrutinizing of the web content. Most web pages with content have lots of content posted when they are first created. With time, the posted content frequency might not drop. But for most site owners, it becomes extremely simple to get carried away. When this happens, the content might begin to unduly diversify.
Diversity in itself is not bad at all. But when the diversity is presented as a variation considerably far from the original site aim, then it becomes an issue. Thankfully, it is not an issue that is beyond redemption. So as a site owner, one could use this opportunity to refresh the web design to thoroughly analyze his or her content.
This does not mean in any way that site owners should avoid changes. Not at all. But while carrying out this auditing, be sure to check for content uniformity. All the content should fall nicely into the goals and objectives of the site. So a review of all the content on the page is a way to begin.
Also, check the overall web content. See if anything needs editing. From the contact info to any other thing. A general overview of web content is essential. So if you have direct links to yourself or staff posted on the page, ensure that all details are up to date. If there has been a staff change or significant alteration in company policy, indicate such alterations when necessary. This is majorly applicable on the landing page. This is to ensure that the very first page has all the needed and correct information.
2. Broken Links
Second, observe the entire site for the unfortunate existence of broken links. As a site owner, it is difficult to do without using external links at some point. They are undeniably convenient to use. But at times, they might “break”. This is why a person might click on a certain link and see the “404 error”.
This is when the browser being used presents the “page not found” line. So do a thorough check for these. This particular step is quite essential. This is because of two major reasons. First, broken links are stressful to deal with. Seeing them leaves one with the option of visiting an alternative site.
The second reason is the most important. It affects the credibility of the site owner to no small extent. It is very easy for users to lose confidence in the site itself. Refreshing a web page design is about attracting more users while maintaining the current ones.
3. Easy Navigation
Third, make navigation of the site easy. Most visitors on the site are there for a purpose. To refresh your web design, imagine being a visitor to the site for the first time. You should be able to easily find whatever challenges might be making navigating the site a chore. The purpose is to make navigation so easy that even first-timers are not phased.
This helps by subtly building preference for your site in the visitor’s mind. This step is equally important in attracting more visitors to the site. When people do not have to think too much to navigate your webspace, there is a high chance of them coming back.
Soon enough, the page could become a top choice in whatever niche it is found. However, if navigating the site is difficult, potential clients would be lost. This holds regardless of how great the quality of the content might be.
4. Run Tests
Testing the web page across multiple devices is also needed. This is useful because it helps the web owner know what devices the site is inaccessible on. This is to make sure that that a potential client is not lost due to accessibility issues. So from Apple’s Safari to Google chrome, to Firefox and all others, try accessing your page.
Thankfully, there seem to be Apps that simulate the appearance of your web page across various top browsers. A few of these browsers are always being updated. So one has to ensure that his or her web page is still compatible with the latest update.
5. Mobile Responsive Website
Make the page design and it's content as mobile user friendly as possible. Recently, there has been an increased level of incompatibility between certain web browsers and pages that are not sufficiently mobile device friendly. So it would be best to get with the program in order not to be left behind.
A tip to our readers, flash content on web pages is slowly being phased out. So if they exist on your page, get a new presentation for their content. The majority of the world accesses the web through mobile devices. So the appearance and operation of your web page on mobile devices should be a paramount concern.
6. Simplicity is Key
Make everything simpler. Simplicity is the key feature of many of the leading web pages and sites today. The internet world is so large that there are multiple choices regardless of what one is searching for.
To this end, users tend to flock to the option that does not give them a hard time. So when refreshing your web page, the aim should not be to make it more complex. More content could be added without complicating the structure of the website. Add whatever content that is needed without making the site appear too full and complex.
7. Collect Useful Data
Analyze your viewer data thoroughly. This is a rather simple process for all web page owners. For all websites, there is a section or another that pulls more traffic compared to other sections. These sections which have more visitors should be fine-tuned to be the best possible versions of themselves.
The viewer data compiled over a period (probably the past year) should suffice in making this decision. A critical analysis of the data should be enough to show any web page owner what exactly attracts more people to his or her page.
This analysis could also show some other essential pieces of information such as:
- How long do people stay on the page?
- Where are they directed from?
- At what point do most people leave your site?
The last question in particular is of significance. This is because knowing what point people lose interest will assist you. This will be essential in knowing what point to focus your web design refreshing activities.
The second question is also quite important. Knowing what avenue draws more people to your site will assist you in knowing where to redouble your efforts. At times people who visit the site tend to leave just as quickly. In such cases, it is mostly a result of the misrepresentation. So you could find out if a certain ad does not do justice to what exactly your site has to offer.
In such a case, you could tweak the ad a bit. Or if you do not get as many visitors as you imagined an ad would bring. You know that you need to restructure the ad. However, analyzing the portions of the site with high conversion and reduced bounce rate is vital. The lessons learned from these pages could be the turning point for your page. This is where analysis of the first question becomes useful.
Refreshing your site design in recent times is also relatively easier. The fact that there’s always someone better in an aspect or another gives you options. These options are in the sense that you could use the competition’ analysis as a comparison.
Thoroughly go through and understand as much as possible, your competitors’ strategy. Understand why they are where they are. After all, there is always room for improvement. So ask yourself, what is it that they do that I do not? Or what am I doing that they do not do? These questions will assist you to carry out a more comprehensive review.
For this particular analysis, take nothing for granted. From their landing page to the format of their ads, scrutinize everything. But do not be carried away. Always remember that your analysis is aimed at helping you get better. If you feel there is nothing to be learned, it is better to move on. Check various successful sites in your niche and learn whatever you can. These will assist in knowing what direction your site renovation or refreshing exercise will face.
8. Call to Action
Try using a call to action (CTA) links or buttons. If you are already using them, see if there is a way to make better use of them. You could try changing the presentation of the CTAs on your site. This however is for those already using CTAs.
If you are not using CTAs, this is the perfect time to try them out. Just in case you are wondering, CTAs refer to call-to-action keys or buttons. These are prompts for the visitors of your site to participate in one way or the other.
Have you seen a web page with a “BUY NOW” or “DOWNLOAD HERE” prompt? Those are CTAs. There are lots of other forms of CTAs available. It all depends on what exactly you do or would like to do. There are also prompts to follow online. Such as “Follow us on …”, so what CTA to use depends on you.
If you are not already using CTAs, now would be the best time to start. Find a way to naturally incorporate them into the design of your web page. This will make the visitors to your site more corporative. This presents an opportunity for them to participate and they usually do.
9. Focus on Maintenance
Then at this point, it is all about maintenance. After applying all of these principles and few tips, maintenance becomes paramount. There are tons of software and applications that can help one in keeping the website in tip-top condition. With this software, one could carry out debugging functions more effectively and easily.
Thankfully, with the advancements in technology, your growing customer base is not a problem. So you do not simply stop after making the changes suggested in this article. There is a need to continually keep abreast with advancing tech by continually upgrading.
A lot of web browsers and other sites implement the new tech updates as soon as they come out. So to keep moving forward, all web page owners are advised to apply needed techs. This might be more expensive, but to accommodate more users, it is vital.
Get expert services from GO-Globe Web Design Dubai team to update your web design and other related work
Conclusion
All these tips and guidelines apply to just about any web page design. At times, websites need renovation and refreshing. This is similar to houses or homes, particularly during spring cleaning.
So, consider the guidelines offered in this article as methods of “spring cleaning” your website. If you run into other useful tips to employ in making the best of your web designing, do not hesitate to use them. We hope you have a wonderful web management experience after trying these guidelines.
