Website design trends change over the years (even months). What we saw in 2006 is quite different from what we see today in 2009. Elements that were popular in 2008 are already seen as outdated. In this article we will review some of the most important aspects to evaluate before deciding on a partial or complete redesign of our website.
1. Your website uses outdated technologies or techniques. The use of techniques or technologies that are very outdated compared to current ones is one of the most important symptoms when deciding whether a new design is needed. •Frames: The successors of the “frames” are the “iframes” and these are recommended only for widgets, affiliate programs and advertising.
If your site uses frames for most of the design, it's definitely time for a new design. Frames have not been used since 2000. Get rid of them.
•Intro Pages: Website introduction pages were all the rage in the early 2000s. Many used flash and/or audio content. Although “Intro” pages are not a totally old-fashioned design technique, their use is becoming less frequent. If your site has a long intro page in Flash, it's probably time for a redesign.
•Outdated Content: Modern sites need to be constantly updated. If you have a “static” site, you need to make sure the content on it is up to date. Many older sites were built without a Content Management System and can be very annoying to update, especially for people who don't know the code. If your website is not built on a CMS, it's probably time for a redesign.
•If your site is built entirely in Flash: Most sites today are not built entirely in Flash. Even those that appear to be, drag content from XML files to avoid the rigidity of information in the code. This is called proper use of technologies, which is not taken into account in most cases. If your site was built entirely in Flash, you are probably suffering from usability and positioning problems. Consider a new design.
•Tables: Tables were used rigorously until a few years ago in the design of Web sites, but tables were never designed to layout Web sites, but rather to format data. The designers imagined that they were only useful for developing complex website structures, however in the next step that the Web known as the Semantic Web will take, the correct use of the elements will be the difference between a well-referenced site and another qualified one. as indecipherable. If your site is built with tables, it's time to think about a new design. •Trendy design elements: If your site was designed with Web 2.0 style buttons (Bright Gradients), it's probably a good idea to think about a new design as soon as trends start to change. Don't wait to be the last site to transition from one trend to another. Stay ahead of the curve and redesign while the concepts still remain fresh. Also, consider a clear direction of fashion elements, or at least, incorporate them in a way that they are easy to change in 6 months.
2. Your current site is practically the same as it was 2 years ago . Websites should be continually updated, if your website looks much the same as it did several years ago, it's probably time to think about a new design. While you don't necessarily have to think about doing a complete redesign every couple of years, you can review which elements on your website look outdated and which could benefit from some improvements.
There will undoubtedly be things that can benefit from adjustments.
3. Su sitio no usa un CMS. Si bien es cierto que ya abordamos este punto anteriormente, la importancia que tiene es tan grande que merece su propia sección. Su sitio web debería ser construido con un sistema de gestión de contenidos (CMS). Hay una serie de razones del porque, pero realmente se reducen a la capacidad de separar el contenido del aspecto visual, permitiendo actualizaciones mas rápidas, y económicas tanto en contenido como en diseño.
Un buen CMS permite fácilmente la creación de nuevas paginas, cambios en textos, imágenes y multimedia, inclusive aplicar todo un nuevo tema visual para su sitio Web sin tener que volver a codificar todos los elementos. La mayoría de los sitios modernos están construidos en un CMS a excepción de algunos mucho mas simples como los sitios tipo brochure o aquellos que requieren un uso intensivo de Flash, aunque incluso estos sitios también pueden ser construidos usando un CMS.
Un CMS le hará la vida mas fácil y a la larga le permitirá hacer cambios a su sitio cuando lo desee.
4. Obtiene una efectividad limitada en los buscadores. La optimización para motores de búsqueda es importante para el éxito de cualquier sitio Web, si bien los ajustes para SEO se pueden hacer a los sitios existentes y usted ya los ha aplicado todos sin mucha suerte podría ser el momento de empezar de nuevo. Este tipo de problemas es común en sitios construidos en tablas en donde la cantidad de código es excesiva y todo este contenido terminan por ofuscar los motores de análisis de los buscadores (Que ven todo el código, no solo lo que el usuario final ve).
La fluidez de su diseño puede ayudarle a obtener una muy buena posición en los buscadores. Otro aspecto a considerar es hacer un nuevo diseño orientado al SEO, esto le hará fácil mantener sus esfuerzos de SEO con nuevo contenido. Asegúrese de que es fácil agregar todas las etiquetas alternativas y meta información a las nuevas imágenes, páginas y cualquier otro contenido.
Esto le asegurará que su sitio continua haciendo un buen SEO incluso después de haber pasado meses desde el nuevo diseño.
5. Su sitio web (o parte de su sitio) no está cumpliendo con su objetivo. La optimización para los buscadores no es el único aspecto a tener, la conversión de usuarios puede ser significativamente baja si su sitio no está bien diseñado. El programa de Estadísticas de su sitio Web debería permitirle hacer seguimiento a las rutas de conversión de su sitio Web (Google Analytics lo hace).
Si hay partes en esa ruta en la que sus visitantes se atascan, es probable que sea una señal para un nuevo diseño. Es importante que sus usuarios tengan a la mano la manera mas fácil de realizar ciertas tareas que usted quiere que hagan, tales como comprar un producto, leer un artículo en particular o contactarlo. 6. Su principal competidor ya tiene un nuevo diseño para su Sitio Web.
It's easy to throw together a major redesign if all of your competitors are still running the same websites they had 5 years ago. But if your main competitor has already redesigned their website, it might be a good time to redesign yours as well.
This may sound like a very superficial reason for a redesign, but if a competitor has new features that make its website more visitor-friendly, the site could probably benefit from similar changes. Whatever you do, don't copy your competition's new design. Look at what they've done and identify where there may be improvements that you can factor into yours.
See where there are navigation bottlenecks or places where the site seems confusing. Learn from your mistakes and make an even better site. Stand out from your competition’s site by making it more user-friendly and paying attention to visitors they’re losing. Another advantage of redesigning after your competition is that they will probably be hesitant to try to outdo you, since they’ve already made a significant investment in the recent design, but keep in mind that in either case the goal should always be to take advantage of the opportunities of change.