Every business has a website these days. Or so it seems. But just because your business has a site doesn’t mean it’s effective at generating income. If your site looks outdated and tired, it’s time to redesign.
It’s hard to stay current and relevant in this digital age. Tackling a website redesign can seem like a daunting task to add to the daily work required to keep your business going. Especially if you’re not tech savvy. Is it even worth the headache? Absolutely. Sites that provide a great user experience can see conversion rates 400% higher.
Handling it all on your own is absolutely a lot, but working with a firm like Southern Digital Consulting can take that stress and anxiety away. You don’t have to do your own audits, market research, keyword research, page optimizations, and content creation.
No matter your business, it won’t take long to see the benefits of an optimized and targeted site.
Is a Redesign worth the time and effort?
From a consumer perspective, 75% of a brand’s credibility comes from the design of its website. Investing in your business website can be the difference between success and failure.
Your website works hard for you. Don’t let the opportunity to generate more leads, stand apart from your competition, and build your brand’s authority get dismissed because you don’t have the know-how or the time. When you work with a firm like Southern Digital Consulting, you know you’re going to get the best, no matter what’s your business.
Build Trust and Authority in Your Field
Your website is the first impression a lot of potential customers have of your business. And first impressions are critical. Don’t waste that opportunity by having an outdated and irrelevant website.
Your site should build your standing in your field and help instill confidence in your client base. A beautiful, functional, and educational website is the key to gaining trust. From a consumer perspective, if your business has a great website it means you care.
Attract Customers
A website that is ugly and outdated will actually turn away customers looking for your products or services. People form an opinion about your entire business in half a second. That fast. You have one chance to make the right impression. Using a firm like Southern Digital guarantees it’s the right one.
Mobile Friendly Content
Everyone has a smartphone now and with that comes the expectation that sites should be designed for mobile devices. If you have a website that is mobile-friendly, 67% of consumers say they are more likely to make a purchase.
If you’ve ever been on a website that isn’t user-friendly it can be frustrating, and most customers will search for another option instead. Don’t lose out on business because of your website.
Provide Quality, SEO-Optimized Content
The quality of your site’s content lends directly to your customer’s confidence in your brand and how easily they can find you on Google. When you produce content that is informative and can help with your target audience’s pain points their trust in your brand grows.
Add properly optimized SEO to that content and not only do those customers trust you, but you’ll rank higher in Google so other potential customers can find you too. Updating and adding fresh original content keeps your site more relevant. Most businesses now have a blog as part of their regular content production. Higher quality content that is SEO optimized will also help build your authority in your field.
SEO, or search engine optimization, can seem like a lot to tackle. You need to use the right keywords or else you won’t rank. When you use a firm like Southern Digital Consulting, our team of in-house content experts will do the work for you. We’ll research your target audience, what keywords are best for your brand, and create content that will be SEO optimized.
Metrics and Analytics
If you’re not currently utilizing any type of analytics or metrics you’re doing your business a disservice. Google Analytics is a free service that tracks how your site is performing. It keeps track of how long people are on your site, how many pages are visited, the bounce rate, and where your site’s traffic came from.
Having this information is key when you’re trying to figure out what is working for you and what isn’t.
When is the Right Time to Redesign Your Website?
Business Growth
Your business is growing; you have to make sure your website grows too. It needs to be able to handle the new demand for your products or services. A bad user experience can drive your customers straight to your competitors. We understand how hard it is to juggle everything, especially when you’re trying to keep up with business growth. When you hire a team like Southern Digital Consulting, our goal is to take some stress off you. We’ll create a site that represents the future of your business.
Slow Site Speed
In the fast-paced digital world, you have to be competitive. If your site and its content aren’t optimized for speed chances are your customers won’t stick around. Did you know that annually, slow loading sites lead to $2.6 billion in lost revenue? If your pages don’t load in less than 10 seconds, people are already hitting the back button looking for another option. If you notice a high bounce rate it might be time to see if your site’s images and other content, visual or not, is optimized for speed.Changes in your industry
As your industry changes it’s important to keep up. During the pandemic’s quarantine, most businesses noticed changes in how their customers were finding them. No matter what field you’re in, law firms, telehealth and medical fields, e-commerce sites, or other professional services like plumbing or HVAC, you have to know how to reach your client base.Outdated content and visuals
If your site is old and dated, people can tell. They’ll view it as you not caring about your business and they’ll lose any trust they had in your products or services. Staying current with trends and visuals on your site will keep customers coming back. Images, videos, and color choices are the top 3 factors website users appreciate the most. Don’t lose out on income because your site looks old. When you work with a firm like Southern Digital Consulting, you’ll get a beautiful, user-friendly website that, at first glance, will have your customers putting all of their trust and faith in you.New business goals
The goal of your business may change as it grows. Maybe new technology came out or there are new competitors now, whatever the reason, your site needs to be able to grow and change to match your business goal or mission. Let a firm like Southern Digital Consulting keep up with the demands of your customers. We can tailor any site to function ideally for your business and its goals.What Information Should You Have Before You Start Your Redesign?
Existing metrics
Looking at the current statistics for your site will help see where improvements are needed and what is working already. Metrics to focus on are things like bounce rates, time spent on pages, where the traffic is coming from, and which pages are indexed. If you decide to work with a website firm like Southern Digital Consulting, we will perform a full website audit for you. We will break down all of the analytics and see where we need to start.Existing brand and message
What does your brand stand for? What words are associated with your business? Is your current brand and message still relevant or does that need to be updated as well? Consumers don’t take much time to read all the content on your site. It’s important to make sure any copy you have is clear and concise. Does the language on your site clearly reflect your products or services?Goals
Have your business goals changed? Are you trying new platforms to reach customers? Are the products or services you offer the same? Are you trying to build an email marketing list? It makes sense that as your business grows and evolves your goals will change too. In order to reach those goals, your digital presence has to match. So what are your goals for your new website? Do you want to change your approach to generating leads? Sit and think about what you want your new website to do for you.Communicate services and showcase products
What services or products do you offer? What ones do you promote the most? Is your site designed to help customers find those products or services easily? The purpose of any business is to help customers alleviate their pain points. When you have a team working with you, like Southern Digital Consulting, we’ll need to know what products or services you want to be showcased. We’ll help your business stand out from the competition.Target audience
Figuring out who your ideal target audience is will make it easier to write content and create graphics that speak directly to them. When figuring out your audience, think about who you’re selling to. Break it down to the basics:- Age demographics
- Are they singled or married
- Are they starting to look or are they ready to buy
- What is the average income
Current SEO analysis
Even if your site isn’t SEO optimized it still is worth analyzing. See which pages, if any, have been indexed by Google’s crawler bots. Are there keywords you currently rank for? What keywords or phrases do you want to rank for? SEO can be a complicated process to understand. If you choose to work with a firm like Southern Digital Consulting, the website audit we perform prior to starting the actual redesign will break down your current SEO statistics.What content types work and which don’t
Based on the website you currently have, look back and see what types of content have been successful and what haven’t. Have you used videos? Images? Testimonials? Are there specific types of content that perform well? Which ones do you want to be incorporated into the website redesign?How does a firm, like Southern Digital Consulting, take your slow, outdated site and turn it into a top-ranking website?
Audit of current site
Our first step is to audit your current site. We check for indeed pages, SEO, and metrics. We will look at everything so we know where we’re starting and what we need to work on to get to our end goal.Market research
We will also dive into the market and see what’s out there. Who is the target audience for your brand? We’ve handled everything from e-commerce sites to law firms to professional services. Whatever field you’re in, we can help make you an authority. Knowing the ins and outs of your area of expertise allows us to maximize the impact of content.Competitor research
Competitor research is slightly different from market research. We need to know who we’re competing against. What are your competitors doing right? What products or services do they offer? What are their strengths? Weaknesses? We will also look at what you offer and see where you stand out. What makes you better than the other guys? With that information, we are able to come up with a strategy to help your business be a forerunner.Structure of your site
Once the research is completed, it’s time for the real work to begin. We start with picking the best CMS (content management system). There are basic
CMS sites like Squarespace or WIX that anyone can use to create a website. These types of systems usually use templates so it can b e hard to truly have a unique site. Our in-house design team uses a CMS that allows your website to be one of a kind.
We will create a DEV site initially, which is a copy of your website that isn’t live. The DEV site allows us to rearrange, add, or remove parts without worrying.
The main goal of the DEV site is to make sure the structure works and there’s a good flow. The homepage is where we start. This sets the tone of your site and needs to make an impact. Once we have the layout done we’ll send it to you for approval. If everything looks good on your end then we’ll start adding the content.
Visual revamp
The visual aspect of your website redesign is more than just images and graphics. Color themes, branding, and logos are the main visual elements we add. Did you know that certain colors have different meanings in the world of marketing? You want to make sure that the colors you choose for your site send the right message. What words do you want to be associated with your brand? Trustworthy? Go with blues. Excitement? Bold? Try red. Friendly? Think orange. Color choice, logos, and font typography all help make up your business’s brand. When you’re building your brand you ultimately want people to be able to recognize your business based on colors and logos and style. Choosing the right colors and fonts will help with consistency and make it easier for your customers to start recognizing your product. Your logo design should also be simple, timeless, appropriate, and recognizable.Convert your brand’s message into an optimized SEO, content strategy
The content creation process is centered around the goals of your business and what your new website’s role in that will be. We will write in a way that conveys your message and targets your ideal customers. New content must be optimized for SEO. The keyword and market research we performed earlier is vital to creating clear and concise content potential customers can easily find and rely on. Our content creators will look at all that research, including your target audience, and give your business a voice that helps convert potential customers into happy customers who spread your name around. Blogs are a key part of content strategy. It is a great opportunity to help reach customers through education. Blogs also provide fresh content regularly. New, original content will help boost your rankings on Google. Regular blog posts can help boost your credibility and authority in your field too. The more content your site has, the more customers will assume you are a leader in your field and trust what you have to say. Our goal when writing copy is to make sure potential customers visiting your site feel better, and less stressed when they leave than they did prior to clicking your link. You should be able to provide your site’s unique visitors with something they can’t get elsewhere. We refer to the psychology of consumers to make sure that there is a logical progression to your site. The natural flow helps take customers from one page to the next. They’ll feel compelled to keep navigating through your site. Your products or services will be showcased in a way that drives the customer forward and converts them from a visitor to your page to happy customers.Mobile-friendly
Our developers will make sure that the site we redesign for your business is mobile-friendly. 70% of mobile searches result in some type of online action. And 80% of smartphone users will buy from sites that are mobile-friendly. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re going to be missing out on a large chunk of potential customers who really need your service or product.Your approval
Once we have crafted the perfect website for your business, adding in SEO, logos, branding, content, and visual elements we will send you the link to the DEV site for approval. We have gone through and made sure everything is in order. Links work correctly and take you where they should. The design and layout are user-friendly. The content clearly expresses your business and the products or services you provide. If there are any things you want to adjust or tweak now is the time to let us know. We are happy to perform a round of revisions. After the revisions have been completed you’ll have 30 days to let us know if anything else needs to be adjusted. If we haven’t heard from you in that time frame we’ll assume you love what we did and it’s ready to go live!Your fresh, optimized website is LIVE
Before the new and approved site goes live we make sure Google Analytics is set up and ready to go as soon as we hit live. It’s important to track the performance of your new site to see what works and what doesn’t.
We won’t just deliver a live site and then disappear. We’ll spend time with you making sure you understand what goes into the daily upkeep, and understand Google Analytics and what the metrics actually mean. It’s a lot to learn, but we’re in it with you.
You’ll have everything you need to manage your new, optimized website. Once you’re trained in everything relating to your site we can then it’s time to switch from building the site to how do I market it.
Southern Digital Consulting can help with more than just your website redesign
Once your site is live, we can discuss other ways our firm can help grow your business. Are you utilizing social media platforms? We offer different packages to help you create the content your site will need to stay relevant. Whether it’s blog posts or social media content we can handle it. Why stress yourself out trying to fit everything into 24 hours? Let our team help.
Do you want to rank for more keywords? Or local keywords? In our website redesigns, we perform some keyword research and SEO optimization, but we can always do more. Talk to our strategists today to see how we can help continually boost your Google rankings.
We’re the team you need in your corner. We’ll help your business and brand grow in this digital age.
From a meaningful homepage to all its various web pages, a company needs a well-designed website to make its mark. Our web design company in Atlanta provides digital marketing services and can help you have a winning web presence.
