How Often Should You Redesign Your Website?
I get asked this question all the time: how often should you redesign your website?
The answer? When you need to.
Recently, a client compared it to a car: sure, you can get a new car every three years, but if it’s still meeting your needs, isn’t that pretty wasteful? Then again, you could drive it for 12 years and it will be pretty obvious.
If it’s communicating what you need and achieving your goals, don’t change it. There’s no rule that says you should redesign your website every two years. What you should do is evaluate your strategy and communications plan all the time. Only then will you know whether your website needs to change.
5 Comments
Stewart Foss — April 02, 2009
I should that you can save a lot of money by minimizing the “tear down then rebuild” model. Renovate regularly … woops, did I change the metaphor.
Mike McCready — April 02, 2009
I agree totally. There has been discussion where I work as we go down the path of a major redesign that we are not actually redesigning our site, we’re realigning. People too often say, “Ooo its been two years and our site is outdated and looks bad. We need to change it!” When looking at a redesign, have the mindset about realigning the site to our goals and objectives.
chas — April 05, 2009
Maintenance can definitely help extend the life of a website. Continuous improvement (with testing and analytics!) is all too often the reason people need a redesign or realignment.
I also like to point out to clients that just because they’re bored with a site doesn’t mean it’s not working for their customers. After all, our designers are usually sick of a site before it even launches.
Stewart Foss — April 02, 2009
Absolutely. There is a common misconception that you NEED to redesign on a regular basis. With regular testing, constant evaluation and incremental improvements you should be able to keep a design working far longer than you might expect (routine maintenance for the car metaphor).
Pierre Kiyuna — March 02, 2010
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