By Jennifer Shaheen, The Technology Therapist®
As featured in Women & Biz magazine and Womensradio.com

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In the year 2005 many businesses have web sites and over the past year I have been part of redesigning many company sites including my own. This made me wonder: how do you know when it is time to give your web site a facelift?

Here are 8 ways to know it is time to redesign your website.

1. What Do You Do?

We look at our own websites with an understanding of our businesses and many times we assume we are clear about our services and products. If you have heard visitors to your web site comment on "what your business does" or "why your company is better than the competition" it might be time to get some more feedback and redesign your site.

2. Directions…Lost Information…Where Do I buy?

People visit web sites for a variety of reasons. One reason above most is information. Are your products and services lost on your web site? Can people interested in working with you find what they came for? Such as phone numbers, directions, store policy or just simply how to add the products you offer to their shopping cart?

3. The Virtual Isles Are Cluttered…I Can't Find What I Am Looking For!

Are your pages getting too cluttered? Can people find and see what you offer? This point can be a major issue with ecommerce websites. Too much information might make it difficult for shoppers to find what they are interested in. Learn to categorize items into major and minor categories to help shoppers get started.

4. Time for Something New

One of the biggest shockers businesses face is the fact that sometimes the need to add a new technology means your website might need a makeover. Not all designs work with all technologies. For example, adding an shopping cart to your site may require a simpler navigation or an adjustment to design to make room for information you never needed prior to this upgrade.

5. Personality Sells

Every company has a personality and everything about our companies reflect our personality from the way we answer our phones to the look and feel of our web site. Does your web site match your company's personality?

6. Too Many Window Shoppers

If you look at your website statistics you can see how many people visit your web site each day. Are they looking but not buying? If that is the case you have to start to research as to why this is happening. Why are people taking the time to come into your web site and then turnaround and leave? Is it design? Is it confusion about what you offer?

7. Not Since Some Time in the 90's

I love watching those VH1 shows and reminiscing about the 90's but oh how my business has changed since then. How about yours? If your site has not been updated since the day you first put it up in the mid 1990's in might be time for a new design.

8. Too Much Time & Energy to Change

Updating your web site is so important and nowadays there is no reason why you or someone on your staff can not edit or maintain general copy on the site. Many times the design was not created to make things easy to update or back when your site was first created some of the new tools were not available. Investing a little to update your website might save you more than just money.

These 8 points are just a place to get started and many times that is all we need to get the ball rolling. Remember that your site is for your customers, not you! Talk to past and present clients or shoppers about what they liked and didn't like about your site. Be open to feedback-it will only help you grow. Your web site might look cool but is it really doing what it is suppose to? And don't get discouraged if you feel you have no ideas as to what to improve. There is a way to bring it all together. Just ask your customers.

©The Technology Therapy Group, LLC
Jennifer Shaheen - The eMarketing and Technology Therapist®

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