How Often Should I Give My Website A New Facelift?
If there is one thing about investing in a quality website that’s built upon solid web development, it would probably be the fact that once the initial site is done, future improvement and expansion is a breeze. Let’s start this blog post off with an analogy:
Think about it for a minute—when you buy an older house that needs some modernization, do you tear it down and start over, or do you remodel it and return it to the modern livability it deserves? Well, most of the time, the scenario follows the path of remodeling—it’s usually less expensive and less time consuming to produce perfect results this way. Of course, sometimes, the renovations required would be extreme enough that starting over from scratch on a clean slate is the best approach to creating the dream home you have imagined.
The moral of the story?
Well, usually homes designed and built with quality in mind from the beginning are more future proof than those that are simply thrown together for a quick profit. Both will need facelifts and updating in the future—that much is inevitable. But the expenses and time required to keep up a well-built home are clearly less than the alternative in almost every case.
The bottom line here is that websites are really no different than homes. Build them right and continued development is possible. Yes, facelifts are necessary from time to time to keep things fresh, but the hard work will have been done upfront. Now back to the original question for a few minutes…
How often should you give your website a new facelift?
The honest answer in short form is probably just a little bit more frequently than you’re comfortable with. Web technology changes from day to day—most sites can weather these intensely short term changes well when they have been designed with a forward-looking approach to begin with.
But even then, the realty is inevitable. Sites do need to be updated and modernized from a development and technology standpoint just to keep on functioning well with current software and hardware (and also to remain attractive from an SEO standpoint).
And even more important than the behind the scenes technology outlook is the fact that current graphic design standards change even more rapidly. Think about your favorite looking mainstream website for a minute…do you remember the last major design facelift it’s had?
Chances are, you’ve just answered, “probably not.” After all, the mainstream sites change so gradually and so frequently to keep up with the latest trends in design and marketing that it’s difficult to notice abrupt improvements (but try an internet archive search for that same site 3 years ago, and you’ll most definitely find that an extreme facelift has indeed taken place over the years).
Same goes for your favorite magazines and other media—look at a current issue and then pull one from the archives, just a few years in the past. While the main subjects and topics remain the same, major design and style changes have taken place over the years.
Your website visitors do have an eye for design (even if they don’t realize it). Seriously, in the design and marketing driven world we all live in today, constant exposure to commercials and advertising—all featuring cutting-edge graphic design—is completely the norm. We’re programmed to recognize and expect certain design components and trends even if we don’t realize its taking place. It’s just subliminal.
So in an ideal world, if the time and financing permit, giving a website a new facelift needs to take place frequently, little by little, making gradual improvements and updates. Every different industry and niche permits growth at a slightly different pace; you’ve got to be in tune with what your competitors are doing to stay sharp.
And even though in the real world, most of us aren’t able to refresh and give our sites facelifts on a day-to-day, or even month-to-month basis (like the top online players are doing), we still need to look at our websites at least once a year to give a them a solid review and determine if it’s time for a good facelift. If there are any doubts, then the answer is, yes…a facelift is in order.
Remember, your website should be a ROI-building tool. Keeping it fresh and up to date in the eyes of your visitors is an important investment that simply must be made.
Tags: design, facelift, update, Web Design, website
