Have you asked yourself this — should I redesign my existing website or rebuild my website from scratch?
Whether you’re a new business looking to get your first website built, or an established brand looking for a website redesign, building out a new website is an exciting time. And with good reason! After all, your site is one of the most valuable marketing tools at your disposal — a 24/7 salesperson that is constantly advocating for your business day and night.
Of course, when creating a modern, new website from scratch, the value of good design cannot be overstated enough. So let’s talk about 6 benefits and opportunities you can take advantage of when building from the ground up vs redesigning your old website.
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Being unburdened by previous limitations
When you’re looking for the perfect home, sometimes you need to build a new one to get exactly what you want. The same rule applies to a website.
So, why start fresh? You may be thinking that reworking your existing website might be more efficient — but that might not be the case. Working within the constraints of an existing website can have disadvantages for a few reasons.
First, are you currently using responsive web design? Meaning, your web pages will resize to the correct proportions based on the device it’s viewed on. This has become the status quo for professional website architecture.
Does your current web design have a mobile-friendly layout? Currently, mobile devices account for a little over half of the website traffic worldwide.
A huge hurdle can be that the agency you hire will need to work within an existing framework, which they may not be familiar with. This results in additional time needed for the redesign process, and the results won’t be optimal if they are limited by a foreign toolset. A toolset that might require a lot of unnecessary coding to achieve the same results as a CMS builder like WordPress or Joomla that requires little or no coding. A competent coder is not cheap and takes away from your design budget.
CMS builders get better each year and offer professional tools that designers use, similar to what you might see in the Adobe Creative Suite. Using a sophisticated website builder allows designers to do exactly what they do best — design.
Obviously, it should come as no surprise that an outdated site does nothing good for your brand perception. Having a new website built by a professional development team will give your visitors confidence in your product and will lead to higher conversion rates.
Fortunately, creating a new site means you’re unburdened by previous limitations. Of course, this refers to both technical limitations and/or outdated visual design. Creating a new website allows you to shed the burden of trying to re-mold something that no longer serves your company the way it should.
This also gives you the opportunity to develop a new site architecture and link-building strategy with the user in mind. You want to develop an intuitive link-building strategy so visitors can navigate with ease. Consider how people navigate your old site and ask yourself if it feels natural.
You can begin to focus on the product or services most important to your business and how it affects the journey of your target audience.
Let’s not forget the ever-important cell phone architecture and layout. This too should be built with the user in mind. A good web designer will mimic the look and feel across every platform. Consistency is key!
Having a dedicated CMS (Content Management System) Platforms that evolves along with your brand
If your current website was built on a DIY platform such as Wix or Squarespace, then it’s probably a good time to start thinking about a website rebuild. While these tools are efficient for creating basic sites when you don’t have a budget — the major disadvantage is they have limited features and lack the capability to create truly unique website designs. Because these services mostly rely on templates, your website might end up looking similar to other sites with the same template.
Additionally, while DIY platforms are easy to access and may offer convenient integrations, you always end up paying more for using their platform in the long run.
And that’s why we love building new sites for our clients on WordPress, as our CMS of choice. As a creative agency that specializes in website design and development, we have experimented with what works, and what doesn’t. There’s a reason why 37% of the entire web is built on WordPress!
WordPress websites enable our team to deliver stable, high-performing websites that load quickly.
We create every website with the future in mind. Our team develops design systems that allow your new website to grow alongside your business — so the sky’s the limit!
Also, website updates couldn’t be easier. Many of these CMS platforms have visual editors built in that allow for surprising ease and efficiency when updating content. This will be a cost-saver as you make simple edits or major site updates down the road. We know our visual builders like the back of our hands. The only challenge is coming up with an awesome design solution for the changes you might want — and we love this kind of challenge!
The best part, the site is yours! You can choose whatever host you want and work with any qualified agency down the road. WordPress like other CMS platforms has an open-ended architecture so you can add new technology as it becomes available. Web design will evolve and you’ll have a new website that can grow along with your company. The key is starting off with the right design systems that will complement new thoughts and ideas.
The WordPress platform is fantastic for search engine optimization right out of the box. There are plugins that can be integrated that make SEO accessible from the novice to the expert. You can begin tracking your organic traffic right from the backend of your new website or with Google Analytics.
Extending or establishing your brand
While consistency is key for branding — no brand should become visually stagnant. So if your company’s branding guidelines have already been established, developing a strategy for a website redesign is a great opportunity to explore and enhance it even further. By incorporating newer visual elements and styles, you’ll be keeping your image fresh while staying consistent with your established brand identity.
Or, if your company hasn’t had the chance to develop a brand strategy, a new website redesign project is a great way to begin conceptualizing your brand’s visual identity.
And as we mentioned before, having a Design System for your new website will allow you to continuously expand on it. By building a library of strong visual assets and styles, it becomes easier to add new pages and iterate on existing designs. Having this powerful foundation can save you time and money in the long run, which translates into being able to explore different design and marketing needs as your business grows.
Quality assets used for your new website have serious longevity and crossover
Gathering high-quality assets when you’re getting ready to build a new site is one of the best things you can do for your business. Investing in professional video, photography, or even motion graphics will allow the overall design to be taken to the next level. This is especially great because your investment also pays off in kind over the long run!
Since quality assets have a long lifespan, they can be used across your entire brand and give your business a boost. So, while these assets are leveraged with the intention to make your site stand out, their scope of use extends further.
For example, at Mighty Fine, we always include fully custom-made iconography and illustrations for our client’s websites. After your new website is created, the assets designed can be repurposed for use in printed marketing materials, branded videos, phone apps, and so on. We’ve produced single projects for campaigns that clients were able to leverage across all the digital channels. The possibilities are endless! Now, what if we told you this is true for any high-quality assets you invest in for your new website?
Now is also a great time to think about refreshing your website’s copy with eye-catching headers. After all, good copy is always the springboard for creating compelling content.
Professionally produced assets give your brand a truly unique edge and show customers you care about your image and their experience. For example, how does landing on an amateurish website make you feel? Does it give you confidence in the product, or make you feel like the business cares about your experience?
Building a better user experience
We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again… UX (User Experience) is king on the web. While listing all of the benefits of a better UX is too deep of a dive for this article, one of the main benefits is that your new website will be designed with the people who actually use it in mind. As a result, this means that your design agency will be able to create a better user journey and experience for your visitors.
To create an excellent user journey, we focus on designing a system of navigation, an internal linking strategy for SEO, and powerful CTAs (Call-To-Actions) — just to name a few! These best practices will keep your customers on-site longer. And the longer they are on-site, the more likely they will convert and reach out to your business.
Relaunching and making a splash
Building a new website is a cause for celebration — so why not let the rest of the world know about it, too? This a great opportunity to generate renewed interest in your brand. Whether you’re implementing a complete rebrand or redesigning your old website, it’s a great way to generate some buzz. It’s also an excellent opportunity to broadcast to clients that you are still around and moving forward. Plus, there’s nothing better than having people share your story on social media if they are inclined to.
Wrapping Up
Now more than ever, web users expect good UX and design from companies. Your online presence is not something you can just ignore — especially with how many options there are in just a simple Google search. Having a website that’s either outdated or limited in capability may be causing you to lose potential customers. This will also lead to a bad SEO strategy in the long run.
This is why we always recommend creating a new site from the ground up. So if you’re on the fence about whether you need a new website or not, then chances are that it’s probably time to upgrade. If you’re ready to take things to the next level, drop us a line! We’d be happy to discuss your next steps, and answer any questions you may have.
