You don't need a new website

You don’t need a new website.

Picture this > You’ve just signed a fantastic new deal with a new client. Your business is growing. Your team is growing, and the shareholders are getting happier by the minute.

Then your marketing manager says “we need a new website to represent who we are now! The old one just doesn't cut it anymore - it's been 4 years since we redesigned it”.

Knowing the long process of the last website redesign, you all groan ‘no we don’t, its fine!’ - Deep down you know it’s dated, doesn’t generate many leads, and the content is really old. Especially the team photos...!

The reality is - you don’t always need a new website. A new website in today's world of fast-paced business, better digital experiences and fussy and expectant customers, is quickly past its best, and never lives up to it's potential. This might be controversial, I know, but you don't need a new website every 3-4 years.

New clients often ask us "how will we know we get value for money in regards to sustainability - how long will the site last?" Our answers vary depending on what their needs are, but to be honest, a site should never be seen as a project. It should be seen almost as an employee - constantly being invested in, constantly evolving and learning, able to do more as time goes by.

As Paul Boag puts it:

Periodically redesigning a site every few years doesn’t work. For a website to succeed, you need to iterate continually, improving it based on user feedback and changing organisational needs. In short, it needs to be actively managed.

Here at Red Bullet we often talk about evolution not revolution.

If your business has a working business model, serves customers well and is working on or selling fantastic projects as you most likely are, it isn’t often an option to put all that through a significant redesign, a makeover or new build of your site. It can also be a large cost up front.

Digital Strategy & Long Term Relationship

Seeing your new website not as a project, but more as a long term investment is the way to go. Creating a digital strategy to create gradual changes that make visible improvments to the user experience and the companies growth, are only possible when done right, by experts within a roadmap for incremental improvement.

UX is not about pretty picture visuals. Gut feeling is never enough when it comes to providing an existing business with a design solution that will fit to its current users and business model. By seeing your website as a journey not a project, you start to create lasting and long term impact, see regular business growth and better experiences for both your team and your customers - and the shareholders will love the marketing manager even more... ! Hooray!

Red Bullet has been making websites and working with small and large teams on projects across the world since 2006. Take a look at some of our more celebrated work here.