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Many times people ask us “How often should we change our web site?” The answer depends on your customers and business goals, but we do have some general guidelines for you to consider.

First, despite your best intentions, it is very challenging to design a site that doesn’t look stale in some way if it is never changed. Second, and perhaps more important, Google simply ranks sites higher when they make changes. Additionally, Google’s search algorithms are always changing, which means that in order to keep up, SEO plans need to be adjusted, content needs to be refreshed, and following the newest trend: having original and personalized images that are tagged accordingly.

Here's the thing, trends change all the time and technology changes constantly. For example, a responsive mobile experience is one of the latest, and most important trends today. Most websites we see are still not responsive, which is very unfortunate because you've got so many people viewing the web on a mobile device, on a tablet, on different screen sizes. It's really a big deal if your website is not responsive. It’s like saying to the market, “We don’t care to keep up with you.”

So, why do people wait to change their web sites? Sometimes they simply don’t get around to it because they don’t see the importance, or it could be budget, or they just don’t know where to start. When it comes to the financial aspect, it’s important to include website redesign in your budget, just like you would anything else. Just like you include technology, sales, office rent and materials in your expenses, website design should be incorporated as well.

Often times an organization views their website as a big, one-time expense, and once it is completed it can be out of sight, our of mind. But really, a company’s website is likely their largest marketing tool, and marketing is changing all the time—it should be a continuous process, not a one-time project. And your website should be the core focus for that process.  After all, it is your home base on the internet, so it is important to make sure that it is not only redesigned on a continuous basis, but that it also remains updated and current. Your website is the hub for your marketing strategy, so content should be posted on a regular basis. When it comes to redesign, it is essential to know that it is not just for the sake of doing something new; it is in the interest of your marketing strategy, which is directly related to increasing your profits.

So, be sure to examine a website redesign from that standpoint—you want to keep it in your budget, because it's not just an expense, it truly is an investment in your lead generation, your marketing, and your sales strategy.

Your website boils down to the message that you are sending to your target market. You either care (or you don’t) about how the market experiences your brand and your products, and whether or not that engagement is personal and worthy of sharing.  If you view your website in that mindset, you will likely realize that you’ll want to redesign it as often as the behavior of the market changes. That is where you will find the answer to how often you should redesign your website.

At DevDigital, we just spent four months going through a total redesign of our own web site for these very reasons, and we hope the new experience is worthy of sharing.