Quick Small Online Business Tip #1: Am I ready for a Redesign?

If you are a small business owner with an online presence, one day you will wake up and your website will be outdated. Web design technique is changing at a very fast pace and it is very easy for small businesses to not have the ability to keep up with this pace. It is also easy to feel that it is impossible to keep up with everything that needs constant updating.

You get a phone call from a company that wants to give you a better offer in your credit card processing, then you get another phone call from somebody that promises the number one spot in Google for all your favorite keyword phrases and so on.

So what is a good updating pace for your small business website? It has to be measured by its current ROI first. In other words, determine how much did you pay for your website when you designed it and built it. Then come up with an estimate of the money and business that the website has generated for you since then.

Several things can happen with this quick analysis. For example, it may be that the amount that you paid never got recovered and it never will. Another possibility is that the money that you paid hasn't been recovered, but it is going to be recovered eventually. In other words, your site will produce a positive ROI some day. The best possibility of all is when the amount you paid has been recovered and surpassed many times.

Let's talk for a second about website design longevity. Professional small business websites most of the time can last about two to three years without modification. Please note the "professional" word at the beginning of that phrase. If you have a marketing-driven website, it is likely that you have search engine visibility, ranking and conversion. Therefore at some point your ROI would be positive. NOTE: Unless you are paying outrageous maintenance fees.

Based on that information how can you determine the appropriate moment for a redesign? Simply answer the following questions and if you encounter a definite yes in any of them, you may be ready for it.

1. Am I sure that no matter how much I wait, my website will never provide more value for my business than it has already?
2. Is my website's design five years or older?
3. Do I think that my website is failing to represent my brand and business appropriately?
4. Is the cost of maintenance of my website higher than the revenue that it generates for my business?
5. Are my competitor's websites distinctively superior than mine in design and functionality?
6. Was my website designed by anybody other than a professional web designer?
7. Am I committed and have a real and effective plan to investing a higher dollar amount in my online strategies so I can receive higher returns?
8. Do I feel embarrassed or unhappy about sharing my website with potential clients and/or colleges? In the event that you realize that you may need a website redesign contact Merkados™ today. We will propose ways in which we can help you accomplish your business goals.