Your website is a major part in your marketing strategy. Even if you have a store in a bricks-and-mortar shopping center, people will still go to your website. They want to know what you have to offer. They want to see your products. They want to see what your company and brand is all about. 

Your website offers a window into your company, your products or services, and what your brand stands for. Think of it as a critical member of your staff.

Is your website doing its job or is it time to redesign website?

Answers these questions:

• How well is your website doing in the search engines against your competition? If your website is lagging behind on critical keywords, you need a new strategy for your website. The content on your website must be attractive to both visitors and search engine bots. If you are lagging behind your competition, something needs to change. If you cannot get visitors to your website, your leads will dry up and that means your sales will dry up.
• When was the last time you updated your website? Many companies think that designing a website is a one time thing. They will spend money and time getting it setup. Then they will forget about it. They may have a blog update occasionally, but the rest of the website does not change. A non-changing website causes two problems. First, search engines will bring a site down in ranking when the content does not change. Second, visitors to your site will not return if you offer nothing new.
• Do you have plenty of people coming to your website? Have you checked your website traffic numbers lately? if you are like many business owners or managers, you likely have not. You need to keep an eye on those numbers. You want plenty of people coming to the site and you want those numbers to stay steady or increase. Steady decreases or inadequate traffic are major signs you need a website overhaul.
• How easy is your website to navigate? Ask a friend to take a stroll through your website and give you feedback. That person should have no issues finding information on your company, staff, brand, and products/services. Ask new employees to do the same. Poll trusted customers with the question. You may be surprised that your website is not so easy to navigate. If a new visitor comes to your site and has problems finding what they want, they will not come back.
• Does your website display properly on mobile devices? Take your cell phone and bring up your website. How does it look? Have a friend do the same. Your website need to be friendly to devices of all sizes. If there is no other reason to do a website redesign, this one should decide it. The use of mobile devices is rapidly overtaking the use of desktops for web browsing. Your website needs to keep up with your competition.

Now the last question: Is it time to redesign website?

After answering the above questions, you likely have your answer.

Your website is something you cannot forget. You need a steady stream of visitors, even if you run a bricks-and-mortar store. You need content that changes and updates to keep visitors and search engine bots happy. Visitors should be able to find everything they want on your website without thinking too much. And they need to be able to do it from any device they have on hand.

When you are ready to redesign website, you need a good web design agency at your side to get the best results. Get started today.

Would you build a house without a set of blueprints designed and signed off by an architect? Almost everyone would answer, "No, of course not." Well the same thinking needs to go into your website redesign. You need a solid plan complete with blueprints before you begin to redesign website. Without it, you will not know what you want the result to achieve.

Here is how to put together a great plan for your website redesign:

• Analyze what you have. Have people go to the website and give you feedback. Run polls with current customers to see what is working. You may not need to do a complete overhaul. A thorough update can give you the same results as a complete redesign in some cases. Even if you go with a new design, you can incorporate elements of your old one that work.
  
  
• Create a clear set of goals. Your analysis should have identified what is working and what is not. You may want to increase organic traffic. You may want to add more landing pages. You might want to start offering online courses or webinars. Set your goals and make them workable.
  
  
• Look for examples of websites that you like and ones you do not like. Identify the elements that work for you and those that do not. You may have an absolute favorite web design. Show it to your designer. You may hate another. Show the designer. You may like certain elements on one page. Give those to the designer as well. It offers a solid outline of what you want.
  
  
• Look at your competition. You want to keep up with what they are offering. If your competitor is offering online courses and you are not, that is a gap. If you have thought about offering webinars and your competition now does not, you need to get that prioritized. That will give you an advantage.
  
  
• Make function the first priority, form second. You want a smoothly functioning website. Every aspect should be bug free and easy to use. Once you have that functionality down, you can add the pretty pictures and color scheme. An attractive website may get you compliments but a non-functioning one will get you no praise.
  
  
• How can you increase user interaction? People like to take part in their web browsing experience. Your website needs to offer some level of interaction. It might be a calculator or a design tutorial. There are a million ways to do it. You just need to find the right combination.
  
  
• Is your design mobile friendly? As you likely know already, more and more people are using mobile devices for browsing. That means your website needs to be friendly to those devices to connect with the most people. When you are planning to redesign website, you need to make sure that your designer takes this into account.

If you go through each of these points carefully, you can craft a blueprint to guide you as you redesign website. With that blueprint, you will know what you have, what you want to change, and how to get there. When working with a web design agency, they can help you build this plan. But, in the end, it is your website, it is your company, and you need to take control of the result.

Would you pick up a magazine from 10 years ago to get the latest sports news or fashion trends? Of course, not.

Why do you think your customers would want to come to your website if you have not updated in 10 years? The answer is they don't. They may come back occasionally to see if you have anything new. But, when they see you have nothing new to offer, they will just not come back. This is why you need to redesign website regularly. It is critical for your long-term success.

Here are a few other reasons why website redesign is so important for your company:

• Good content attracts qualified visitors. If your current website has outdated or low quality content, you are not getting the visitors you want. You need people who have an interest in your products or services. Those people want information on what is available and what you recommend. Adding content focused on that audience will help you keep those people interested in what you have to offer.
  
  
• Valuable incentives will turn some of your visitors into leads. If you do not offer incentives, or have not changed them in a while, you need to make a change. Different people have different motivators. Adding varied incentives will grab the attention of more people. Plus, it will give you multiple channels through which to attract your ideal customers.
  
  
• Quality content keeps leads and visitors returning to your site multiple times. If people find quality content on a subject they have an interest in, they will keep coming back. That means you need to keep updating and changing your website's content. Change it up by adding video and audio components. Failing to do that will diminish the return rate and lower your lead generation efforts.
  
  
• Well placed calls-to-action (CTAs) can lead your visitors into the website further. A call-to-action is a piece of text or visual that directs people to do something on your website. You may ask them to sign up for your newsletter. You might offer them access to a white paper or ebook in exchange for their contact information. The CTA directs them in that direction. If you do not now use them, you need to change that. You cannot get people to do anything unless you ask them.
  
  
• Offering case studies and testimonials builds trust. People want to hear what others are saying about your company. If you can present your company from the view of a customer in a positive light, you have an advantage. Case studies and testimonials both offer a positive statement about your products, services, and customer relations. It can show the impact your products and services can have on everyday problems.
  
  
• Creating a mobile friendly environment will increase traffic. More and more people are using mobile devices to browse. In fact, in the next couple of years, the amount of mobile browsing will surpass desktop browsing. That fact alone should inspire you to add a mobile friendly web design.

These are just a few reasons why you need to redesign website routinely. Your company has likely changed in the past few years. Does your website show those changes? If it does not, you need a website redesign.

Get a top design agency at your side when you decide to redesign website. You will have the ability and artistic eye to give your online presence the boost it needs.

You are looking around for a new web design agency. You need to someone to build a website and manage it for you. That frees you up to concentrate on the core of your business. However, if you are not a web design expert, how will you know if an agency is the right fit for your company and its online needs?

Asking some essential questions can give you information about the agency. The answers will give you critical insights into whether the agency is a good fit for your company or not.

Here are five questions you need to ask any web design agency before signing a contract:

1. How long of a contract do you require?
   Most people hire a design agency that will also host and support the website long-term. That is not a bad thing. But, signing a long-term contract is not the best idea. You need a company that will keep your website up to date. If you sign a three-year contract, you are locked in with that company. If their maintenance or coding skills go down, you are stuck. Sign no more than a 12-month deal. That way you can go with another company if the original one is not doing their job.
   
   
2. Who owns the website and design?
   Okay, you think you own your website URL and the design once the agency completes it. That is not always the case. Some agencies have a "buy-back" clause in their contracts. This clause requires you to pay a fee to take possession of your own website. So, you pay for the upfront design costs and pay for maintenance. When you want to move your website to a new company, you find that you have to pay the original company an amount to get the website in your name. Do not sign any contract with a "buy-back" clause.
   
   
3. Can you give links to five of your latest designs?
   Many web design agencies see a high-turnover in staff. That can mean their design quality can fluctuate if they lose talented people. A company's design quality is only as good as its latest examples. Look at the examples provided closely. Make sure they show consistent quality and offer the functionality you want. Also, contact the companies to which those websites belong. Ask about the service provided by the design agency.
   
   
4. Can you handle mobile-friendly designs?
   This question is critical. Every company needs to have a website that welcomes all browsers. If the agency does not have this skill set, your website will not see the traffic you want. Those who use mobile devices for browsing will not visit your site. With this as the largest growing way to use the Internet, you cannot miss that part of your audience.
   
   
5. What services are provided in your packages and what is extra?
   Many companies offer great prices for packages. What they do not tell you is that some critical components are missing. You may have to pay extra for services you thought were standard. Make sure you get a full understanding of what you are getting, what is extra, and what you need. It allows you to make an informed decision.

These questions will give you the information you need from each agency to make an informed decision. Each web design agency is different. Their owners and employees have different goals that may not mesh with your long-term needs. Find an agency that fits your needs and keeps your website the way you want it and need it.

Responsive web design...that is a buzz word you might have heard of in the last couple of years. But, what it is and why is it important for you to know about it?

Answer this question first. What is quickly becoming the most popular way to browse the Internet?

If your answer is mobile devices, you are correct. According to a white paper put out by Cisco, the use of smartphones increased by 81 percent in 2012. And 2013 will be the year when the number of mobile-connected devices surpasses the world's population.

Now, what does mobile devices and responsive web design have to do with each other?

Responsive web design offers a way to make your website friendly to mobile devices as well as laptops and desktops. With the explosion of portable browsing devices, having a mobile-friendly website design has gone from optional to mandatory. You need a web design agency who knows how to make your website mobile friendly.

How does responsive web design work?

Think about the critical difference between mobile browsing and desktop browsing: the size of the screen. On a desktop, you likely have a screen at least 19 inches. With your smartphone, you are lucky to have six to seven inches of browsing space. Tablets allow a bit more, but not anywhere near that 19-inch desktop screen.

Browsing a website built for a desktop with a mobile device is an exercise in frustration. The graphics are too big, the pages load slow, and the constant scrolling is annoying. To answer that problem, an innovative web designer, Ethan Marcotte, came up with the idea of rearranging and editing the website components depending on what size window the browser has.

This innovative idea was a major leap forward compared to earlier theories. For example, one common option is to have two different websites: one for desktop browsing and one for mobile devices. You are talking about twice the coding, twice the cost, and twice the maintenance. Not a good plan if you want to keep costs under control, but many big companies implemented this model. Some companies even created more than two sites by programming for the different types of devices. That created even higher costs and more chaos.

What makes responsive design so special?

Responsive web design offers better usability for mobile users which expands your company's potential audience. It lowers maintenance time and costs because there is only one to worry about. It offers a single URL to remember instead of separate ones for mobile and desktop browsing. Any web design agency you hire should know how to handle this type of design.

Today, mobile devices are rapidly overtaking laptops and desktops for Internet browsing. Creating a website that will meet this demand is imperative for your marketing efforts. Now, is this type of design the best solution for everyone? Not always. But for most companies, it is the beginning of creating the website they need for sales for years to come.

When you are ready to put out a new website design for your new or existing site, you need to go with a responsive web design. You need a web design agency that can handle the design. In fact, a question you need to ask any agency is for examples of their responsive web designs. That will give you an idea of what they are capable of.