One of the things we’ve noticed at Expert since COVID-19 reared its ugly head is the number of requests from existing clients to upgrade their current websites. This has been really well received by us, as although we’re busy, some websites have been needing a facelift for a long time and we’ve been itching to bring them up to date in terms of ‘look and feel’ and functionality.
The usual reasons for letting websites become tired and dated is usually due to two things – time and money. The website owners are usually busy working in their businesses doing the day to day stuff required to stay afloat, and the thought of taking some time out of their busy schedules to work on creating a new website is about the last thing they need or want.
The other issue is budget, and often there is no spare money available to invest into their businesses. This tends to be an age-old problem and the best way to manage it is to add some dollars into your marketing budget each year, so that when it’s time to upgrade, the money is there and ready to be used.
The average life span of a website is around three years at the moment – this is mainly driven by technology changes and design trends. The ‘look and feel’ of a website is absolutely integral to the message you’re promoting about your organisation, so it’s important that you’re using the one that your customers, clients or members can relate to.
We see websites that haven’t been touched for many years – the current record is 15 years! – and despite the initial reaction to throw it away and start again, we are often able to refresh the website template using modern-styled new images and making technology tweaks.
While we’re busy doing the design and structure improvements we encourage our clients to do a ‘Marie Kondo’ (tidy, organise and declutter) on their website content. Many clients want to keep the vast amount of information that has accumulated on their website over the years and often some of this info finds its way onto the existing homepage, resulting in a cluttered, messy and heavy-looking first impression. Refreshing the website provides an opportunity to tidy this up and archive information that needs to be kept, in case it’s needed in the future.
Once we’ve finished our work, we apply the new template to the updated content, and hey presto, a fresh new appealing website is produced for minimal cost. It’s certainly more affordable and far less painful than throwing away the original website and starting again. It’s usually a bit quicker too.
Fortunately, the functionality of MoST websites is maintained with the improvements and updates that Expert makes to MoST on a regular basis, so it’s really only the front-end, client-facing part of the website that needs attention. We have found that many clients use the refresh of their website to brush up on their editing skills too, and some even have a brief training session to learn the finer points that they might have missed previously, or have since forgotten.
We have a great design team at Expert who have vast experience in all types of graphic design, so we’re always excited to create a new look for clients, not just for their websites, but also for their overall branding if required, including logo design, print and collateral. We’re also happy to work with designs and branding created by external design companies.
Two websites that we’ve recently refreshed are The Electrical Engineers Association (EEA), originally built in 2014, using a new look from Scratch Design, and Ridgway School built in 2010. Both sites had served their owners well over the years and contained up to date information for their site users. Both organisations were really good at keeping the information on their sites current, which was a credit to them. If you’d like to see how they looked before and now, check this out. Feedback from these clients has been really positive.
We have some clients who make design tweaks to their site on a regular and constant basis and this can work well too to extend the life of a website, but eventually the time comes for a complete refresh – it really depends on the organisation and how important it is for them to have the best website possible.
Whatever your preference, it makes sense to stay on top of your branding collateral, especially your website as that’s your ‘shop front’ to the world, and the staff at Expert are always happy to discuss this with you. Contact us@expert.services to arrange that chat.