Given that many smaller companies are cutting back on capital expenditure and any plans for expansion too, thoughts of a redesign or upgrade of an existing website are often brought into question.
You’re on a #budget but want to #redesign or #upgrade your current #website? This article will tell you whether to do it in-house or by hiring an agency.
Is it necessary to do so now? Should a solution be cobbled together in-house or is it worth using an agency to make changes to a website design? Let’s examine this now.
Who Produced the Current Website?
Was the current website created in-house by someone or a team that’s still with the company or was it originally outsourced to a web design studio?
If the existing team is still in place and has kept up their digital marketing skills, then it may make sense to let them get stuck into overhauling the existing site.
However, if most of the principals have been let go due to declining sales in a difficult 2020, then it’s fair to question whether the skills still exist in-house to attempt this. Getting up to speed across a range of disciplines necessary to produce a site that will get the required sales and represent the brand well is no small order.
Was the Current Site Designed by an Agency?
If the original website was created by a web design agency, and perhaps only added to in-house, then it’s usually best to work with an agency to improve it. This even applies if the company has a limited budget available too.
It’s certainly possible to build a website on a Covid budget and design studios are now being asked to do so regularly. They appreciate the difficulties faced by business owners and have adapted to change their recommendations.
How Should an Outsourced Site Get Prioritized?
It may be sensible to redesign the entire site, but this is the most expensive proposition. Unless it’s extremely dated and old, then a smaller budget should be used in other ways.
Don’t ask an agency to produce a new site on an insufficient budget. That’s unrealistic, unfair to them, and any agency that takes on the project will be seriously compromised on what they can deliver. Instead, work with an agency to prioritize what aspects of the existing site need changes.
Specifically, these are the areas that will deliver the most benefit to your company.
Ideas include modernizing a shopping cart system that’s a bit clunky, updating the homepage with a custom design, or overhauling the landing page used for ad campaigns. All of these should deliver well on the cost of the work.
Use the Budget to Create Clear Wins
Clear wins are improvements that deliver an ROI to the business. Understand that while a prettier site will look nice, it will only improve the bottom-line if the site was ugly before that. Usability improvements rather than a redesign can boost the ROI because visitors can get more done. All changes should connect to the sales and earnings to justify the site design budget.
Make a smart decision about whom should improve the existing site. Don’t ask unqualified staff to do something they’re ill-equipped for because of budgetary constraints. Instead, qualify the changes to ensure there’s a true benefit to them and assign an appropriate budget.
