At a glance
By Rosalyn Page
The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) recently revamped its decade-old website, after recording more than 118 million sessions in the 2023 financial year. While your business may not receive as much online traffic, it may be time to revamp your website, too. What should you consider?
Kate Toon is founder of Stay Tooned, specialising in digital marketing, SEO and entrepreneurship. She recommends a major website rework every three years to keep up with developments in design, technology and security.
At other times, a redesign may be prompted by a significant drop in traffic or conversions, a security incident or changes to the business.
“It’s important to take a fresh look at that whole site and ask if it reflects who the business is today,” she says.
Toon’s advice is to review your website with the customer in mind and treat it as a form of valuable, always-on marketing.
“After your staff, the website is your most important business asset that will pay for itself 20 times over,” she says.
When approaching design companies, come prepared with examples of ideal sites, a clear budget, a realistic deadline and even some ideas on the copy.
“Do a bit of leg work yourself, because otherwise you can end up with someone else's website and what the designer thinks is best for you – but you know your business best,” she says.
Website redesign: where should you start?
CPA Australia’s 2023-24 Asia-Pacific Small Business survey reveals that a common feature of high-growth small businesses is embracing technology, such as new payment technologies, selling online and leaning into social media.
The survey revealed that website and mobile applications were the second most invested in technology for high-growth small business – only behind computer equipment itself.
While it’s important to engage target customers on the social media platform they are likely to use, one of the main purposes of a social media presence is to drive traffic to your website.
A redesign is an opportunity to create a modern and responsive website, which is an important ingredient in driving innovation and staying competitive in the market.
Tony Cosentino, founder of The WordPress Guy, which specialises in WordPress sites for business, says a website redesign should include a revamp of the following five usability elements.
1. Navigation
The main categories of your business should be along the top of the menu, so they’re easy to find when people first hit the page.
“You want to highlight the areas that are bringing money into the business,” recommends Cosentino.
2. Mobile-friendly navigation
The popularity of smartphones means that most website designs now focus on mobile-first navigation, but in the financial services space there’s still significant desktop use.
“Businesses still need to consider menus and avoid sub-menus being way too long and hard to scroll,” he says.
3. Website UX
Cosentino says the user experience (UX) needs to be mapped so your website is easy to use. For example, if you’re selling online, the checkout process needs to be streamlined and any calls to action should be at the top of the page.
“Make it easy for people who want to convert when they’re ready,” he says.
4. SEO
It is important to include search keywords in the website copy and use Google Analytics, with insights from the Google Search Console, to monitor SEO performance and track how users are interacting with the site.
For smaller businesses, it may pay to have a free Google Business Profile to show up in search results. This will include information such as location, opening hours and reviews.
With a revamp, it is also important to collect data such as the search terms that each page is ranking for, metadata and the link structure because these are important signals for search ranking.
5. Interactive tools
Including graphics and interactive tools on your website can provide useful information that also boosts metrics such as time spent on page, referrals, sharing links and repeat visits. These elements could include savings projections, quizzes, comparison tools and chatbots.
Artificial intelligence (AI) makes it much easier to create these tools quite easily using sites such as https://www.recraft.ai and https://infography.in.
6. Accessibility
The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) has developed Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), which seek to make website content more accessible for people of different abilities.
Following these guidelines not only makes content more accessible to a wider range of people but will often also make your website more usable overall.
While expert website designers and creators may be required for building comprehensive websites, Cosentino says AI offers incredible scope for creating simple ones.
“It’s now possible to mock-up a very basic site with a colour scheme, images and even some text using tools like Divi AI,” he says.
How much time and money will a redesign take?
The cost of a website redesign varies depending on the scale and complexity of the site.
As a rule of thumb, Toon says a small business generally needs 8–10 website pages, which might include a blog, a contact form and other elements. She suggests that, if using an Australian developer, the fee should be in the range of A$4000–$6000.
The time involved will depend on the complexity of the site, but Toon says in general, it takes two to three months for a web redesign.
To find a web designer, Toon says it is best to be intentional and warns against responding to unsolicited emails offering ‘easy redesign’.
“Look at other sites in the same or similar markets that you like and see who created them. Ask for recommendations from a trusted source – not someone with skin in the game – and, like any renovation project, get three quotes,” she says.
