Website Design Melbourne - New Website Anyone?

It's that time of year where Australian businesses review their current websites and decide if it’s time for a new one. Finding a Melbourne website design company is the easy part — simply Google ' Website Design Melbourne ' and you have plenty of web designers to choose from.

Knowing whether you need a website redesign on the other hand isn't quite so easy to decide. It's worth auditing your website once a year to ensure you site is working hard for your business and driving prospective online clients to your door. Check that your site reflects your brand correctly and that the layout and functionality is what you require.

Bear in mind that your online competition will be reviewing their sites regularly and so should you.

So what questions do you need to ask to ensure your site is working hard for your business? Below is a list of key questions you need to ask yourself if you need a new website. If you answer 'no' to any of them then maybe it’s time for a website upgrade.

Is My Website Responsive?

Responsive websites have been on the rise in the last couple of years but what is a responsive website? Well, a responsive website will change in layout depending on the size of the viewers screen. Desktop users will see the full width website whereas mobile phone users will see a more condensed version of the site and less peripheral information such as adverts, etc.

You website needs to look good and display the appropriate information for the device it's viewed on. If your site is not responsive people may not see the information they are searching for.

Does My Website Function Correctly?

As your business website grows, it's worth checking the functionality of your site. What I mean by this is 'are you maximizing your site to market to visitors'? Does your site have a newsletter sign up form; does it have social media buttons so visitors can like your page or share your web page information? Conversely you may have a function such as a large image based slide show that pushes your key content below the fold — perhaps this may need reviewing.

Does My Website Load Quickly

Quick load times are must for any website. If your visitors are waiting longer than 5 seconds they are likely to leave and look elsewhere. To speed up web page loading times you need:

A fast server A site designed using Div's and CSS rather than tables or frames Put styles sheets at the top the page code Put scripts at the bottom of the page code Make JavaScript and CSS external Avoid redirects Use preloads where possible

Use images at their correct size

Is My Website Optimised?

When your website was built was it built with Search Engine Optimisation in mind and is your site easy to optimise when you create new articles?

Websites need to be built so that the main page content loads first before the left and right columns as this is where the most important information is. Each web page needs the following elements to ensure it is optimised:

A unique browser page title A punchy on page title in H1 tags featuring your keyword phrase The intro copy in H2 tags H3 tags that feature keyword phrase variations on your main keyword phrase Original content with keyword anchor text links to other pages on your site A metadata descriptions box. Limit your metadata description to 25 words and include your

keyword phrase Images should have 'Alt' tags for descriptions.

Website Redesign - Do I really need it

In the end there are many reasons you may want a website redesign. You may just want a fresh look but ideally you're website should include all of the above.

This article was written by Melbourne website design company Pixelfire. For more information on websites or to read more of our website design articles please visit http://www.pixelfire.com.au