After paying for the most delicious lunch at a local cafe, our marketing gal Mia makes her way back to the office to start work on her next project. Don’t worry, she also grabbed an iced coffee to-go.

With the start of summer and heavy tourist season right around the corner, the next project on her list involves compiling a list of summer events and activities for one of her client’s websites. As she researches she finds many wine and cheese festivals, local theatre productions, and firework displays. Not surprisingly, she also finds a plethora of websites that had not been updated in years.

Some of these websites even had event dates from 3 years ago and were not functional or consumer friendly.

As frustrating as it was for her, she imagines how frustrating it would have been for tourists trying to plan their trips for the summer. Why would a company neglect such a powerful tool and deter interested consumers?

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What is the first thing you do when you want to buy something new or learn more about a product? You go to their website.

Researchers say it takes 50 milliseconds for someone to decide whether or not they like your website. That is literally half of one second. Half a second to create a lasting image. To convince them to buy your product.

Therefore, any site that is out-of-date is constantly losing value and in turn causing the company to lose revenue. So why are so many websites still cluttered and dysfunctional? For some business owners, it is hard to picture the possibilities that come with paying for a new website. However, if they start viewing their website as an investment and not a cost, there is a great potential for profits. One website redesign can result in a 34% increase in revenue.

With such a large profit margin it might be time to update your website. Here are some of the best tips to consider while working on your redesign:

• Make strategic goals: create an image of what you want your image to look like and what kind of vibe you want to give off. Use this as a baseline for every decision that comes with the process.
• Spend quality time with your content: make sure your content is up-to-date and relevant to your audience.
• Do your homework: research other websites of competitors to see what works well. This can also give you ideas of what features you might want to include on your site.
• Get feedback: once you have an outline or something to work off of, send out a survey or a panel what they think. The more opinions the better!
• Plan a launch: this is the best part! Once the new website is all ready to go, make sure you create some buzz and get others excited about your site.

Long story short, the functionality, look, and feel of your website is incredibly important to your consumer. Although it may cost a small chunk of change, you will definitely see the return on investment.