How do you know when it’s time to redesign your company’s Web site?
 

 “Modernizing” your Web presence conjures up nightmares of weighing lists of pros and cons to make that decision on whether it’s time to realign or redesign. Here are 10 sure signs it’s time.
 

1. Your company has rebranded since you last designed your Web site.
 

The old design that fit your old strategy so well may now be marching out of step in the digital parade.
 

2. You are trying to reach a new audience.
 

A new audience, especially a younger one, has different needs, wants and priorities than those reflected in your existing site.
 

3. Your company has launched a new product or service in the last six months.
 

Redesign unless you designed your existing site to accommodate new product launches.
 

4. Your competitors redesigned in the last year.
 

Use your competitors as a benchmark, but aim higher and learn from their mistakes. (You know they made mistakes.)
 

5. Different departments of your company launched separate Web sites in the last year that are not part of your existing overall look or web strategy.
 

It’s time to corral them. Having too many Web sites delivering even slightly different messages can blur your priorities and dilute the power of your brand.
 

6. You still need to call in a technical expert any time you want to make a change on your site, no matter how small.
 

No company can meet the audience demand for regularly updated content if it has to rely on technicians to make every change.
 

7. It has been more than three years since your last redesign.
 

What are you waiting for?
 

8. You don’t have ways to “engage” your audiences actively.
 

You are missing opportunities to develop your relationship with your audiences and deepen loyalty. Engagement can be as simple as signing up to receive more information … or as complex as making a purchase.
 

9. It takes more than four steps for a person to do what you want them to do on your site.
 

The more steps it takes, the more likely they will be to quit … and leave.
 

10. Aging Baby Boomers and other consumers with physical limitations cannot do everything on your Web site that other people can.
 

Older Boomers – and others with physical limitations – are increasingly put off by the small type, short text links and tiny selection boxes that characterize all too many Web pages. There are also legal questions, but that’s another op-ed.
 

A final word about redesign: Too many people think of it as changing a few graphics and spiffing up the color scheme. Realigning means adapting to new organizational goals, new user needs, new technologies and new trends in your industry or market.
 

Realign when you redesign.
 

Kathy Wahlbin, Director of User Experience at Mindshare Interactive Campaigns, and Brook Ellingwood, Online Prodcution Supervisor for REI, will be presenting on this topic at the Shop.org Merchandising Conference in San Diego this summer. For more information on their presentation, the conference and the white paper they will present, contact Larry Joseloff at  joseloffl@shop.org.