Most of my readers know that I’m a big advocate of following the example that Amazon.com has set. And the reason is pretty simple: they are the most successful ecommerce website on the planet. So why not “do what Jeff would do.” well, here is something that is kind of fun to see what Amazon has done over the years. Let’s start with what the first Amazon website looked like in 1995:

Now let’s jump forward 5 years…

Clearly Amazon was continuing to evolve their website.

Here’s what the site looked like in 2005:

And then in 2010:

We are now in 2015 and Amazon looks completely different:

The point to this is more than just a historical perspective. If we are to follow Amazon’s example, we can see that we need to update our website on a regular basis. I’m not talking about just adding new content, which should be done continuously, but a completely new design that let’s customers know that your site is new and fresh. Most industry experts recommend a new design about every 2 to 3 years. Here are some questions to ask yourself:

• Has it been at least 3 years since you’ve redesigned your site?
• Is the site easy to view on a mobile device without “pinch and expand?” (hint: that is not a mobile website). Google is now penalizing non-mobile websites.
• Are there trendy techniques that have trended out? Wood backgrounds, black backgrounds, etc.
• Does your type look small?
• Is your site using Flash?
• Do you have social media icons on your site?
• No content management system like WordPress? In other words, you need someone like me just for simple edits.
• Has your target market changed since you last updated your design?
• Be honest, does it look dated or do you get comments from site visitors to that effect?

  If you answered yes to any of these questions, it’s probably time.

Greg Jameson