So, your website is up and running, people come to your site and get value from it... but are you really maximizing the opportunities you have? A wise person once said, “Excellence is not a destination; it is a continuous journey that never ends.” And while this quote was in relation to someone's personal life why can’t it also pertain to your company’s web presence? Taking this philosophy and applying it to your company is what will put it in the top tier.  Just because you have a functioning website does not mean that it’s the best possible website you could be giving to your visitors. Re-design will allow you to improve the way you present your information and change how visitors use and engage with your site. Below we have detailed  a few of the reasons it might be time for you to redesign your website. You aren’t getting the results you want. If you’re not getting the results you want it may be time to improve your website. A new design can allow you to create new calls to action that will allow you to better optimize your site for lead generation. Because at the end of the day that’s the end goal, right? So it's definitely beneficial to do what you can to improve your conversion rates. A few important things to take into consideration is the copy of your website:  is it too text heavy or does it not give enough details? Does it match your company's voice? What about the look- does it go with a general theme or just seem sporadic? While these all might seem like minescule factors about your website it's important to remember that all combined together they are your company's voice and online impression. Make it count. Your website doesn’t work across all platforms. If you’re anything like me you like to do majority of things from your phone and then later will check it again from your computer. We expect things to be easy across all channels and to be able to seamlessly  transition between any platform. Providing a smooth experience for your visitors is a key factor. By having a responsive design it allows your website to be easily adaptable from any screen on any device. Another key thing to take notice of is the functionality of your website. How easy is your site to use? Are your call to actions visible and easy to access? These are highly important factors that can make or break your website! The purpose of your site has changed. It's important to stay on top of your website's purpose; if it has changed then your website should reflect this change. Perhaps your marketing strategy has changed or you have decided to feature different aspects of the company altogether. Perhaps you want people to read your blog more or use your request a quote box more often. Whichever it is- keeping up to date with your site’s purpose is highly important. Another instance to be mindful of is if your company has added new services or features. If so, then your website should reflect this change otherwise your visitors will take their business elsewhere! Your third-party tools are outdated. A very important factor to pay attention is to how your third party tools are functioning. Ask yourself the questions: are these tools up to date ? Are they functioning at the highest level they could? If you answered no to either of these questions then perhaps it's time for an upgrade. Making the moves to more modern third party tools will not only appeal to your visitors but also turn them into leads. By ensuring that you are up to date with current technology you will not have to worry about your website lacking in loading times or meeting your guests with error pages! Your Sites Loading Time is …. Slow! As we’ve entered 2018 its important to note that loading speed is now a MAJOR factor. Even if we don't like to admit it, we’re impatient people who have grown accustomed to pages loading instantaneously. “People will visit a Web site less often if it is slower than a close competitor by more than 250 milliseconds (a millisecond is a thousandth of a second)” (Ny Times, 2018). Website speed and mobile speed should be  a top priority. If your website is loading slowly then it's definitely time for an upgrade.  Some of the Features or Content Don’t Display Properly Ensuring that your content displays properly is another major factor to be mindful of. As I said previously it's important to have seamless transitions between your web and mobile and the same goes for the way the content displays. You should also be mindful of the many different mobile devices your visitors may be using- there are lots of options out there! Whether they are looking from an iPhone or an Android Tablet the navigation and display should be easy to use and look the same across all channels. Compare to Competitors Another important reason to consider redesigning your website is seeing how it stacks up against the competition. By keeping up with the competition you are able to set your prices competitively, create marketing strategies, and accurately respond to rival marketing campaigns. If your top competitor is having far more success generating traffic to their site  then perhaps it's time to take a look at their site and see what they are doing differently. Now you don’t need to redesign your website every time you see your competitors making changes but staying relevant and up to date will be beneficial in the long run. I hope that you’ve found the above reasons as useful insight on whether or not to redesign your website. It’s easy to remain content with a website that’s working but as we said above: are you maximizing on the opportunities you have? If you’re not, or you felt like any of the above reasons directly related to your website, it's time to redesign! This will be an exciting time because you will be able to take a close look at your website, analyze the strategies that have worked, and improve! Remember “excellence is a continuous journey, not a destination.” Now, we are aware that redesigning your website can seem like a daunting or overwhelming task, but that's where we come in! Barefoot Solutions is more than happy to work with you to help redesign your website. Use the contact button located below and let's get redesigning!  

I had the opportunity to attend the Connect Sport Innovators Capital Forum on June 16th to meet with some of the industry leaders and up-and-comers in the traditional and action sports industries. Connect SI is "an accelerator for emerging action sports, sporting goods, and traditional sports companies focused solely on developing and sharing strategies for growth and success. " They provide mentoring, networking opportunities, and access to venture capital sources to entrepreneurial endeavors in these huge, high-growth industries. This particular event was a capital forum which involved eight startups pitching to a room full of angels, VCs, and sports industry executives. Some attendees of note included Andrew Kline, the Founder & Managing Director of Park Lane Investment Banking Services, and Tony Finn, the Founder of Liquid Force, a wakeboarding and kiteboarding brand based in Encinitas. Two presentations of interest were the Loop'd Network and SportsForce. San Diego based Loop'd Network, a portal and social network for action sports athletes and enthusiasts, spent some time explaining their plans to expand the merchandising and eCommerce functionality of their network. Now that they have built a network of some 500,000 registered athletes and 400 sports related brands, they have decided to focus on targeted advertising and sales. It seems they are attempting to round out the $800,000 they have already raised this year through the newly involved Tech Coast Angels and other existing private investors. These new eCommerce features will go a long way in really rounding out the network to make it a complete experience for their users. SportsForce (full disclosure: they are a web development client of my company) is a startup with offices in Solana Beach that will be offering a sports platform for high school athletes to build their athletic profile and connect with college coaches and recruiters in hopes to play at the collegiate level and possibly secure a scholarship. Born out of SportsTV, a company that produces recruiting videos and sponsors a variety of sports combines and events, this platform will host a suite of tools to add value for any athlete hoping to play at the collegiate level. Think LinkedIn for athletes. Heavy on premium and user-generated video content, look for SportsForce to make some aggressive moves in the next 12-16 months. All eight presentations were interesting in their own right, and Connect continues to do a great job promoting the entrepreneurial spirit in San Diego. -- Hunter

by: Robert Wang If you've never heard of ZURB, don't be surprised, the company has kept an unusually low profile. However over the years, ZURB has risen to the level of an industry standard, attracting clients from the likes of Britney Spears and Zazzle, to internet heavy-weights like eBay, Facebook, and Yahoo. Their latest contribution to the world of design brings to the table a product that serious web entrepreneurs have been itching to take out for a spin. A few days ago, the team unveiled what will likely become an indispensable tool for professional web designers everywhere. It's called Notable, and it makes online collaboration easier and more effective than ever. If you've ever struggled to find the words to specify the slightest detail of a design; if you've ever had a painful conference call where the locations of each potential change need to be spelled out in extended detail before any actual discussion could begin; if you've ever waited till the odd hours of the night so you can properly interface with an overseas design team--then you already know: this new service changes everything. While there are a variety of service packages available for purchase, Notable is also thankfully available as a 30 day free trial or a barebones, free bundle for those who want to get their feet wet before taking the pricey dive to pay to play. The free package allows for 3 simultaneous users, 3GB of online storage, iPhone support, and one Virtual Desktop on which to work. Once you've signed in, Notable allows you to post screenshots, mockups, or even straight code from your website for other users to evaluate and comment on. Notable gives you full control of over who gets access to your project and even throws in a nifty design history tracker so you always know where you're headed and exactly how and why you're headed there. The ZURB team has even published Notable as a firefox plugin or iphone app so you can get feedback on your page whenever and wherever you want. Want to learn more? Planning on using Notable until the day you die? Head on over to the site.