What's the Lifespan of a Website?

A website that was considered cutting-edge and innovative just a few years ago may no longer meet the needs and expectations of modern users.

This is because both technology and design trends are constantly evolving, and user expectations are continually changing. In general, a well-designed website can last anywhere from 3 to 7 years before it becomes outdated and in need of a major redesign. But that varies greatly, depending on a number of factors, such as the industry, target audience, the technology used, and the quality of the website's design and even content.

Let's review these factors, as well as how you can extend the life of your website's lifespan.

Changes in Your Business

As companies grow and industry landscapes shift, businesses must pivot to stay relevant.  Unfortunately, these important changes are often the last to be reflected on their websites.

• Have your services moved from business to business (B2B) to business to consumer (B2C)? 

• Do you need to shift from a brochure site to an E-commerce site?

• Does your website present a long wall of text that spans the entire screen? 

• Does your copy include a lot of business jargon and acronyms?

• Do any of your pages lack a clear call to action?

A content audit shows opportunities to laser-focus your messaging to meet users’ expectations and increase conversions. Or, consider a business discovery to align stakeholders and uncovers opportunities to improve messaging, define business outcomes, and establish metrics to measure the success of your site.

Web Technology Constantly Changes

Almost every day, we receive notifications that an app or program needs to be updated on our computers, tablets, and smartphones to fix bugs and security issues. It's the same with a website -- if your website doesn’t keep up with technological advances, it will run slower.

Here's the bad news -- most users will abandon a website if it doesn’t load in under three seconds!

A website performance audit can find where your tech stack needs a tune-up. These robust audits consider dozens of issues, focusing on performance issues that developers can improve, such as compressing and optimizing images, eliminating unnecessary plugins, and enabling browser caching.

Website Visitor Needs Change

If your website is not optimized for mobile, you’re most likely losing money. About half of the total website visits occur on a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet compared to a desktop computer.  Mobile usage, however, is anticipated to grow in the future.  Moreover, some of your customers may not own a computer and only use a mobile device.

What's more, in 2019 Google made changes to its bot to prioritize mobile-friendly content, which affects rankings on search engine return pages. A UX audit identifies where your website can be improved for mobile-first.

Extend the Life of your Website

It's important to note that a website's lifespan can be extended with regular updates and maintenance. By regularly updating the design, content, and functionality of a website, it can continue to provide value to its users and remain competitive in the online marketplace for many years to come.

Content Management Systems like WordPress and Drupal, however, require frequent maintenance to handle their frequent updates. And if you turn on and rely on "automatic updates", you may be left with a website that no longer functions. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure -- partner with a trusted web dev firm like SHERPA Global to manually run CMS upgrades.

How much life is left on your website?

Ultimately, the lifespan of a successful website is difficult to predict and can vary greatly depending on the specific circumstances of the website in question. Consider SHERPA as your trusted partner to guide you to the custom redesign solution that meets your—and your users’— needs.

Let SHERPA calculate how many years of life your website has left by calling us at (404) 369-0219.