A new year is a good time to update your website. A new year is not a reason to update but it is one of those times when you think about new things for the future, resolutions, and all that. Plus, every site should be reviewed and renewed on a regular basis.

WordPress offered an article about signs that it is time to update. I don’t think most sites need a full site redesign which can be costly and time consuming. If you’re using WordPress, Squarespace, or any of the popular providers, it is possible to select a new template and apply it with a minimum of revision.

Here are some considerations that you might not have considered.

How fast does your site load? It’s easy to test your speed using a free tool like PageSpeedInsights, which can reveal underlying design issues.

How’s your branding? You have branding, right? Has your branding changed?

Is your site good on mobile devices? Did you know that more than half of global internet traffic now originates from a mobile device (BroadbandSearch). Using responsive design means the site will scale to different device screen sizes. Most new sites have that built-in but if your site is older ut older sites probably aren’t really mobile-friendly.

You site really should be “secure” by now. That means rather than having http in fron t of the URL, it has httpS protocol. Visitors who see that warning that the site is “insecure” in their browser can stop people from going any further. Google and their Chrome browser will even drop your search engine opimization. (More on HTTPS and SSL as it relates to WordPress websites.)