Do I need to redesign my website for inbound marketing to work?

You’ve jumped into the inbound marketing world. A logical question is probably burning through your head: “Should I redesign my website?”

Well, that depends.

Does it suck? Redesign it. Does it get results? Leave it. Could it use a tweak or two? That’s your call.

Let the analytics be your guide. But keep in mind, you may be your own worst critic.

If you take only one action, though, be sure that it’s adding a blog -- to attract visitors to your site with educational content that’ll hold their hands to begin the buyer’s journey.

Is a website redesign needed for inbound marketing newbies?

Here are some legit reasons for a web redesign, per our friends at HubSpot:

1. You don’t rank highly in search engines

Search Engine Journal once said 93% of online experiences start in search engines. Oh, yeah, that was in 2011. It’s certainly even more now.

While the reasons for ranking poorly can vary, you should become well versed in SEO to grow those organic (non-paid) clicks. To do this, you need:

• Kick-ass keywords
• Links to respected external and internal resources
• High-quality (and relevant) content
• Site layout that’s easy for visitors & Google to interact with

Here are some other reasons your ranking doesn’t look so hot.

2. It doesn’t work well on smartphones

More than half of all Internet searches today are performed on mobile devices. Don’t lose that audience.

Would your teenage kid pull up your website on her smartphone and get frustrated within seconds? Go ahead, have her test it out. If a tech-savvy teen can’t deal with it, imagine your prospects trying to stumble through and find what they need.

Responsive web design allows your site to work seamlessly on ALL devices -- from your laptop, to your wife’s tablet, to your daughter’s iPhone.

3. You grow old waiting for it to load

Like a teenager running screaming from your website on her (insert device here), 40% of digital consumers will abandon a site that takes more than 3 seconds to load.

See some other key indicators your website needs a reboot.

Should I redesign my website? Don’t needlessly go overboard

You’re loving your new website. Your navigation at the top leaves nothing to desire. The colors perfectly match your company’s logo and design scheme.

Time passes. You nitpick little things. You notice your competitor redesigned its own site and it looks awesome. You’ve lost sleep while tossing and turning over thousands of different designs and whether your logo and social media buttons are in the right place.

Were the thousands of dollars and web-dev manhours a waste?

Relax! The brains behind the inbound marketing philosophy and co-founders of HubSpot, Brian Halligan and Dharmesh Shah, say many websites are just fine the way they are. Have a look at their book, “Inbound Marketing: Attract, Engage, and Delight Customers Online.”

“The colors are fine, the menus are fine, the logo is fine, the pictures are fine, and so on. You personally do not like the look of your website because you look at it so often. Your visitors, on the other hand, are not particularly interested in your site’s colors or the type of menus used. Your visitors are looking for information -- something interesting they can read and learn about…”

So, don’t worry so much about your website. Focus on other communication modes -- e-mail, RSS and social media -- and craft a regularly updated blog with remarkable content.

(Note: Switching to HubSpot allows you to keep all or part of your current website with key content-management and analytics tools.)

But if you do embark on a website redesign, for goodness sake don’t stop blogging! Your blog is the welcoming committee to your inbound marketing funnel.