Everything You Need to Know About Website Redesign

Did you know that 75 percent of users have correlated a company’s credibility with its site design? 

That’s why having a well-designed website is crucial to your business’s success. Not only is it often a user’s first interaction with your brand, but it’s something they’re going to revisit again and again. You want them to enjoy their time on your site, otherwise, they could go running for the hills before they’ve even given you a chance.

That’s where considering a website redesign might come in handy, and we’re here to help. Read on to learn everything you need to know about the process and what to expect.

How Often Should You Redesign Your Website?

Design trends and technology are constantly changing and advancing, meaning you’ll need to freshen your website up at least once every few years. That doesn’t mean it needs an overhaul or that you’ll have to rebrand, but it does mean keeping things up-to-date. There are a few things you can use to determine what your website needs:

• Budget
• Brand goals
• Website functionality
• Overall performance
• State of the industry

It isn’t mandatory to redesign your website every few years, but you should take a look at these characteristics every so often. If any of them point to you needing an overhaul, then it’s time to get started.

The Website Redesign Process

What does this web development process look like in practice, though? Read on to learn about eight of the most important tips and questions to consider.

1. What Are Your Current Metrics?

Before you begin, it’s important to take a look at your site’s current performance metrics. You’ll gain a better understanding of where you stand and what you might need to improve upon. That means analyzing your site’s monthly performance in these areas:

• Number of visits
• Bounce rate
• Top-performing keywords
• Time on site
• Total sales, new leads, and form submissions
• Total pages indexed
• Which pages received traffic

There are tools you can use to look specifically at this information, but you can also hire someone to package it all up into an easy-to-understand format for you.

2. Lay Out Your Goals

Next, you’ll need to think about your goals. Any good redesign needs a “why” to back up its purpose, otherwise, you won’t have a solid end goal.

One of the biggest things you can consider is your website’s navigability and user experience. That goal can be tied to a measurable result, meaning it’s going to be a lot easier to communicate those goals with your designer.

So, it’s best to pull out your metrics from the last step to see what you’d like to improve upon and then build from there.

3. Know Your Brand

The other thing you’ll need to be crystal clear on is your branding. If you don’t already have branding down, it can help to think about your target market.

The minute a user lands on your site, they’re going to have the question, “What can this accomplish for me?” on their mind. You’ll need to get specific about their pain points and how exactly your brand can help them better than your competition can, and then build something that caters specifically to them.

Having a specific person or group in mind is going to help you do things like develop your messaging, lay out the navigability, and even determine things like typeface and colors.

5. Protect the Optimized Pages

If your website takes more than 10 seconds to load, Google says your bounce rate is likely around 123 percent. So, if your site is getting discovered then that’s great and you’ll want to protect those pages. However, if people are immediately clicking away from your site, it can mean bad news for your metrics and search engine rankings.

6. Market Research

It’s also a great idea to research your competition. Now, you shouldn’t copy or obsess over the things they’re doing, but it can help to get an idea of what your ideal website should look and feel like.

What do you like and dislike? What content is getting the most engagement for them? What could you do better than them?

Make a list of the answers you collect, and then create an action plan that highlights the areas you can improve the most.

7. Look at Your Highest Performing Content

Next, you’ll have to take a look at your highest-performing content. It’s important that you keep high-performing pages around, as losing them can have a serious impact on your website’s existing SEO. This can include things like:

• High-traffic pages
• Most shared or viewed content
• Inbound links to individual pages

Remember, if you end up removing a high-performing page from your website, it can have detrimental effects on your website’s overall ranking. It’s important to consider this before you start redesigning, as it’s something that your web developer might not think about.

If you conduct this step on your own, you’ll be able to hand them a list of pages that need to be maintained, along with any critical updates that need to be made.

Are You Ready to Redesign Your Business Website?

Once you have a hang of the process, going through a website redesign isn’t as daunting as it may seem. The process itself can be a long one, but it’s worth it once you start seeing your hard work pay off. Better design and navigability mean higher traffic and more converted leads on your end, which is a win for everyone involved.

Sometimes, though, having a professional on your side can make the process a lot easier, which is where we come in. Create an account today to find a freelancer that can help you the entire way.