Are you considering a website redesign? A website serves as the hub of your digital marketing strategy—and at some point, every site needs to be refreshed.
Perhaps your site is underperforming, your company is rebranding, or your site looks dated—whatever the reason for the redo, this website redesign guide and checklist will help you reduce the risk and uncertainty associated with a website overhaul so you can approach the website redesign process with confidence.
Website Redesign Guide
Step 1: Consider the SEO implications
First and foremost, you need to be aware of the potential SEO implications of a site redesign or migration. If you own a business that relies on organic web traffic, we do not recommend a DIY approach to your redesign, and this includes using a less experienced design team.
Choosing a new template, colors, and fonts might be easy, but if you are reorganizing, removing, or rewriting content this will impact the site’s search performance. Yes, many businesses rightly worry about losing rankings, but when a website redesign is done correctly, you can make gains in search engine rankings.
Educate yourself and your team on search engine optimization fundamentals before starting your redesign project. At a most basic level, read up on how URL redirects can help maintain search engine rankings. Whether you outsource the entire project or just need a bit of guidance, getting professional SEO advice will result in a smoother and easier transition.
Related reading:
Site Migrations: Insights for Beginners — Learn why your website redesign is very likely a “website migration.”
See Google’s documentation on how to move a site.
See steps for migrating from Wordpress to Squarespace.
Step 2: Gather input from stakeholders
You need to interview key stakeholders. This will include business partners as well as end users. Each stakeholder will have their own perspectives and needs. For example, your CEO may think of the website as an online brochure that talks about the company’s accomplishments and services, while end users may want more hands-on and self-service options. At the same time, your sales department may want the site to generate more qualified leads.
In order to deliver, you need to meet everyone’s needs. You’ll want to speak with:
Internal Stakeholders:
Executive Management / C-Level
Sales
Legal / Regulatory
PR / Marketing / Communications
Information Services / IT
Human Resources
Product and Service Divisions
External Stakeholders:
Future, current, or former clients or customers
Partners or vendors: Ad/PR agency, IT providers, franchisers, industry or trade associations
Regulators or legal counsel
Step 3: Identify your audience(s)
Do you know who you are trying to reach and convert? If not, there’s no way you can design a new website that appeals to them. A website targeting teenagers will be completely different than a site targeting senior citizens including the graphics, calls to action, and language you use.
Many sites have multiple audiences. For example, a private school might serve multiple groups: prospective families, current students, current parents, and alumni. Who will the website primarily serve? How will you meet the needs of other groups?
Step 4: Identify what’s working and what’s not working
Your current website likely has its fair share of strengths and weaknesses. Where are the biggest gaps in performance and opportunities for improvement? What does it do well? Plan to keep these assets in place. What does it do a terrible job of? Strengthen these weak areas or eliminate them altogether.
Consider the following:
Global navigation
Content architecture and organization of information
Brand expression, logo treatment, domain name
Platform and ease of maintenance
Hosting, uptime, and server performance
Load time and speed
Search engine ranking for key phrases
High-performing versus underperforming content
Document your current key performance indicators as a benchmark before starting your website refresh.
Step 5: Identify your keywords
What keywords do your prospects use to find sites like yours? How competitive are they? Are there any alternative topics to include in your SEO plan? Refine your keyword strategy before content is changed or added.
Learn more about finding keywords and other small business SEO tools.
Step 6: Identify your website’s goals
Once you’ve received stakeholders’ feedback, you’ll need to identify goals for the revamped site. Will it aim to satisfy everything you’ve discovered or are some points more important than others? Identify and prioritize your site’s goals. Does your website play the right role in customer acquisition? Spell out your goals at a high level and clarify how the website fits into the rest of your business.
Step 7: Select strategies for reaching those goals
Next, how will you make sure your website’s goals become reality? For example, if one of your goals is to generate more leads, how will your business do that? Your strategy for generating more leads may involve creating landing pages, whitepapers, and calls to action. Break your list of goals down and write down exactly what you will do to accomplish each one.
Step 8: Plot it out on paper
Draw rough sketches of what you have in mind. These are often called “wireframes.” While your web designer or project manager may provide you with more formal wireframes, it’s helpful to put your ideas down on paper. This will help designers and content writers to better understand your vision.
Note, for small sites this step is often not necessary.
Step 9: Work with web professionals
It can be easy for website redesigns to veer off-course because of design differences on a team, lack of data, or predetermined preferences of certain decision makers. Working with a trusted partner saves time and results in a more effective website overall.
Again, seeking an SEO consultation is highly recommended if the site redesign is an in-house effort or if the design team is less experienced.
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