A website redesign is an important decision for any business. It can help you attract more site visitors and improve conversion rates, but it can also be costly and time-consuming.
In this blog article, we will discuss website redesign ideas and website redesign tips to help you create a website design blueprint that will work best for your company's needs!
We are also going to shed light to the most frequently asked questions involving website redesigns as a powerful tool in digital marketing.
A website redesign refers to a change in the visual layout of your company's current site. This can be anything from changing colors and layouts, to adding new features or moving things around on your page.
Your site is the first place many people will look when they want to learn more about your company.
Your site is also usually viewed as a “brand ambassador” of sorts, acting on behalf of all employees or departments in an organizational capacity and representing them through design elements that reflect their values and purpose.
The best time to start planning for your company's next website design is now. To create a new plan that will be an effective way forward, think about what you want from your site before creating anything at all.
However, you must first grasp the basic goal of a website redesign before proceeding with it.
There are many reasons that you may want to consider doing a website redesign for your business. The most common reasons include but are not limited to:
In addition, you may want to consider updating your website if:
A professional, well designed website is a necessity for any business that wants to show off its products and services while also making it easy for new customers to find them online.
Now that you know you need a website redesign, it's time to think about how you're going to do this.
There are a lot of different things that need consideration before launching your new redesign, but if you break the process down into smaller parts and plan accordingly, then even an extremely large undertaking can be simplified so much more easily for everyone involved.
A website redesign does not have to be difficult or expensive. You can create a simple, yet effective blueprint for yourself that will take you through the entire process step by step.
First choose your platform (blogging site vs eCommerce site) and then think about what is most important for your business/product.
For e Commerce sites, consider how to optimize your site for conversions.
For blogging/business sites, think about ways you can increase engagement (including social media sharing) or gather email subscribers through opt in forms.
Once you have chosen what is most important and which platform works best for your product/service then it is time to get started.
Here is our list of what we feel are the most important steps to take when doing a website redesign.
The first step of the web redesign process should be organizing your content with a focus on search engine optimization (SEO).
This means creating an SEO friendly site structure that includes top level pages, sub-pages, navigation options for each page, and keyword meta tags for each page.
Once you have a good structure in place then it is time to start creating content that will help users find your site online while still speaking to the needs of your product/service.
This means using search engine optimization (SEO) related keywords throughout all blog posts and on pages that are related to your product/service.
Not only is it important for a website to be optimized for search engines, but also mobile devices.
In fact, Google just announced in 2015 that they will start to rank websites based on their mobile optimization and speed.
A mobile friendly website will help to improve your search engine rankings, but also make it easier for a user to visit and use your site.
For blogging sites, this means that it is important to have a mobile version of your site as well as sharing tools for each blog post.
If you own an eCommerce site then it is even more critical to ensure that users can easily access and shop on your website from their mobile devices.
If you have a blogging site, or an eCommerce site with product pages and blog posts, then it is important to optimize every page of your website for search engines.
This means using SEO related keywords throughout meta tags on each page as well as within the content (where relevant).
It is important to consider social media sharing and integration when you are creating a website redesign blueprint.
This means including share buttons on each page, as well as adding share options for blog posts (including Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest).
Once your site has been up and running for at least thirty days, then it is important to start tracking your site’s analytics.
This means looking at things like how many people visit each page on a daily/weekly basis and which posts are receiving the most social media attention.
Once you have tracked this data for thirty days (at least), then it is time to go through every single page and determine how you can improve the experience for users.
This means looking at things like bounce rates vs time spent on each page, as well as which keywords/tags are receiving the most attention from search engines.
After tracking this data for thirty days then it is important to go through every single post and make changes that will help optimize your website for search engines.
This means looking at your meta tags (keywords), page titles, and post content to ensure that each one is as optimized as possible.
Once you have gone through all of the steps above then it is important to continue tracking analytics on a weekly or monthly basis.
This means looking at things like bounce rates vs time spent on each page, as well as which keywords/tags are receiving the most attention from search engines.
It is also important to track your social media analytics and determine which posts receive the most attention in terms of clicks and shares.
It is important to understand that not all problems can be anticipated - even when you put together an extensive web design plan or blueprint.
When something does go wrong, it's best to address these issues quickly and calmly instead of holding a grudge.
The most common mistakes in web development and website redesign include:
This is dependent on how many changes need to be made and what type of site you have in place currently. You should plan for about three months of design time, but this can vary depending on your needs!
We recommend at least six months lead time for design if you are working with a web development agency - but remember that this is just an estimate.
For a simple web redesign we recommend about three months for the initial planning cycle and another month for testing and tweaking before launch. If you are going with CMS implementation, the process will take longer.
When your plan begins, have every member of your team know their roles and responsibilities. Make sure everyone is on the same page at all times!
The more involved your team, the better chance you have at a successful website redesign!
There are many advantages to a web redesign, but also some disadvantages that you need to be aware of as well.
Pros:
Cons:
A successful website redesign is never easy, but it's always worth the hard work. If you keep these tips in mind when planning out changes to your site then you can definitely have success!
The design process is fairly straightforward, but it can vary depending on your specific needs or the size of changes you want to make.
If the changes are too drastic, it's possible that Google may punish your site with a lower ranking or even drop your page from their results altogether!
If you make any significant updates to your website design, always test for mobile friendliness first and then do a full crawl to see if Google picks up on your changes!
The best step you can take to ensure success during the design process is to have a solid team on board who are aware of their roles and responsibilities so there isn't any miscommunication or mishaps along the way!
If your site redesign has been completed quickly, it's likely that not every user may enjoy the changes you've made. You will need to consider that there is a learning curve for users and this may have an impact on how they feel about your new design!
The bounce rate will increase but this is something you will need to monitor over time and see what happens.
In an attempt to improve the design of a website, many people will turn to web designers.
However, this doesn't always work out as they had hoped and there are some things that you need to consider before moving forward with anything like this.
A successful website redesign can be pricey, but it will definitely pay off in due time if done right with user experience at top of mind throughout development. Don't forget these tips when you are planning your own site redesign so that it can be a success!
In the competitive world of digital marketing, it’s more important than ever to stay up-to-date and relevant in order to attract your target audience.
One way you can do this is by redesigning your website with a fresh new look that will help increase engagement and bounce rates.
In this article, we talked about different website redesign tips and website redesign ideas to make your web development project a success.
It is worth noting that a mobile friendly website and a responsive website design would surely help you achieve the best results.
Whether it be for an existing site or for something brand new, contact us if you want more information on how we can help you through this transition!
Good luck on the next steps of your website redesign journey!
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