8 Things to Consider When Redesigning Your Website
Redesigning Your Website
A lot of time and effort goes into the website redesign process. Redesigning your website isn’t a one-time effort; it’s an ongoing process that will continue to shape your web presence for years to come. A well-planned website redesign strategy that considers all aspects of the process is crucial to the success of your redesign and longevity. Many agencies might want to dive right into it, but strategic planning and goal setting is paramount.
Plan for how to redesign a website:
Research Your Competition
It’s ironic that, before you start work on your site redesign, you have to begin by looking away from your digital website.
Every website redesign project should start with a concentrated examination of the key players in your industry: a.k.a. your competitors. We’re not saying you should copy them, but knowing what everyone else is doing saves you from reinventing the wheel.
Redesign Your Content
By now, we all know that content is king. After all, why do you even have a website if you don’t have anything to say?
So when doing a site redesign, it’s important not to forget to redesign the content on your site as well.
Optimized content is written to reach the largest audience possible. This means using keywords, meta descriptions, title tags, and all those doodads that make the search engines sit up and take notice.
Create a Sitemap
A sitemap is exactly what it sounds like: a map for your site. But instead of telling humans where to find delicious ice cream treats, it gives search engines step-by-step instructions on how to navigate your digital page and what topics you’ll find on it.
Without a sitemap, you’ll have to wait for those Google bots to randomly stumble upon your digital page and blindly feel their way through each of the rooms.
Create a Mobile-Friendly Design
Mobile web use finally surpassed desktop web in 2014, and that gap is only growing wider.
That’s why it’s so surprising that some businesses still haven’t made the switch to a responsive, mobile-friendly website.
Responsive websites automatically resize your site to fit screens of any size, no matter what device it’s being viewed on: laptop, desktop monitor, digital smart phone, or tablet.
Update Your Server
Without an updated server, you can’t go viral without your website crashing.
Your server should be fast enough to keep your visitors happy. When it comes to websites, it’s all about instant gratification. When your customers don’t have to wait for your site to load, they’re happy. Google’s happy. Everyone’s happy.
Don’t Just Assume It’s Working
Website analysis shows you who came to your site, where they live, what device they’re using to access it (even the operating system!), which sites they’re visiting, how fast they’re leaving, how many of them have never visited your site before, and the list goes on and on.
Design With User Experience In Mind
Only now can we begin talking about the aesthetics of your website redesign.
Designing your website for improved artistic quality is one thing, but all that design is worthless if your website isn’t easy to use.
That’s where User Experience (UX) comes in.
Have a Marketing Plan
If you want to meet your goals, increase leads, and make more money, a website redesign is only the start. You need a marketing plan. (And no, SEO doesn’t count as marketing.)
Pay-per-click campaigns, billboards, even radio. All of these methods are lures meant to draw people back to your website.
But there’s one advantage that digital marketing has above all others: it can target a specific demographic.