How To Do Website Redesign Right: A Short Checklist

Website redesign may be a little frightening. Typically, it is a major undertaking that affects both the code and appearance of your website. It has a hefty price, demands a lot of time, and is generally daunting. However, it is also often necessary. To help you with this monumental task, here is a checklist of what you need to do to redesign your website. 

The Beginning: Gathering Data

So, you have decided that you need a website redesign. Step zero will always be the old website. You need to analyze it and figure out what worked about it and what did not. The best way is to investigate the analytics for your website for the past three months to a year. You want to know at least the following:

• traffic,
• bounce rates,
• conversions.

You might also need to know what pages are most visited (so that you keep them). Finally, security and functionality are important. It is especially good if you catch bugs because that will help you not to carry those into the redesign.

As a side note, consider checking out competitors’ websites. Do not steal their intellectual property, of course. But do look into those websites and check what you like about them. It might give you inspiration. 

Setting Up Your Website Redesign Team

The website is so crucial for a business! In the modern day, it is often the main contact between a business and its customers. So website redesign must be carried out by a competent team that you trust. Here are a few options for this step.

• In-house team. This option offers a good opportunity to select the people you need. Everyone on the team has been vetted and is exactly what your company needs. The project of website redesign will be cheaper this way than, for example, with an agency. However, a team you have to treat as employees does, eventually, cost a lot. Still, they are always ready to help, which is important for maintaining your website.
• Agency. This option is expensive, but it takes away some of the responsibility. It is a good solution since agencies tend to employ experts. You can negotiate a partnership that will ensure good results and opportunities for revision. If you do not have an in-house team but have the money, go for an agency.
• Freelancers. Freelancers are usually a cheaper option. While this solution seems simpler than an agency, it can actually be quite time-consuming to find the right freelancer. You might have to give them smaller tasks first to see if they fit your needs. Still, it is not a bad option, especially if you have the time and patience. 

Remember, it is fine not to have an in-house team. Not every business has the funds to maintain a group of developers, even if it needs them. It is perfectly fine to hire a freelancer, for example, from Insolvo. We just want to make sure that you are aware of all the options you have. 

Websites promote you 24/7: No employee will do that.

Paul Cookson, author

Creating Goals for the Website Redesign

Developing goals is a very important part of any project. It is especially true when a project is as massive and costly as website redesign. Moreover, goals will help you understand if your project is successful. Here are a few recommendations.

• Some of the most common reasons for a redesign include upgrades to the existing website. You might want to improve loading time, fix bugs, make the navigation more intuitive, and so on. These are very good goals.
• Often, the reason for redesign is to update technology used. Always look into using the most modern technologies. They are usually better and lead to a more satisfying user experience. 
• In the modern day, one of your goals should include mobile devices. People use them a lot, so they should be able to browse your website from phones and tablets.
• A changing and evolving brand is a good reason to change your website. Make your new vision align with your brand.
• Adding new features during redesign is also a good idea. How about a chatbot to talk to your customers? They are very popular these days!

Decide what you want to do as a part of your website redesign. Make sure to communicate that to your development team. And get prepared for the next step.

Designing Phase

You already have the ideas; now, it is time to visualize them. This is the time to create mockups. You — or, rather, your team — will develop a design that looks good and guarantees great customer experience. That means figuring out navigation, colors, fonts and layouts. You need UX specialists for this stage, but you can participate by explaining how you envision the website. Your preferences are definitely crucial and will be taken into account.

Development Phase

This is the coding stage. You take all the mockups and templates and bring them to developers, who make the website into reality. Still, you have a decision to make during (or before) this stage: choose the platform. One of the most common options is WordPress. Others can include Wix, GoDaddy and Hostinger. More specialized platforms are, for instance, Shopify and BigCommerce. Study your options and choose wisely!

In addition, you need to figure out your content. Keep in mind the pages that your analysis shows are often visited. Do not forget about SEO! Search Engine Optimization is key to making your website redesign successful. Either migrate old content or create some new one once the coding stage allows it.

Testing

Testing is probably the most vital stage in website redesign. You need to check everything before the launch. Specifically trained testers can help you with that. This is your chance to try out everything the website has to offer. Is the navigation smooth? Are all the buttons and links working correctly? Find the errors and bugs and get rid of them. Also, integrate all the trackers so that you can gather data about the redesigned website.

Often, testing happens during the development phase. But its importance cannot be overstated. So please test the website properly so that your launch is smooth.

Launching the Website Redesign

Now that you are certain that most bugs are found, you can finally launch your website. Time the launch well; if you want, make an entire event out of it. And do not be surprised when things are not perfectly smooth at the beginning. As many customers use your website, more errors and bugs will be discovered. That is why it is a good idea to launch a little early so that you catch more issues before a large influx of clients. 

And check if you have achieved the goals you had set. Have you been successful or do you need to tweak the redesign? After all, a website is a continuous project. 

Rinse and Repeat

That is the general checklist. Let’s look at it again.

• Study your existing website.
• Create a team.
• Develop goals.
• Design.
• Develop.
• Test.
• Launch.

And then repeat the process in a few years. After all, website redesigns need to be regular. In the meantime, maintain the content and code and provide support to your clients. Make sure that your website does what it is made for: attracts customers.

In Conclusion

This checklist for website redesign should guide you through this complex process. A well-structured, data-driven approach with goals and a good team is actually most of what you need. However, do remember to test the website before relaunching it. And remember that websites are always a work in progress.