Top Website Redesign Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

Many people have tried to redesign their websites with varying degrees of success. Their experience shows that some mistakes appear to be rather prevalent. Here, we want to study website redesign mistakes and figure out how to avoid them. 

Website Redesign Mistakes: The Most Common Ones

A lot of things can go wrong during a website redesign. But a few mistakes seem widespread and should be prevented. Let’s take a look at some of them.

Not Using Any Insights from the Old Website

One of the first steps in website redesign is the analysis of the existing website. You might want a completely different website, but you should not skip this step! It is crucial in understanding who visits your website and what they do with it. Such insights help you understand what users appreciate about your old website and what could be improved. 

Solution: make sure to always investigate the old website for various metrics. The most common ones are traffic, bounce rates and conversion rates. You might also want a heatmap — a tool that shows you which parts of the website are especially popular.

Not Getting Rid of Outdated Content

We understand that you worked hard on your content and do not want to delete it. However, outdated content is not useful. In fact, it can be harmful, damaging the trust that a user can have in your website. Redundant content is not recommended either. Depending on its type, it can negatively affect site performance. Naturally, from the perspective of search engine optimization (SEO), it is also important that all the content is up-to-date.

Solution: do not be afraid to delete content. If you feel that it can still be useful, consolidate or update it. This way, your website will be less cluttered, have better performance, and rank higher in search engines. 

Not Prioritizing SEO

SEO is incredibly important. It is also a rather complex field that requires expert interventions. Not every business has a SEO expert. After all, It is costly. But not involving a SEO expert in a redesign is a mistake. SEO determines the visibility of your website on the internet. It is responsible for organic traffic, and its effects are hard to overestimate.

Solution: use the services of a SEO expert while redesigning your website. You do not have to add them to your team, but you need their analysis and insight for your redesign. It is a very strategic expense that will pay back in traffic and visibility.

Not Prioritizing Content and Content Strategy

During redesign, technical aspects are often prioritized. That is good; the website needs to work smoothly. However, that should not happen at the expense of paying attention to the content. Content often drives users to become clients; it is a major asset. Treating it as an afterthought is wrong.

Solution: invest in content. But only do so strategically. You should create a content strategy that would help your investment to pay off. It can be done by an expert you hire for the duration of the redesign or add to your team. When your content is created with a strategy in mind, it is more likely to become an asset to your business.

Prioritizing Beauty over Function

Often, a redesign is about the looks of the website. That is a good idea! However, a common mistake is neglecting function while prioritizing appearance. Sometimes beautiful elements get in the way of navigation or other functions, which is unacceptable. 

Solution: test the website extensively. Make sure that it is usable! If a decorative feature stops you from browsing, get rid of it. Beauty is less important than a functioning website.

Not Following User Journey in Navigation

Navigation is difficult to get right. You need to make sure that the visitors can get where they want with minimal effort. However, not every website uses this parameter to create navigation. Often, it is made with the organizational structure in mind, for example. That is the wrong approach.

Solution: test the website and make sure that the navigation is intuitive. You might want to do that by hiring a user experience designer. Some information from the heatmaps that you got from your old website can also help. 

Miscellaneous Website Redesign Mistakes

There are many other website redesign mistakes to consider, so we will briefly touch upon a few.

• Not paying attention to load time. The faster your website loads, the better. Always view this parameter as a major performance indicator. 
• Not taking into account mobile devices. These days, having your website look good on mobile devices is a must.
• Using too many pop-ups. It is okay to have a few, but too many pop-ups are annoying and can cause users to leave the website.
• Forgetting to include contact information. It should be easy for users to contact you. Include contact information and place it in an accessible portion of the website.
• Too many or too few calls to action (CTA). CTAs are crucial for conversion. Use them but do not overuse them. They should be organic and convert the visitors to clients.

How to Avoid Website Redesign Mistakes

As you can see, one can make a lot of mistakes while redesigning your website. Here are a few tips on how to avoid making mistakes.

• Consult experts. The best way to prevent mistakes is to involve people who are very knowledgeable in the field of website redesign. 
• Study the topic. Even if you are not a web designer but a business owner, you want to have some basic understanding of redesign. You should know about SEO, CTA and various metrics. Some knowledge will help you hire the best experts. It will also assist you in understanding them. 
• Learn from experience. The best part of redesign is that you have your old website to use for insights. See what worked and what did not work and then use this information during the redesign. 

Knowledge is the solution to most errors you can make. Surround yourself with experts, and that will improve your chances of avoiding mistakes. And if you do make a mistake, correct it and learn from it.

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.

James Joyce, author and journalist. 

In Conclusion

Some of the most common website redesign mistakes include failing to learn from the old website, failing to prioritize SEO, content, and function, and failing to think about user experience in navigation. It is always important to hire the right people for a website redesign — they can help with all these common errors. However, there are more mistakes that can be made, and they can be avoided through knowledge and experience.