Web design can make or break your business. It is a crucial factor in users’ decision to stay or bounce off the page.
A good design is a marriage of visual appeal and intuitive navigation. The colors and fonts should reflect your branding. The pages, the labels, the icons, and more should efficiently lead your users to the services, products, or information you offer.
If your company website lacks either of these aspects, it might be time to pause and look at how it’s affecting your ROI. You might need to redesign your website.
Website redesign is different from website refresh. The latter requires minor revisions to your website. There are changes to certain pages or templates here and there, and sometimes it involves updating colors and fonts.
On the other hand, website redesign involves overhauling the central and overall structure of the site. You will be holistically changing your website by restructuring all pages, introducing new functionalities, updating CMS, and the like while launching new content and visuals.
It is definitely an understatement to say that redesigning is more than a huge change. Here are some basic questions to mull over to help you prepare for this crucial website transformation.
Does your website need redesigning?
First and foremost, for your peace of mind, you probably want to make sure you are embarking on this huge change for the right reasons. So start with the reasons or the “why” in redesigning your company website.
- Your website is boring and outdated, affecting your business brand and credibility.
- Your website is difficult or confusing to navigate, leading to users making mistakes, getting frustrated, bouncing off your page, and reviewing your business negatively.
- Links are broken, and pages load slowly, causing a drop in sales or conversion.
- Users jump through hoops to contact you, blocking your chance to build a sustainable relationship with your customers, clients, or audience.
- Users cannot even find your page because of weak SEO.
If you checked off a couple or more of the list above, it’s probably time to stop second-guessing and make a thorough assessment to plan your next move in redesigning your website.
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What makes an effective web redesign plan?
The best first methodological approach to assessing is always research. Embarking on a huge change means breaking down all the necessities into smaller tangible objectives and tasks. Thus, a website audit is needed.
- What is working, and what’s not working?
- Who is your target audience, and are you reaching them?
- What are the layout and visuals that need to improve?
- Do your logo and web style receive recognition or positive reviews?
- Where and when do the users engage the most? Are they motivated to leave comments or reviews? Which elements operate seamlessly and add value to your website company?
- Where and when do the users stop engaging with your website? Do they not sign up for an account? Do they abandon the checkout process? Which pages have a high bounce rate?
- Who are your top competitors? What are the trends in the competition? How does your website compare? Which ones do you want to follow, and which ones would make you stand out from the crowd?
To critically and scientifically appraise your site, it is also best to consult with experts for research-backed data analytics. Different experts can gauge what you need specifically for your website. For example, consulting with an advertising agency would be your best choice if you’re running online ads. Look for an SEO audit expert who can optimize your site for optimum search engine results for a website audit.
As a whole, they will be able to offer an in-depth analysis of user behavior on your website by tracking every click, scroll, and time spent on pages of visitors. They pinpoint your top traffic sources and the rate of conversion.
From these reports, you’ll know what changes you want to prioritize.
How do you organize your priorities?
Once you have your reports and company website down pat, you will have a strong idea of its strengths and weaknesses. You will be in a better place to list the features you want to maintain and develop. Plus, the reports can be your reference to track how much closer or farther you are from your wish list.
Your metrics, of course, will depend on what type of business you are operating. For example, what would qualify as a successful conversion for your company? Would it be a certain number of emails? Would it be a specific number of product sales? Would it be a particular number of PPCs?
Then you can add some features specific to your niche on this wish list. You can offer certain promos and freebies, and these discounts can be received positively through the help of a new sidebar or a top navigation banner. You can design your add-ons to entice users’ attention.
This can be organized through the tried and tested, office-favorite SMART goal setting theory.
Aside from the benefits of detailed planning, preserving your past can also serve you well. You will want to record everything from what would soon be your old website. Save your backend data for anything you might want to change or transfer to your new website.
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Is your website mobile responsive?
A responsive website is a website that can adapt to all kinds of devices. If your website is not designed to display and perform on all devices optimally, particularly on mobile devices, redesigning is the best time to make that significant change.
As of this writing, over one billion smartphones are sold this year. Undoubtedly, mobile users take the lion’s share of global Internet traffic. You want to tap this market, especially since Google counts mobile website searches higher than desktop ones.
Note that the mobile responsive is different from mobile-friendly. Mobile-friendly sites simply scale down the desktop format of websites. On the other hand, the mobile-responsive site delivers the optimal version, which means a better user experience, as it would on its desktop counterpart.
What is the cost of redesigning?
Be prepared to spend money and time overhauling your website. Create a budget plan, and stick to it. Ask yourself these questions to when developing your budget plan and figuring how it’ll affect your current operations.
- Who are you hiring? How many people do you need for this project? How much is their compensation?
- How long will it take to do this project? Are there any revenue sources that will be paused by the project? What will cover this gap, and what backup resources do you have?
These are just some basic budgeting necessities that some tend to forget in their excitement to make things new. Minimize the cost and avoid wasting what you do have.
Plot your deliverables on a calendar and assign a monetary cost to each at every project step. A complete budget ensures you can also complete the project without unnecessary hassle. You can also purchase project management tools specializing in budgeting for efficiency.
Is redesigning your website worth it?
Redesigning your website is an investment in your company. The real cost is the future you will lose if you don’t properly redesign your website. So is undertaking a web redesign worth it? As long as you heed all of this advice and provide answers to these basic questions, then unequivocally, yes!