How to redesign your website effectively

Time flies, you change... Your company or organization has evolved, prospered, grown... It's been a long time since you created a website but it has remained the same.

It is seriously time to consider a redesign of your website, to update it with your new projects, your new vision, your new life...

The redesign of your website requires you to think about many things.

With SiteW, you can do a redesign of your website very easily.

But how do you go about redesigning a website?

Website redesign: why do it?

You are probably wondering why it is necessary to redesign your website.

There are many reasons to redesign a website.

Let's break it down together...

The objectives of a website redesign

 A website redesign is usually done for several reasons.

Here are the top 4 reasons to do a website redesign:

👉 Revamp and boost your corporate image

The image of your company goes first and foremost through the appearance of your website. It is therefore necessary to take the time to update the design of your site and modernize it to keep up with the web design trends.

👉 Have a better user experience

The internet is changing very quickly, and technologies with it. To optimize the display of your website, you need to make your website compatible with all devices and browsers. And it should be secure, fast and efficient too.

👉 A change in marketing strategy

If you decide to change your positioning, it is important that your website changes too.

👉 Addition of new features to your site

It is certain that your website will evolve over time: you may add a blog, or an online sales function...

These new features usually require big changes on the website.

Redo your website

Staying close to the trends

One of the major objectives of a website redesign is to follow the web design trends. First of all, you have to stand out from the competition with a modern and original website.

The internet is moving at a rapid pace, and it is important to follow its requirements and trends to make your website stand out.

The most important element of a website nowadays is the way it adapts to different screens (computer, mobile, tablet). A website that is not responsive, is usually redesigned to make it accessible to all devices.

Moreover, a website that is not responsive won't be optimized for search engines, since Google takes into account this factor very seriously.

The web design trends also include website navigation. The behaviors of Internet users are not the same as 5 years ago for example. So try to understand the trends of web users' behavior, by regularly monitoring them.

The web design trends should reflect in your website design, it is what visitors will notice first. If your website has an outdated or ineffective design, consider a redesign of your website that will add value to it!

The basics to know before redesigning your website

Before starting the redesign of your website for good, it is important to know the basics, in order to make the best of your website redesign.

The different types of redesign

There are several types of website redesign. The first question to ask yourself is what is the objective of your redesign. Then, you can carry out your redesign.

Here are the different types of website redesign:

👉 The visual redesign: here we focus on the appearance of your website. For this, it is important to rework your visual identity, as well as the user experience and your website performance, to modernize it.

👉 The structural redesign: here, the focus is on the website navigation. It is therefore a question of working on the structure of your site and its features to make it more fluid with navigation.

👉 The content redesign: redesigning a website does not necessarily mean changing the design. It is also possible to change only the content of your website to make it more pleasant and accessible to users.

👉 The migration to HTTPS: this type of redesign is quite particular since it simply means securing your website by using the HTTPS protocol. This migration is very useful for your organic SEO.

👉 The change of provider: if you decide to change your service provider, it may be necessary for your website to undergo a redesign, in order to adapt to the new tool.

It is important to note that it is possible to combine two types of redesign.

For example, you can redesign your website visually, and structurally at the same time.

When to do it?

You are probably wondering when to start your website redesign. Note that technologies and web trends evolve quickly, so keep an eye on the trends.

Your website redesign can be done when you notice that:

👉 The technology evolves quickly

👉 Your site prevents you from reaching your goals (due to a lack of features for example)

👉 During a rebranding

👉 New design trends have appeared

👉 Your website has a weak user experience

👉 Your website is negatively impacting your brand image

Etc.

Overall, you should think about redesigning your website every 3 years, to keep up with the web design trends.

The most important point is of course to identify the problems you encounter and to do what is necessary to correct them as soon as possible. Changing your site every 3 months is not a very good idea either.

💡 Take the time to modify your site when necessary and stay up to date with the latest news and web design trends!

How to make a redesign efficiently?

We have seen why, and when to do your website redesign.

But in practice, what does it look like?

The preliminary steps to a website redesign

Before launching into the redesign of your website, some preliminary steps are necessary.

Start by conducting an audit of your current website.

This way you can see the existing problems of your site and , how to address them.

Take a look at the design of your website, its contents, and its ranking.

Identify the problems, but also find out what works well on your current website. After that, you can suggest solutions to improve your site.

To understand these problems, Google Analytics will be necessary to help you determine with precision the performance indicators of your website.

You will know which pages are the most visited, which keywords lead to your website, what your bounce rate is, etc.

Once your audit is done, define your objectives. What do you want for your website?

👉 Increase your traffic?

👉 Decrease your bounce rate?

👉 Modernize your site?

👉 Touch a new target?

Etc.

To be sure of yourself, you can also define, or redefine your target. Thus, you will know who they are and their habits, and adapt your website to them.

It is important to monitor the trends but also the competition, to see what is done in your field. You will then be able to find inspiration and ideas for the redesign of your website.

Now that your objectives have been defined and the audit has been completed, you can write a brief. Indeed, whether you use an external provider, or whether you do it internally, writing a brief allows you to define the rules for your website redesign. This way, you won't get lost and you will pursue the objectives you have set.

Your brief should contain:

👉 Your goals and resources,

👉 An analysis of your current site,

👉 Your content,

👉 Your graphic charter,

👉 And a description of the management methods to be used.

Website redesign: design, user-experience and content

For a successful website redesign, it is important to think about everything. But how to redesign your website in terms of design, user-experience and content?

If you want to migrate your website to HTTPS, it is necessary to do so before the following steps.

Let's start with the design of your site, 3 points are essential for the success of your website redesign.

👉 Make a graphic charter: this will be the base of your visual identity.

👉 Space your pages out: a page overloaded with visuals or information will drive away a number of potential buyers. So your pages should be light, well structured and clear.

👉 Quality of visuals, or images: choosing quality images, visuals, and videos are essential. This shows your credibility and the quality of your business and sends a positive image to the public.

Let's move on to the user experience of your website. It should be pleasant and consistent.

First of all, select the pages to create, delete or redirect. This will give you a clear vision of the pages of your site and what needs to be modified or improved.

Once this step is over, you will be able to define a new structure for your website and also improve the menu and the internal linking. That is to say, connect your pages together using links.

As for the content, take the time to think about the following 3 points:

👉 Does your content match your brand? What image does it transmit?

👉 Is your content optimized for SEO?

👉 Is your content optimized for readers?

Focus on SEO for your website makeover

The redesign of your website is the perfect opportunity to review your visibility.

Be sure to review the following points:

👉 Is your site compliant with security standards? For example, check that all your pages are HTTPS.

👉 Is your website responsive? Online tools like Mobile Friendly allow you to test your site ability to adapt to different screen sizes.

👉 Is your website technically sound? You can use free web services, such as PageSpeed Tools, to check that your page load time is optimal.

👉 Is your site's structure good? Your sitemap.xml should be properly updated and indexed.

👉 Just like the structure, the content is also very important for your website SEO, use techniques to create web content and avoid the white page syndrome.

👉 Are your meta descriptions optimized for SEO? Check your tags well (Hn, Alt tag, nofollow...), and incorporate your keywords into them.

👉 Can you access your statistics? Be sure you have connected your site to Google tools.

Once these points have been raised, you will be able to improve your content and optimize it not only for search engines, but also for your readers.

Bringing added value to your website also requires quality content.

Communicate about the redesign 

Your new website is here, brand new and ready to welcome many visitors. You want to share your work with as many people as possible!

But how to do it?

There are many communication channels. First, for your website redesign, it is possible to create posts for social media.

Thus, you will communicate on your redesign, through visual posts, videos or even a guided tour!

Your target audience on social media will be quickly informed about the launch of your new website.

Of course, there are other ways to communicate about your redesign, and it is even advisable to combine several of these methods, depending on your needs:

👉 An email: it will allow you to personalize the news even more and reach your customers and prospects by sending them a short message and a button leading to your new site.

👉 A blog post: if you have much information to show, you can write a full blog post with "before/after", the new features, etc.

👉 A press release: it's not always necessary, but it's not only for big companies. In case of a major change in your website, you can send a press release to specialized media for example.

Well, now let's see what not to do during a website redesign...

Website redesign: common mistakes

You know everything, or almost everything, about website redesigns. But what are the things to avoid for an effective redesign?

The risks of a website redesign

Of course, doing a website redesign is not without risks. So be careful with the pitfalls of this operation.

Here is a list of the risks of a redesign:

👉 The technical risks

You have to be well aware that big changes on your website, especially in terms of features, can lead to technical problems a few days after the launch.

👉 The impact on your traffic

Changing your website content can have more or less impact on your site. Indeed, Google has to analyze your new content, which can affect its ranking at the beginning of the launch.

👉 A new navigation

If you change your navigation, people used to the old version of your website may get lost in the new version. Make sure that your pages are accessible and can be found easily from the main page.

👉 An impact on SEO

SEO is a work in progress and takes years to perfect. The accumulation of links, backlinks, gives you authority on Google. Then establish an optimized strategy.

👉 Users may be bothered

Big changes on a website can disrupt the users and generate negative emotions (destabilization, nostalgia, refusal, etc). Then, the users will know how to adapt and integrate the changes, but you have to take into account the time needed to adapt.

Mistakes to avoid when redesigning your website

For a successful website redesign, there are mistakes to avoid at all costs. There are many things to consider:

❌ Ignoring the existing content: analyzing the existing is important to see the strengths and weaknesses of your site.

❌ Making too big a change: a total redesign could scare and confuse the user or visitor.

❌ Not having clearly defined goals: this step is too often neglected, yet you have to adapt your website to your needs.

❌ Only thinking about the design: the design of your site is important of course, but it is not everything! So think about user experience, content, security, etc.

❌ Wanting to go too fast: you are in a hurry to see your new website take shape. But that's no reason to rush it, so take your time!

❌ Not making a responsive site: nowadays, having a responsive site is essential, since in 2021, mobile devices represented 54,8 percent of global website traffic.

❌ Neglecting SEO: a redesign will of course influence your organic ranking, so it is important not to neglect it, if you don't want to affect your ranking on Google.

❌ Not following up: it is useless to redesign your website, if you don't let anyone know about it. It is important to communicate, after your website redesign.

Website redesign, in conclusion

You now know a little more about website redesign. To do an effective redesign, we recommend you to prepare it well, by defining clear goals, and by performing a precise analysis of the existing content.

It's up to you to decide if you prefer to do it yourself, or  if you want to use a provider.

So, are you ready? Launch yourself and redesign your website! 🚀