The Ultimate Guide to Building a Website Redesign Strategy
Introduction to: THE ULTIMATE WORKBOOK FOR REDESIGNING YOUR WEBSITE
In today’s competitive digital landscape, a well-thought-out website redesign strategy is paramount to staying ahead. At Rhonda Cosgriff Designs, we understand the significance of a robust plan to not only revamp your online presence but to outperform competitors. In this comprehensive guide, we unveil a meticulous website redesign approach that guarantees results.
What is a website redesign
A website redesign is the process of changing and updating the content, structure, format, and navigation of your website to improve performance and convert more visitors. Let’s go over some related statistics.
Research has found that 50% of consumers think website design is crucial to a business’s overall brand. To many visitors, the website you publish is just as important as the products you sell.
Did you know that website design can improve time on site by 84% and YoY online revenue by 132%?
If your website isn’t responsive, it’s time for a redesign, according to that same group of 200+ web designers and freelancers. The other top reasons — low conversion rate, high bounce rate, and “needs better UX” — could be addressed by a responsive design as well.
53.8% of web designers cite “not being responsive on all devices” as a top reason for a website to be redesigned. (GoodFirms, 2021)
When asked what visual elements they value on a company website, 40% of consumers said images, 39% said color and 21% said video. (Top Design Firms, 2021)
Considering that nearly 40% said images and color and 21% said video, your business should prioritize adding images and picking a website color scheme first. Then, focus on incorporating video and other visual elements mentioned—namely, typography, infographics, and animation.
How Often Should You Redesign Your Website?
According to Business 2 Community, the average lifespan for a website is 1.5 to 2.5 years. Past that range, a website must incorporate new design trends and technologies to feel “fresh” and competitive. However, that timeframe is only a benchmark, so you will need to determine what works best for your unique organization.
The following factors can determine how often you should redesign your website:
How often your brand or goals change.
When you’re itching for a new site, first ask yourself, “Does this website still represent who we are as a company?”
How much budget you allot to design and development.
Ask yourself, “Can a site design wait, or do I have reasons to use the budget on our site now?”
How long your website stays functional and fast.
Step into your customers’ shoes and see if you can navigate the site well and find everything you want to find without encountering errors or long page load times. Almost 50% of websites get between four and six page views per visit — all that browsing means that your site’s navigation and speed really do matter.
The performance of your website.
Ask yourself, “Is this site converting a reasonable amount of traffic? Do people stay on the page for a reasonable amount of time, or do they bounce?”Changes in the industry. For example, when Google announced that it would be changing to mobile-first indexing, it necessitated that websites be mobile-friendly, or they’d lose organic traffic from Google.
How to Redesign a Website
- Assess current website performance metrics.
- Determine your website redesign goals.
- Define your branding and messaging.
- Define your buyer persona(s).
- Protect your search engine optimized pages.
- Analyze the competition.
- Take inventory of your high-performing assets.
- Choose the right software
- Streamlining Navigation for Enhanced User Experience
- Leveraging Visual Content for Engagement
- Mobile-First Design Approach
- Building Quality Backlinks
- Monitoring and Iterating
Assessing Current Website Performance
Before diving into the redesign process, it’s crucial to conduct a thorough analysis of your current website’s performance. Utilize tools like Google Analytics to evaluate user engagement, bounce rates, and popular content. Identify strengths and weaknesses to inform your redesign strategy.
Check out the Web Dev case study for DeLiRe’ by clicking here
Determine your website redesign goals
Define the objectives of your website redesign. Understand the underlying purpose driving the need for a redesign. Simply stating, “it’s been a while” or “my competitor redesigned” isn’t sufficient justification. It’s crucial to emphasize that the redesign isn’t just about aesthetics but functionality. Clearly articulate the reasons behind the redesign, ensuring they are tied to measurable outcomes. Communicate these goals effectively to align your team and stakeholders with the strategic vision for the redesign.
Several of these objectives are interconnected. For instance, to boost conversions, it might be necessary to simultaneously enhance website traffic and reduce the bounce rate. Additionally, revisit the metrics gathered in the previous step. Identify areas where improvements can be made with the new website. Consider using the insights from your existing website metrics to inspire and formulate new goals for the redesign. This iterative approach ensures a comprehensive strategy that addresses multiple aspects of website performance.
Define your branding and messaging
Prior to shaping your new website design and content, establish a precise vision for your branding, messaging, and unique value proposition. This clarity is essential for maintaining consistency throughout your entire website. Aim for a user experience where anyone visiting for the first time comprehends what your business offers, how it can benefit them, and why they should choose your site over competitors. Consider your homepage as an illustration: It swiftly communicates your services and offerings and provides a clear pathway for any visitor to initiate their journey.
Moreover, in the process of evolving your company’s branding, assess which visual elements on your website require redesign and which can remain unchanged. If you’ve introduced a new logo, style guide, or color palette, ensure these are seamlessly integrated into your website’s redesign. This guarantees a cohesive and uniform representation of your brand across various touchpoints, reinforcing brand recognition and consistency.
Define your buyer persona(s)
Your website isn’t primarily about you; in fact, it’s rarely about you. When visitors arrive, their main questions revolve around, “What’s in it for me? How could this benefit me?” Tailor your website design and content to speak directly to your audience’s needs by aligning them with your buyer personas. For example, as a marketing manager at a hotel aiming to attract new business, you might focus on five distinct buyer personas: an independent business traveler, a corporate travel manager, an event planner, a vacationing family, and a couple planning their wedding reception. Addressing their specific needs ensures your website resonates with your target audience. Make sure you clearly identify your buyer personas so you can shape your website redesign strategy around the website visitors that matter most to you.
A successful website redesign hinges on understanding your target audience’s behavior. Conduct user surveys, analyze feedback, and study heatmaps to gain insights into how users navigate your site. This data-driven approach ensures that the redesign caters to user preferences, enhancing overall satisfaction.
Protect your search engine optimized pages
Here are some tips for designing your new website with search engine optimization (SEO) in mind:
Document your most search-valued pages.
Leverage your marketing analytics to identify the pages that draw the highest traffic, attract inbound links, and convert leads effectively. Pinpoint the pages that cover the most influential topics within your industry. If there’s a plan to relocate any of these high-value pages, ensure the implementation of proper 301 redirects. This practice preserves the SEO value of the original page by seamlessly redirecting users and search engines to the new location, maintaining a strong online presence and user experience.
Create a 301 redirect strategy.
In reference to 301 redirects, their significance lies in preserving the traffic and link value connected to a specific page. Develop a spreadsheet to meticulously document and map out your 301 redirects, detailing the correspondence between old URLs and their new counterparts. Subsequently, entrust this document to a technically proficient individual for accurate and effective implementation. This ensures a seamless transition between old and new URLs, safeguarding both user experience and the SEO integrity of your website.
Do your keyword research.
Keyword-Rich Content Optimizing your website is key to outranking competitors. Conduct thorough keyword research using tools like SEMrush or Ahrefs to identify high-performing keywords in your industry. Integrate these keywords seamlessly into your content, meta descriptions, and headers for maximum SEO impact.
Assign a singular keyword or topic to each page on your freshly designed website. Once you’ve identified these keywords, apply on-page SEO best practices to optimize the content of each page. Additionally, consider supplementing your website with new content and pages specifically tailored to address those keywords and topics that may be overlooked on your existing site. This strategic approach not only enhances the visibility of your website but also ensures comprehensive coverage of relevant keywords in your industry.
Analyze the competition
Examine your competitors’ websites, noting both elements you find appealing and those you do not. This analysis aims to identify opportunities for improvement on your own site. After completing the competitive analysis, compile a list of action items outlining specific areas for enhancement and strategies to distinguish your website from competitors. This proactive approach enables you to not only learn from the strengths and weaknesses of others but also strategically position your website for a unique and competitive edge.
Take inventory of your high-performing content
Although a redesign offers an excellent opportunity to enhance your website’s performance, it also poses numerous risks that can adversely impact your online presence. Your current website likely houses valuable, high-performing content assets that contribute significantly to your marketing results. Losing the effectiveness of these assets due to a redesign can lead to substantial damage to your overall marketing performance. Careful consideration and strategic planning are essential to mitigate the potential drawbacks associated with a redesign.
For instance, such assets might include your:
- Most-shared or viewed content
- High-traffic pages
- Best performing or ranking keywords and associated pages
- Number of inbound links to individual pages
For instance, removing a page from your website that has garnered a significant number of inbound links may result in the loss of valuable SEO credit. This loss can substantially hinder your visibility on search engine results pages (SERPs). It’s important to note that many web designers may overlook this aspect, as they might not be versed in marketing or SEO. Remind them of this crucial step and facilitate the process by conducting a thorough site audit. Provide them with a comprehensive list, emphasizing the importance of preserving or updating critical pages on your site to safeguard your SEO standing. Luckily here at Rhonda Cosgriff Designs we offer Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Choose the right software
The final, and arguably most crucial, step in the website redesign process involves selecting the appropriate software to create and host your website. This software is commonly referred to as a Content Management System (CMS), and it plays a pivotal role in the development, design, and publication of your website to the global audience.
CMS software offers several benefits. Whether you are a novice in digital marketing or an expert web developer, a CMS simplifies the process of creating an aesthetically pleasing and functional website. The choice of the right CMS is contingent on various factors specific to your business, including your familiarity with different CMS options and the specific features required for your website redesign. Assessing these considerations ensures that the selected CMS aligns seamlessly with your business needs and enhances the efficiency of your website redesign efforts.
Streamlining Navigation for Enhanced User Experience
User experience is paramount in SEO rankings. Streamline website navigation to ensure a seamless journey for visitors. Implement clear and intuitive menus, reduce page load times, and prioritize mobile responsiveness. Google rewards websites that prioritize user experience with higher search rankings.
Leveraging Visual Content for Engagement
Below you can see an example of a video graphic we created for our digital marketing. It is sometimes easier to get ranked higher in the video results, but you need to have proper titles, tags, and schema markup.
Enhance user engagement with captivating visual content. Infographics, videos, and interactive elements not only make your website more appealing but also contribute to longer dwell times. As Google factors in user engagement metrics, incorporating visually appealing content can significantly boost your SEO standing.
Schema Markup
As part of the website redesign project, implementing schema markup is essential to enhance the website’s visibility and relevance in search engine results. Schema markup provides search engines with additional context about the content on the website, helping them better understand its relevance to user queries. By incorporating schema markup for key elements such as business information, product details, and reviews, we can improve the website’s appearance in search results and attract more qualified traffic. This strategic implementation of schema markup will play a vital role in optimizing the website’s performance and driving organic traffic to support its overall redesign objectives.
Mobile-First Design Approach
With a large share of internet users accessing websites via mobile devices, adopting a mobile-first design approach is non-negotiable. Ensure that your website is responsive and offers a seamless experience across various screen sizes. Google’s mobile-first indexing prioritizes mobile-friendly sites in search results. I am still finding that most of the site I am admin on for clients that desktop if still currently that biggest share but google put emphasis on mobile-friendly responsive website.
Building Quality Backlinks
A robust backlink profile remains a crucial factor in search engine rankings. Develop a strategic link-building campaign, focusing on high-authority websites within your industry. Guest posts, collaborations, and partnerships can contribute to a diverse and reputable backlink portfolio.
Monitoring and Iterating
Post-launch, continuous monitoring is imperative. Utilize tools like Google Search Console to track performance metrics, identify potential issues, and seize optimization opportunities. Regularly update and iterate on your website content to stay relevant in the ever-evolving digital landscape.
Online Reputation Management
As part of the website redesign process, implementing online reputation management strategies is crucial to safeguard and enhance the brand’s digital image. Online reputation management involves monitoring, influencing, and controlling the online perception of a brand or business. Through the redesign, we can integrate features and tools to actively manage customer reviews, testimonials, and social media mentions. By leveraging platforms for reputation monitoring and responding promptly to customer feedback, we can address any negative sentiment and showcase positive experiences. Additionally, the redesign offers an opportunity to highlight the brand’s values, achievements, and customer satisfaction to reinforce its positive reputation. Through proactive online reputation management, the redesigned website will effectively portray the brand’s integrity, credibility, and commitment to customer satisfaction, fostering trust and loyalty among its audience.
Get Started on Your Website Redesign Today
Now that you’ve covered the groundwork, you’re prepared to strategize, design, construct, optimize, launch, and analyze your new website. Implement these seven steps to execute a comprehensive website redesign that not only draws in more consumers but also captivates visitors and converts them into satisfied customers. This systematic approach ensures that your website aligns with your goals, stands out in the digital landscape, and delivers a compelling user experience.
Conclusion
In conclusion, a successful website redesign strategy is a multifaceted approach that considers user behavior, SEO optimization, schema markup, and continuous improvement. By implementing the outlined steps, Rhonda Cosgriff Designs ensures not only a visually appealing website but also one that dominates search engine rankings, leaving competitors in the digital dust.
