Business owners know there’s only one chance to make a good first impression. And for many customers, the first impression is your website. If your online presence isn’t up to date, aesthetically on-point, and user-friendly, you’re leaving money on the table. Research shows that 75% of users will judge your brand credibility based on your website design.
Are you ready to give your online presence a refresh but aren’t sure what to expect from a website redesign? We broke down everything for you, so you know what to expect.
1) Analysis of What’s Working (and What’s Not)
A website audit kicks-off the website redesign process. Your design team should take a thorough look at your visuals, content, navigation, UX, UI, and analytics to see how your website has performed. The more info they have on what’s working and what’s not, the better they can assess the next steps.
During the redesign process, your team will also look at gaps in your backend, the technical aspects, and overall structure.
2) Establish Objectives and Goals
Determining the goals for your website and the impact it will make on your business is crucial to the redesign process. If you don’t know what you want to accomplish with your website redesign, you won’t command the results you want. Let’s say your objective is creating valuable content on your website, raising your credibility, and improving conversions for your business. The goal might be to increase organic traffic, conversions, and repeat customers.
3) Discuss Concepts and Best Practices
Now that you’ve established the goals of your website redesign, it’s time to sit down with your team to discuss the next steps. Your designer and developers should walk through a process of ideas and concepts and ask for your input. They’ll also go over best practices in website redesign and how to approach the layout, site navigation, and even the colors for the best user experience.
4) Set Timeframes and Expectations for Deliverables
Once everyone agrees on a framework for the website redesign, it’s time to discuss the next steps and timeframes. Your design team should provide timeframes for when to expect deliverables, which could include screenshots, copy samples, or login to a test site. A good web team also knows how to set client expectations.
Keep in mind a website redesign takes time and will go through different revision processes to create the asset you want. Ask as many questions as possible to understand the process and next steps.
5) Complete the Onboarding Process
Before the hands-on work starts on your website, you’ll need to complete the onboarding process. Your design team will need logins for your hosting and website to begin working. If you’re uncomfortable handing over the info, there are tools like LastPass that allow a third party to login into your website without actually knowing your password.
6) Review & Offer Feedback
Once your design team completes the first version of your site, they’ll ask you for feedback and comments. Take the time to look critically at every part of the website, from content and its placement to site navigation. This step will continue as long as there are revisions and requests. Just make sure you understand your contract and if there is a limit on revisions.
7) Discuss On-Page SEO
A good design team understands the power of on-page SEO as part of a successful site launch. On-page SEO is a technique that optimizes web pages to improve a website’s search engine rankings. Your on-page SEO will likely include:
- Title tag
- Meta description
- Headlines
- Image optimization
- Alt image data
Depending on your business and goals, your design team may suggest additional SEO before hitting ‘publish’ on your site.
8) Launch Day
It’s launch day! At this stage, your website redesign should look incredible and be ready to unveil to the world. You should have a gorgeous, well-designed website with great user functionality that attracts and retains visitors. But if anything is amiss or you change your mind about something, website changes can still be made and rendered relatively quickly.
9) Test, Review, Revise, and Repeat
One of the most critical parts of the website redesign is testing your site, reviewing the results, making any last-minute revisions, and repeating the process until it’s right. Your web design team will do their tests and reviews on the backend before you see the results. However, it’s still wise to come to the final stages of the redesign with a critical eye.
10) Determine Add-On Services
As your website redesign wraps up, now is the time to discuss any add-on services with your developers. Ongoing SEO can help supercharge your organic traffic. Digital Nomad Designs also develops content and digital marketing strategies to help get your website seen by targeted customers.
Next Steps
A website redesign is a powerful way to stay competitive, attract more customers, and nail your conversions. Want to talk to the team at Digital Nomad Designs about your website redesign, SEO, and marketing goals? Book a free call here to discuss your project.
