You’ve probably experienced it before. You walk into a physical store, where the decor is outdated. The place is extremely cluttered and you can’t find the product you’re looking for. Even the staff is nowhere to be seen.
What did you do in that situation? You probably walked out of the store and looked for another company.
The same attitude applies to Web sites. An outdated or malfunctioning Web site can literally drive customers away. Fine for your competitors, but not so fine for you…..
In this case, a website redesign can be the solution you need. Such a redesign not only provides a more modern and orderly look, it can also make you sell more. This increases customer satisfaction and also boosts your reputation.
What is a website redesign?
When you think of a website redesign, you probably think of renewing the design of the website. This is true, but a redesign is much more than just a renewal of the design.
A website redesign is a strategic process, where the technical basis and structure as well as the visual elements of a website are closely examined and improved. The goal? To develop a website that inspires confidence, better meets the needs of your target audience as well as your company’s goals and vision.
When is a redesign necessary?
So, when is such a redesign necessary? Determining this can sometimes be tricky. The world we live in is dynamic and changes by the day. Websites that don’t keep up with this risk becoming outdated. As a result, they may lose or miss out on valuable customers.
So a website redesign is actually a hugely valuable investment in your business. This is not about changing for change’s sake, but about developing a platform that moves with the times and supports your business in its development and growth.
Checklist: When is a website redesign needed?
What makes a redesign successful?
A website redesign has not been successful when attention has only been given to the design of the website. It is important to have a good balance between how the site works, user experience, visual appeal and the goals of the business.
When this balance is there, you will walk away after the redesign with a website that is not only beautiful, but also very effective. A platform that attracts visitors, captivates them and then drives them to action!
Do’s for a successful website redesign
You want to get started on your website redesign. Nice! But how?
Conduct a thorough audit
A successful website redesign is always accompanied by a thorough audit. Effective changes cannot be made until you fully understand what is and is not working on the current website.
An audit gives you insights into the strengths and weaknesses of your Web site. Thus, it is the building block of the entire redesign process.
Such an audit looks at a number of points:
- User behavior
Analyze how your website visitors navigate through your website. Where do they drop out? Which pages draw the most traffic? You can perform an analysis like this with tools like Google Analytics. - Technical performance
It is important to check things like loading speed, mobile functionality and SEO performance. When there are multiple problems in the technical area, a website redesign is easy to justify. - Content audit
A content audit helps you gain insights about which pages are performing well and which are performing less so. Based on this, determine which content to take to the new website and which to remove.
Set clear goals
Do you want to boost your website, but have no goals? Then there’s a very good chance your investment will yield little return. A website redesign without concrete goals is like a journey without a destination – you might walk, bike, sail or fly, but you’ll never get anywhere.
So setting clear goals is hugely important. A goal is only really good if it is specific and measurable. Examples of good goals are the following:
- Increasing the conversion rate by 20% in six months.
- Reducing the average load time to less than three seconds.
- Improving your SEO ranking for specific keywords.
So ask yourself questions like “What do I want to achieve with a new website?”
With concrete goals, you not only know exactly where you are working toward, but you can easily demonstrate the impact of your redesign. This way, it really becomes worth the investment.
So make sure you know where you want to go before you leave.
Scalability and future-proofing
When doing a website redesign, you need to look beyond the current needs of your website. Think carefully about the future as well!
A future-proof website is one that does well not only now, but also in a few years! It is a website that grows with you and your business and can easily adapt to the latest technologies and user needs.
How to future-proof your website.
- Take advantage of a modular design
This allows you to add new features to your website at any time, without having to rebuild your entire website. - Take advantage of API integrations
API (Application Programming Interfaces) integrations allow your Web site to work seamlessly with other tools and systems your business uses now (or in the future). Think of payment systems or marketing tools. - Choose cloud hosting
Cloud hosting allows you to adjust server capacity based on your needs. Does your website suddenly generate a lot of traffic due to a successful marketing campaign? Then cloud hosting ensures that your website keeps running smoothly.
So when doing a redesign, think carefully about the scalability of your website. With this, you’ll enter a future where you won’t have to stress over an outdated site.
Focus on speed and mobile-friendliness
We live in a world where more than 60% of Internet traffic is through mobile devices. This will only increase in the future! So it is more than important that your website works well on mobile devices.
Not only should your website design be responsive, your site should be fast. After all, website visitors expect a website to load within two seconds. Is this not the case? Then chances are very high that they will leave your website. So you only have one chance to leave a good impression.
To improve speed, consider:
- Lazy loading
Allows images to load only as they come into view, which can drastically reduce load times. - Optimized image formats.
Use modern formats such as WebP to minimize file size without losing quality. - Caching and compression.
These techniques reduce the time it takes to load content.
Applying the above do’s will ensure that your website redesign is future-proof, effective and strategic.
Don’ts that can sabotage your redesign
Of course, it is essential to pay close attention to the do’s of a website redesign. But getting certain things out of the way is equally important. Perhaps even more important!
No consideration for SEO
SEO (Search Engine Optimization), also known as search engine optimization, is the backbone of all your website traffic. Yet this is something that is often overlooked during a website redesign. This can have negative consequences on your new website…
When SEO is not taken into account, it can cause your organic traffic to decrease significantly because search engines no longer recognize or understand your website.
There are some mistakes that are often made:
- Removing pages without redirects
When popular pages are removed or changed without setting a 301 redirect, it leads to 404 errors. Search engines as well as visitors can no longer find the content as a result. This is hugely damaging to your ranking in search results. - Neglecting keywords
(Re)writing your content without properly considering the keywords your target audience searches for can prevent them from finding you in Google’s search results. - Do nothing about slow website load times
Google is a big fan of fast websites. The faster your website is, the higher Google shows your site in its list of results. If a redesign increases load time due to large images or poorly optimized code, you will drop in the rankings.
So invest some time in researching SEO as well. What exactly is it and what effect does it have on your website? When you know this, your website redesign will go a lot smoother.
Blindly following all trends
You can’t escape it — trends. Many of these trends are hugely appealing, but not all trends remain relevant for long. ‘Trends’ like accessibility and integration with AI and machine learning will remain relevant in the coming years. But who says design-related trends will last long?
A website redesign based entirely on trends can lead to a website that looks nice for a short period of time, but may not be as functional, may not connect (forever) with your users or may be completely detrimental to your brand identity.
Therefore, always choose a web design that has a timeless base. You can easily combine this with subtle elements of trends that fit well with your business and target audience. This will keep your site both visually appealing and functional.
Mimicking your competitors
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel, but that doesn’t mean you can copy everything blindly. It’s smart to always take a look at what competitors are doing as far as their websites are concerned. Where many go wrong, however, is copying competitors’ strategies one-on-one.
This can have major implications for your brand:
- Your brand loses its authenticity
Your competition’s success is based on their unique vision, goals and target audience. Just because something works very well for them doesn’t mean it will work for you. When you adopt something from a competitor, you lose your own authenticity. - You don’t take into account your target audience
Your competitors have designed and strategized to fit their target audience and customers. By imitating them, you are no longer taking into account what your specific target audience wants. As a result, you run the risk of losing them. - A missed opportunity
Actually, imitating your competition is just one big missed opportunity. Instead of positioning yourself as unique and a leader in your industry, you come across to your target audience and peers as a follower. You want to avoid that reputation!
Wanting to do everything yourself
A website redesign can be a big investment financially. For that reason, many people try to get started on their own first. We get it!
Nevertheless, it is important to realize that in most cases a website redesign is a complex, technical and time-consuming process. It may seem like a good idea to do everything yourself, but in the long run this choice can often turn out to be more expensive because certain errors will still need to be fixed at a later date.
There are several reasons why we recommend asking for help:
- Lack of expertise
Redesigning your Web site requires an enormous amount of knowledge. For example, you need to know a thing or two about UX and UI, web development and SEO. If you don’t have this expertise, you run the risk of technical errors, poor user experiences and low conversion rates. - Time intensive
In most cases, it takes a lot of time to tackle a website redesign yourself. This allows you to focus less on other important tasks within your business. - Missed opportunities
Seasoned professionals see opportunities and improvements that you yourself may overlook. By not taking advantage of their experience and expertise, you cut yourself in half.
Want to talk to us about your website redesign?
By avoiding the above don’ts, you ensure that your website can take it now and in the future! Don’t take risks and invest in a proven approach that really works.
A redesign that really works!
A successful website redesign is not only about a beautiful and modern look, but also about developing a platform that supports your goals, moves with the times and provides your visitors with a positive experience.
By conducting a thorough audit, setting clear goals, building a scalable and responsive website, make sure your website is ready for success. Remember, it’s important to consider SEO and avoid blindly following trends and competition. And hey, if you have the resources … by all means outsource a redesign!
