Every business these days need to have an online presence. Unless you have an effective online presence, you cannot beat the competition. And one thing that is essential to make your online journey a success is a website. However, it is crucial to understand that a drab and dated website cannot make your online presence effective. What your business need is a modern, engaging, attractive, functional, and visible website. Your website is the face of your organisation, and you need to present the best you can to your customers and prospects to create a good first impression among them.
It is important to understand that a sloppy web design can hurt your business seriously.
You cannot realise your online goals if your website is unimpressive, outdated, difficult to navigate, and unresponsive. If this is your story, then you need to get your website redesigned.
Yes, when done in the right way, a website redesign can change the look and feel of your website. It can give your website the teeth to steer ahead of your competitors in the online landscape.
So, should you opt for a website redesign or not? Let us walk you through why you should consider a redesign, where to get started with a redesign, and why do you need to make your website mobile-friendly.
Why should you consider a redesign?
As a website owner, it is vital to understand why you should consider a redesign.
So, how do you know that your website needs a redesign?
Some of the things that can help you understand that it is time to get your website redesigned are:
If your website design is outdated, it is time to get your website redesigned. Yes, it is extremely difficult to get the desired results if your design is not up to the mark. Hence, if your website design is outdated, you need to redesign your website.
Another important thing to consider is your conversions/ sales. If there is a decrease in your conversion/ sales, you might need to get your website redesigned.
If you receive user experience or design-related complaints, it is time to get your website redesigned.
Another thing to consider is branding. If your website doesn’t fit your larger branding goals, then you need to get your website redesigned. Conversely, if you are rebranding your business, you need to consider redesigning your website.
If your website is facing any one of these issues, you need to consider redesigning your website.
Where to get started with a redesign?
Once it is clear that your website needs a redesign, it is vital to know where to get started with a redesign.
First, it is important to assess your needs – the number of pages you want for your new site, the number of unique pages you want, and what are the functionalities you want. You should also establish your goals so that you know how to realise them.
Next, it is vital to understand user personas. You need to find out who all visit your website and what do they want. Try to understand what they want and what you need to do to improve their experience.
You also need to understand how you are presently getting your visitors. Generally, you would know what works best for you – tradeshows, outbound sales team, or organic traffic from Google. It is important to know how you generate your traffic because it is going to impact your web design.
Also, find out how much time you need to complete the project. Whether you are doing it on your own or have hired a website redesign agency, don’t rush through the process. But one thing you should be careful about is content creation. Make sure that you have the relevant content when you need it.
Another crucial thing is to allocate a budget for the redesigning project. You need to know how much you can spend on the project before you take the plunge.
Yet another thing is to do a bit of research. Find out what your competitors are offering, and how you can improve your website to beat the competition.
Also, if you have to outsource your website redesign project, decide on the website redesign company that can successfully redesign your website, and designate a person who can oversee the project.
However, as a website owner, it is important to understand the process of website redesigning. Here are some of the things that you should keep an eye on at every stage – content stage, design stage, SEO, and development stage.
Content stage
It is vital to consider the sitemap of your website first. The sitemap is a list of all the pages on your website and the way they will relate to one and other. Start by analysing your current sitemap.
Then, an audit is done with the help of Google Analytics to find out how your current visitors are interacting with your website.
Next, a new sitemap is created based on the audit report. The process includes adding new pages, removing the redundant ones, and restructuring the pages that will best suit your website.
After this, you need to think about the content. You can pull out all the existing content from the website and place it in a central repository like Google Docs.
Next, work on the images. Collect all the stock photos you need for the project and keep them in a safe place like Google Drive.
Design stage
If you are getting confused about what to do first – the design or the content – you need to understand that you should work on both of them together.
Work on Homepage design first. When you settle your home design, it means you know what you need to do in all the other pages of the website in terms of fonts, colour, and the general design language.
Use design mockups to see how your website would look like in reality. If the agency you are hiring doesn’t show you the mock-up and presents to you the final design straight away, then you need to raise your eyebrow. It means the agency is working on an existing design template.
You can also use a wireframe to get an idea about how your website would look. While mockups are the exact replicas of the websites, a wireframe is a minimal outline of the website.
It is also important to select fonts carefully. Fonts have a huge impact on your web design because the majority portion of your website has a written text. It is advisable not to select more than two fonts for your website redesign project.
You also need to select the colour scheme very carefully. Make sure you don’t opt for more than two to three primary colours and two to three accent colours. Generally, contrast colours do well on websites.
You also need to select the images with caution. Make sure that they add to what you are trying to say.
You also need to know something about page templates. Not all your website pages can be unique. Many of your website pages would follow the same structure and layout, and these are page templates. You need to know that the more you try to create unique pages, the more you will have to pay, and the more time it will take to complete the project.
SEO
Also, when you get your website redesigned, you have to keep in mind the SEO factor. You should first assess your current website’s SEO status. It is always advisable to outsource your website redesigning project to a company that can factor in SEO.
Look for your top pages that are ranking well so that you can focus on them while redesigning your website.
You should retain as much of your URL structure as you can, and then use 301 redirects for different URLs.
Don’t play around with pages that are already ranking well on search engines like Google. What it means is this – you should not change the content, title description, and meta tag of pages that are ranking well on search engines. The bottom line is you don’t need to change anything if your page is ranking well on search engines.
Development stage
It is in the development stage that your website moves from the picture stage to a coded website on the internet.
The developer codes the website and then uploads it to a test URL.
Next, the website is integrated into a CMS after the front-end part of the development is complete. It is an important process because it helps you to edit and update your website.
Mobile design is an important aspect, and it is done in the development stage. Make sure that you use the mobile-first design so that your website displays properly on all the devices.
Also, ensure that you don’t bypass the quality assurance process. It is important to test the website again and again.
Another important aspect is training. You need to ensure that you know how to edit and update your website. That is why it is essential to get proper training. A reputed website redesign services company will train you adequately to do all of this and more.
Why should my site be mobile friendly?
As a website owner, you also need to know that it is extremely vital to have a mobile-friendly website. You should not expect to do well in the online arena if your site is not mobile-friendly.
Most of the people these days communicate and search for information on their smartphones. Today there are more smartphones than personal computers. Most of us access the net on our mobile devices. Hence, if you don’t have a mobile-friendly website, it is extremely difficult to do well in the online landscape.
If your site is not mobile-friendly, it will be difficult for your users to access it on their mobile devices. Mobile-unfriendly sites are difficult to read – your users will have to pinch and zoom in to read the content. Mobile-unfriendly sites offer poor user experience, and users don’t think twice before abandoning such sites. On the other, mobile-friendly sites offer excellent user experience because users don’t have any problem in reading and navigating these sites.
Mobile is crucial to the success of your business. Whether you sell products online or blog, it is vital to offer the best user experience. And, you can do it only when you take into account your mobile users. That is why making your site mobile-friendly is so crucial for your online success.
If you are looking for a website redesign services company, you can get in touch with vStacks Infotech now. We have been in the web design business for a long time to know what works best for clients in most of the verticals.
