A new website is exciting but can also be overwhelming because there are so many moving parts. Our experience managing website redesign projects has taught us valuable lessons that we’ll pass along to you. This article breaks down three important aspects to consider when tackling a website redesign of your own.
1. Goals + Expectations
The first step of any website project is to outline the goals and expectations. When we have a new project, we start with a discovery phase that allows us to dive into your business and explore areas where you can improve. Some common questions we ask:
- What does the website need to do for your users?
- What features do you want that your current website is lacking?
- Where do you see your website going in the future?
Once we’ve taken a closer look at your company and goals, we lay out expectations. It’s important to define these so there are no surprises along the way. Two areas that are always worth mentioning are timeline and deliverables simply because they rely on one another. If we aren’t meeting certain deliverables such as payment or approvals, timeline will suffer. Making sure everyone starts out on the same page is key.
2. Content, Content, Content
What’s a website without any content? A blank canvas. This is often the most challenging part of a redesign project for clients, so it’s never too early to start planning out content. Content planning, writing, and approval should be done as soon as possible to keep your project on timeline.
Content isn’t just the text that makes up your pages. Content also includes media assets, such as images/photos, videos, and PDFs. It’s critical that you start planning for your media content before the project even starts, especially if you’ll be hiring a professional photographer. Even choosing stock photos can be a lengthy process and lead to project delays. Create a clear vision which assets you want to use, and where.
3. Ongoing Improvement
Pop the bubbly, your site is launched! Just kidding… you’re not done. Most of the time this is where people stop, but that’s a huge mistake. You can’t launch a new site, forget about it, and expect it to do well over time. Our philosophy is that a site is like a living, breathing thing, and we prefer not to launch a website and let it sit there. Instead, you should continuously improve on the performance of your website by evaluating, testing, and developing new content—all things that go into effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Conversion Rate Optimization (CRO) strategies.
That's a Wrap
Okay, we’re done rambling. Was that so bad? We hope this article allowed you to consider things about a website redesign project that you might have not thought about before. Are you ready to tackle your next website project but need help doing it? We’ve got you covered!
