Are you considering a website redesign?
Website Redesign Checklist #1
Do you really need a redesign?
- Has the purpose of your website has changed?
- Is it not working as well as it should?
- It has grown organically and now has been unwieldy, and the homepage looks cluttered?
- Is the website slow? Does it need to be responsive?
- Is the imagery dated?
- Have you changed your branding?
- Are you getting found on Google?
What to consider and communicate to the web designer
- What are you trying to achieve?
- What do you need your web designer to do and why?
- What is your budget?
- What are the most important aspects of the redesign?
- What is your deadline?
Also, read our article Overhauling a Website or Starting Afresh?
Planning the Website Redesign
Website Redesign Checklist #2
Here are some more factors to consider as part of the redesign plan
- Consistent Branding
- Effective Content
- Quality Code
- Search Engine Optimisation
- Site Architecture
- Social Media Engagement
- Ongoing maintenance
Bearing in mind that depending on when you last updated and invested in your website, resigning an existing website can be as expensive as starting again.
Not sure if you need a completely new website or just some tweaks?
Not sure where to start or what you need?
Request a free website audit and a phone consultation for some practical next steps.
Protecting your existing SEO
Website Redesign Checklist #3
Some steps to protect your existing search engine ranking that we will undertake with you:
- Copy the live site to a development server
- Set the website to no follow, no index, so the development website is not indexed by Google.
Review of existing website
- Diagram the existing structure and content of the website
- Collect your top ranking landing pages
- Do keyword research and document keyword phrases against existing content
- Highlight content gaps and create a content creation schedule
- Review site architecture
Implement changes to the new website
- Set up a new theme and design
- Create a new homepage and internal templates
- Create new structure including required redirects
- Update internal links
- Add new content
- Optimise images and check alt text
- Review page speed
- Check responsive design
- Testing
Move to Live
- New website copied to live
- Remove no index
- Update new sitemap to google
- More testing
- Track keyword ranking
- Check Google Search console for errors
- Track ranking for several months
If you’re considering a website redesign, I would love to help. I offer professional web design services and will undertake the redesign with a view to preserve and improve your SEO.