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Tips for Redesigning your Website

Once in a while you need to redesigning a website. Whether it is the ever changing nature of the web or dynamic business requirement, a redesigning a website is something that every website should go through once in every 18-20 months. Here are some tips for the same.

Why redesign?

Whether it is the ubiquitous Google.com or a nondescript website www.xyzee.com, every website goes through a facelift while it exists. The reasons can be varied. Some want the site to be more user-friendly while others want it to give a more professional look. Some website redesigns are just because of the changing industry trends while others happen in favour of improving the branding of the company.  If your company website isn’t generating enough leads for sales, there might be a problem with its user experience. It could be a good reason to give the website a makeover and better optimize it for leads generation of sale. Before initiating on a redesign, it is important to understand what you intend to accomplish with it.  It could be any of the above discussed reasons, or something different.

What type of redesign?

After deciding on the type of redesign, you need to settle on the type of facelift that the site needs. While sometimes a simple rearrangement of images and content to improve UX will do the job, there are times when you can’t do without a major overhaul, in which case it requires considerable human and financial resources. Depending on up to what extent you are willing to go in terms of the budget and time, you can scale your redesigning plans accordingly.

What about the structure?

Redesigning isn’t just changing the banners, modifying the color palate and including new fonts. In fact, a major redesign is akin to creating a new website where you have the opportunity to reorganize the way your site is structured. Moreover, there could be underlying problems with the structure of your website which might be preventing it to be as successful as you would have liked it to be.  Improving the information architecture of the website will result in better visibility and conversions.  You can use the analytics information such as pages receiving maximum bounce rates, pages having best conversion rates to improve the architecture of the site.

What are the current trends?

Make sure that the redesign conforms to the existing as well new web design trends. Whether it is the flat design approach, making the site responsive or ensuring that the content matches the global standards, your redesign efforts should touch upon all these and more factors. A part of your web design job is also to ensure that the site stays in line with the changing trends of search engine industry and for that your will require to put considerable efforts as well time studying the concepts of SEO. However, it is necessary as it will have an effect on the visibility of your site in search results.

webdesigning-process

How is your site used?

Identifying the ways in which interaction take place within website and its users is an essential requirement to initiate an effective redesign. Studying how your site is being used will help you identifying the good areas and the problem areas of your site. Traffic statistics, analytics data will help you with information on various usage pattern of the site which will further bolster your redesign efforts.   Navigation is an important part of the whole process and the ease of navigation is directly proportional to the success of the design. The information about usage pattern such the entry and exit points, the conversion rates can reveal if there is any problem with your navigation and if it needs a fix.

Launching your redesign

The timings of launch have a big impact on the traffic and the brand value of your business. Small changes can be rolled out unannounced, but a complete makeover should be launched when the time is ripe. A big launch of the new design around holidays or at the start of a big related event can give your website that extra marketing punch without actually making the efforts for it. This would be reflected in the increased traffic and more buzz about your site.  Ultimately, your business stands to gain from better conversion rates.

 

 

About the author

Admin

Naaz is a web designer and loves to find new tips and tricks for creativity purposes and likes to share them with the people.

2 Comments

  • Saurabh thanks for the useful article. You are on target, every website should be redesigned at least every two years.

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