Website redesigns happen more often that we think. Most businesses tend to feel that a good website redesign allows them to capture quality leads. Though that is part of the equation, there is no proof that says a redesign bumps up your lead generation ratio. This brings us to the fact that a website redesign is more about the quality of the processes that it involves rather than a visceral, art remake of your website. The very process of redesigning a website is an exciting one, allowing you to try out new technologies, processes and incorporate changes that you wanted on the website for a long time. Quite literally, it is starting off on a blank canvas.
Things you need to do before a website redesign
Research
Make sure you invest a lot of time in researching various aspects that you will be targeting. These include keyword research, market research and industry mapping. Do not start without having all of these reports at your disposal as they can provide valuable input while designing.
Content
Content plays a significant role in a website redesign. Since the latest Panda updates from Google, it is valuable to have interesting, concise and informative content that leads the customer to exactly what they want, rather than beating around the bush or worse, content farming.
SEO
As is always, SEO is a prime factor that features in website redesign. Make sure that you use the latest and the best in coding and software. Your code should always enable web crawlers to breeze through your content and categorize you as per your requirement. Ensure that your coding is compliant with the latest marketplace standards such as section 508 and W3C compliance. Speed is crucial to a websites survival today. If you are in an industry such as e-commerce, it is vital to invest a little more time on page load times. It can be all that stands between business and you.
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10 things to consider while redesigning your website
Now that we have seen what you need to do on a standard basis, here are 10 aspects of website redesign that need to be taken care of while going about the process.
1) Qualify your goal and purpose– once you have clarity on what you need from your website, let that be the basis on which all other aspects are built up on, a principle foundation document, if you will.
2) Qualify your current asset portfolio– run an analysis of your current web collaterals. Check which of them have been giving you good results, keep them as is, or just redesign them without major changes.
3) Bench marking your current metrics– This allows you to have a clear picture of where you stand currently. These metrics can include visitor traffic metrics, bounce rates, leads generated, and highest traffic pages, time on site and current SEO ranking for various keywords of interest.
4) Channel based conversion ratios– Quantify which channel is working well for you and which isn’t. For example, your organic search record may be high, but your social presence may be low. Create content and appealing offers that take visitors to your social profiles. Segregate the channels that bring you converting leads and those that bring only casual visitors.
5) Competitor analysis– Competitors can give you amazing insights into your own work. Create a comprehensive analysis report of all your key competitors and compare them with your own metrics. This will give you a clear picture of where you’re going wrong and what needs to be done to stay competitive.
6) Create a content strategy– Have a clear picture of the type of content that needs to go up on the website. This can be possible if you produce a buyer persona document. Create content that is centered on these buyer personas so that you can lead them effectively through the lead generation program. Have a blog that shares content on a regular basis.
7) Optimize your site for SEO– SEO is essential for any website. Understand the latest in SEO and match them with your requirement; code accordingly. Never forget to create a 301 redirect repository. As we mentioned earlier, your keyword strategy needs to be smart, not expensive.
8) Every site has its own selling proposition– Find that MVP product or service and create routes for your clients to find them easily. It is also seen that many businesses tend to focus heavily on their best selling product which can be disastrous when demand goes down. Strike a fine balance between the big sellers and the others.
9) Call to action– Invest a significant amount of time on sharpening the CTA’s that lead your prospects to your pages. These need to be smartly designed with compelling content and placed at the right place and the right time.
10) The extras matter too– Blogs, e-books, resources such as articles, whitepapers, brochures, newsletters, and other pages such as offers, demos and product manuals all need to be given due time and importance.
Testing your website is also an important aspect of website redesign. Today with the viewer going mobile, it is essential to make sure that all pages on the website are optimized for mobile and various screens. Involve all teams in the redesign process. The redesign team should not be restricted to the designers and coders, but also the copy writers, SEO team as well as the social media and the sales team. Their input lets you see the various differences in your website.
