Many of us visit the website of our favorite brands to gather the information we need. We also see various websites to know more about the products before buying them. Businesses use their website as the primary communication mode with their audience. However, it can also be why visitors move away from your brand.
Various studies show that visitors make an impression of your website within the first few seconds. The website may need to change as you may have revamped it long back. There could be various reasons to update the site. The site must help you carry out your marketing activities effectively. This article discusses the website redesign checklist for you to consider before revamping the website.
Bring in the Stakeholders
The stakeholders must be roped in during the redesign exercise. They can provide significant inputs to the needed changes and form an integral part of the website redesign requirements. Remember to have only the required workforce on the project. Else, too many people will slow down the redesign project. It’s better to have resources from cross-functional teams who can provide their perspective for the website.
The stakeholders must research the competition and find out the new features on their website. Optimizing the navigation workflows requires closer understanding among the team. The organizational objectives must be in sync with the website too.
Undertake a website audit
It would help if you planned for a redesign by understanding the website’s flaws. A comprehensive website audit must create part of the website redesign checklist. First, it will provide a clear overview of the digital assets and the areas for improvement. It can help you assess the performance of each web page and inform you about the user trends and the content they prefer. Finally, it will validate the website performance against the pre-set KPIs.
It is essential that you address any issues in the content and whether they can affect your SEO performance. Several websites can help you undertake the SEO audit of the website. It can also help you ensure the website copy is as per the SEO best practices. For example, the content must refer to your audience more than your business. Overall, the audit must provide an idea of the status of the digital assets and the improvement areas.
Assessing the website content
When redesigning the website, assess whether you must refresh the content. The client’s problem areas may have changed or are facing new challenges. In addition, your business portfolio may have added new solutions that you must propagate. Remember that the content must target the audience and alleviate their issues.
The tone and tenor of the content must be in sync with your other communication modes. Will your brand be friendly or authoritative? Whatever it might be, there must be consistency across the website. Else, the visitors may be confused with the brand. Address the CTAs and ensure the visitor undertakes the action you wish.
Work on the SEO issues
When you have undertaken the SEO audit, you must have come across some necessary SEO activities. First, consider the SEO best practices like optimizing the keywords across the website. Several keyword search websites can help you shortlist the ideal keywords for your business. Then, use them strategically across the website while preventing the stuffing of keywords.
Use the meta tags by considering the keywords you have finalized. It will help the search engines to understand the content of the web pages. Also, use Alt text for the images to improve SEO brownie points for the website. The domain name is also critical for your audience to recognize the brand.
Incorporating the user journey
The website will be the prime source of leads for the business and must adequately map out the buyer’s journey. The project team must understand the user requirements, the queries that a visitor may have, and the best way to respond to user queries. You can undertake user reviews that can help you design the website accordingly.
The website must reduce friction in visitors’ minds and provide ample reasons to visit any web page. The audience can do different activities when they are on the website. You must understand the pages they will visit and create the workflows appropriately. There is software that can help you assess how visitors interact with your website. For example, a heat map tool can help find areas on any web page most viewed by them.
Define your website strategy
As your website is the primary means of communicating with the audience, the website must have a proper messaging strategy. However, there must be clarity in your messaging plan. There must be a storyboard that will inform the audience about how you will help them overcome their problems. It would help if you documented the story on the website.
The storyboard framework must outline the business values and overcome the customer’s issues. Once it is in place, you can easily frame the customer’s journey and the web pages. Once you map the user flow adequately, you can better optimize the customer’s journey.
Addressing the aesthetic issues on the website
When designing the website, you must address the design issues on the website. Have a list of items that you were to change on the website. When redesigning the website, consider the Google Core Web Vitals best practices. Then, brainstorm with the stakeholders about the changes you need on the new site.
Some critical factors to consider are the color and font used. The colors used must adhere to your overall branding characteristics. It will help to have continuity across all your digital and offline assets. Do not have many components on the navigation or avoid black hat design tactics. Create a list of activities for the website and forward it to the design team.
Optimizing the mobile website
Most of your audience will use their smartphones, and you must optimize the website for mobile phones. It is a critical component of the website revamp checklist. Remove clutter from the site and use known icons for the mobile site. Moreover, ensure the CTA tabs are within reach of the user’s fingers. Finally, check whether the font and size are readable for the visitor.
Only the required components must remain on the mobile site. The mobile screens are smaller, but scrolling is also an issue for users. It is another reason to keep the content within limits. You may have a read more option too. A mobile-friendly and responsive website makes it easier to rank higher during a keyword search.
Conclusion:
Businesses must understand that the website provides them with several ways to improve their revenue. Therefore, it is essential to improve the health of the site periodically. Set proper KPIs to assess whether it is performing to its full potential. Do some research on the competition and determine if they have introduced new features that are missing from your site. If there are such issues, it is time to revamp your website.
The stakeholders must pool their brains and decide on the features to include in the new website. There are various aspects involved in the website redesign. First, collate the website design requirements and forward them to the designer. Are you willing to redesign your website soon? Our experts will be happy to indulge in a discussion to understand your goals from the website. You can reach us if you plan a website revamp soon.
