Does your website look a little… outdated? Do you cringe every time your homepage loads? Do you often look at other websites and wish yours looked half as good? Do you constantly receive complaints from employees or even customers about how it performs?
If any of these scenarios sound familiar, it might be time to change your website design. To help you decide if it’s time to redesign your website, and to make the process easier for you, we’ve put together this complete guide to redesigning your website. The guide covers everything from setting goals and defining a strategy to launching the new look.
We recommend that you read this guide and keep it handy while you work on your redesign.
Why change the design of your website?
There are many reasons and factors that can influence the decision to change the design of a website. Here are some of the most common ones:
– The website looks old or outdated
– The website no longer functions properly or the original features are no longer relevant
– The website does not display properly in newer browsers or on modern devices
– Complaints are being received (from customers or employees)
– The amount of content or products exceeds what the current design can support, The number of content or products exceeds what the current design can support
– The current website design is hindering the achievement of goals
– You may have one of these reasons to redesign your website, or you may have several that are not on this list. Whatever the reason, you probably have a pretty good idea of what problems your current site has and maybe even have an idea of how to solve them with a redesign.
However, before you pull the trigger on a redesign, you should be absolutely sure that a complete site overhaul is what you really need. Redesigns can be expensive and time-consuming, and you’ll have to maintain your current website while the new look is being developed.
In some cases, instead of redesigning, you can invest in a website “refresh”. A refresh involves updating some existing elements of the site or making minor adjustments that will improve its appearance and functionality without requiring a complete redesign. It may be better to invest in a refresh if:
– You do not receive complaints about your website
– Your site still works well in all browsers
– The changes you need can be made with a simple edit (e.g., changing colors, switching to a different font, new logo) or with just a few hours of development (e.g., adding a footer to the entire site, adding a blog), changing part of the homepage design, adding a blog)
– Your site is still hitting sales goals
– The best way to determine if you can invest in a small update rather than a full redesign is to write a list of what you want to change and then provide it to a website development company. They’ll be able to assess your needs and tell you if you can get what you want out of an update.
Most website owners find that updating their websites once every year or two helps to keep them looking current. However, this assumes that the right foundation is already in place. If your current site isn’t mobile-optimized or your CMS just isn’t working the way you want it to, it might be better to push for a complete redesign.
Still not sure if you need a full redesign for your website? That’s okay – keep reading! In several new sections, we’ll tell you what you need to do when preparing for a redesign, how much a new design costs, and how the process usually works. This information will help you make a more informed decision. Now that we’ve covered the reasons that typically drive a redesign, let’s talk about one of the most important, yet most overlooked, parts of the redesign process: strategy.
Strategy may seem like a strange component of a website redesign. You might think that all a website should do is look good, right? Why do you need goals if the updated design will work much better than the existing layout or theme?
Unfortunately, too many website owners go “crazy” when it comes to redesign. They think they need a new website, but they’re not really sure why. They pay thousands for an entirely new CMS and layout, assuming that their new, bright, modern site will better engage customers and significantly increase sales. But when they launch, their only real goal – to sell more – is not achieved. In fact, sales seem to drop. Why is this?
In fact, trusting your intuition is one of the worst things you can do with a redesign. Your decision should be supported by real-world data, such as customer complaints, high bounce rates, or low mobile purchases. In addition, everything you do in the redesign process should take into account the needs of the client, not the wishes of the owner. A beautiful website doesn’t always lead to sales, especially if its customers can’t find what they came there for.
That’s why it’s so important to have a strategy when it comes to a new website design. A website redesign strategy defines point by point what you want to get out of your online presence. This strategy will guide the elements and presentation of the site and ensure that everything you or the designer does will lead to success and customer satisfaction.
How to create your redesign strategy
To determine your strategy, start by writing down the biggest things that are hurting your current website design. These should be things that directly affect your site’s performance or elements that are frequently complained about. As painful as it may be to read, no website redesign strategy is complete without outside criticism. Here are some examples:
– Site search doesn’t show relevant results
– Not enough space for all menu pages
– Home page is too cluttered
– Payment looks outdated
– Now, using your list (which is probably much longer than ours!), write to the right of each question what you think would solve these problems:
Site search doesn’t show relevant results = better search
Not enough space for all menu pages = bigger drop-down menu
Home page is too cluttered = cleaner home page with fewer larger images
Checkout looks outdated = redesign checkout
These items on the right are your “must-haves”. Even if you can’t specifically address each problem – “redesigned checkout” is vague, but you can leave the details to someone else – you know that these are things you can’t live without.
From this list of must-haves, you can make a kind of mission statement for your website:
We want the new company website to have a clear homepage with fewer images, a large menu to accommodate all of our pages, a search that allows users to easily find products, and a redesigned checkout process that looks more modern. That’s your strategy! Pass this sentence on to a web design company and it will be much easier for them to come up with something for you than with instructions like “make it better”. Another thing you can do to define your strategy – and guide any design work – is to set goals for your revamped website. For example, let’s say that your bounce rate is currently around 85% and you want the new design to bring it down to 70%. You can make a list like this:
– Reduce bounce rate by 15%
– Cut cart abandonment rate in half
– Increase daily conversion button clicks by 25%
– Daily number of visitors 1000
– 300 purchases per month
Can an updated website design help you achieve all of these goals? It can. Design plays an important role in your site’s overall appeal, so even if some of these goals may look more like something you’re trying to achieve with SEO, you can certainly try to move the needle with a redesign. You might be surprised at the impact a redesign can have on sales.
With your needs, goals, and strategy in hand, the last thing you can do is research. Look for websites that meet your criteria or resemble the “dream site” in your head. If you know you want your site to have a beautiful drop-down menu, look for sites that do; if your favorite e-commerce store has a fantastic checkout, pay attention to that. Bookmark these sites and share them with your designer – they’ll appreciate a clear guide and examples.
To help you better understand what your redesigned website might need, Section 3 will go over some of the most common redesign requests and show you some examples of websites that have these features. (Feel free to use them as examples for your own project!)
While every redesign is different, there are a few common requests that designers hear when working on a project. Some of these requests may be in line with trends, while others are more evergreen.
Let’s take a look at some of the most common redesign factors and some examples of how these elements might look on a completed website.
Redesigned navigation
New navigation is one of the most common requests from those who want to change the design of a website. It’s usually a sign of growth: at first, simple menus or sidebars are fine for most categories or product options, but when new pages are created, they simply don’t fit.
A navigation redesign usually involves creating a new menu or set of options at the top or side of the website. Navigation at the top is the most common, but some sites with many options, categories, or products may supplement this with an additional menu on the side or even at the bottom. Additionally, redesigned navigation options usually include the addition of “navigation crumbs” or small indications on the page that show where the user is on the website.
The ideal website navigation should be fully integrated with the CMS so that any new pages or options can be easily added without changing the code or any manual development. New additions should also be easy to sort or change in lists, again without any special coding, so that anyone managing the website can easily expand the navigation as the website grows.
If you run an e-commerce website or have a large amount of content available to your visitors, you’re probably already considering this option. However, if you are considering changing your navigation design, ask a few customers how they feel about it. Is it easy for them to find what they want, is it clear and simple? If not, start thinking about changing your menus and links to better meet their needs.
Redesigned checkout process
Do you have sky-high cart abandonment rates? Are your products being bought, but not on your website? If so, your shopping cart may be to blame.
The checkout process can literally interrupt a sale. If a customer is ready to make a purchase but can’t figure out how to do it or has problems along the way, they won’t hesitate to leave your site for a competitor. A redesigned shopping cart and checkout is a common request for this very reason: website owners want to turn shoppers into customers and will do anything to keep them on the site.
Some e-commerce websites rely on simple single-page checkout systems, and there is evidence to suggest a reduction in bounce rates when a single page is used. On the other hand, there is also evidence to support a decrease in bounce rates for those who switch to a simple multi-page checkout. So choosing the right method will depend on a number of factors, including whether you require account registration or how much information customers are asked to provide.
Before you change the design of your checkout or shopping cart, carefully review your existing data. Do customers leave your checkout immediately? If so, it may indicate that the process is too complicated. But if they just leave as soon as they see the page with the shipping charges and options, you probably have a problem that can’t be solved by redesign. In this case, knowing where abandonment is happening is the only way to answer the question “why?”
Responsive or mobile-friendly design
Responsive design is quickly becoming a must-have element of websites. Many sites, large and small, are being redesigned to better support browsers and devices of different sizes and to capitalize on the growing trend of mobile e-commerce. If you’re not familiar with responsive design, it’s a website design that properly scales content to display on any size browser, whether it’s on a mobile phone or a large computer monitor. Responsive design ensures that your site’s content will display correctly and be easy to read regardless of the device used to access it. It also ensures a consistent experience across browsers so that users visiting your site from different devices can easily find what they’re looking for. An alternative to responsive design is a secondary “mobile website” that is displayed for users of mobile phones or tablets. If your website has extensive navigation or is too complex or complicated to make it responsive, you may want to invest in this option instead.
A mobile website works first by determining how a visitor accesses your site. If the browser sends a signal that it is being used on a mobile device, the website can automatically switch to a mobile version. If you visit a website on your mobile phone and see an “m” in front of the URL, it means you are seeing a mobile version. Mobile versions usually have simplified navigation and options, making it easy to access the most important content or features.
The mobile version is shortened to provide the most relevant content for those visiting the website from their phone. It’s also important because this particular site may be visited by those who are traveling or on the go, so putting the most frequently visited or desired pages on the mobile homepage ensures that visitors can quickly find what they need.
If you’re experiencing high bounce rates or cart abandonment on mobile devices, you should consider investing in a responsive design or at least a mobile version of your website. This can keep visitors on your site longer and improve their visitation, while ensuring a consistent experience across devices.
Updated graphics
If your site looks like it’s stuck in the early 2000s or appears even older, chances are it’s mostly because of your graphics. While a few changes in color and layout can make a big difference, you can potentially make an even bigger impact on the “newness” of your website by updating your logo, homepage graphics, product images, and more.
Updating graphics and images can completely change the look and feel of a site, even if the navigation and overall structure remain the same. Many sites rely on homepages with easily modifiable “content blocks” that allow you to swap out promotional or seasonal images or scrolling banners that link to different parts of the website. Using such options gives you the ability to significantly change the design of your homepage whenever you want. To get the graphic part of the redesign done, you’ll need to work closely with a graphic designer or the graphic design part of your chosen agency. Don’t be afraid to take risks, but avoid any changes that might isolate your audience: someone buying a tractor is likely to leave a website with flash animations or huge photos that would be better suited to a women’s fashion store. If your audience needs information above all else, make sure your graphics don’t hide it! Modern design elements
Website design trends are constantly changing. What is fashionable now may become old news in a few years or even just a few months. Design agencies usually hear the word “modern” in their client requests, but what it means can be different for everyone, and the meaning changes frequently.
If you want your website design to last a long time with just a few simple changes, modifications, or updates, avoid following every trend too closely. Your visitors may be impressed by a modern design, but keep in mind that they have reasons to be there – and if your design elements prevent them from finding what they want or taking an action, they will leave.
First of all, do what will help your customers. Yes, deploying a responsive website with parallax scrolling and incredibly large graphics may earn you a few links or even design awards. But if it doesn’t solve any problems or make it easier for visitors to do what they came there to do, is it worth it? Strive to find a balance between functionality and fun without losing sight of your goals
Better calls to action
No matter what kind of website you have, there’s a good chance that it has some kind of call to action. “Add to cart” is a call to action, as is “contact us,” “click here to download,” or any other message that encourages action.
If you’re not seeing enough clicks or completions around your calls to action or CTAs, it could be that your website design is contributing to this. If your call to action is hidden, hard to find, or doesn’t stand out from the surrounding content, you can change your design to better support these important messages.
For e-commerce sites, this can be as simple as changing the color of the add to cart button, making it more visible, or moving it to a different location on product pages. You should also make sure that your CTAs have sufficient support – for example, making the price of the product more visible with the “add to cart” option or clearly stating what happens after someone clicks the “Contact Us” option on your site.
While better calls to action are sometimes a simple matter of rewriting your copy or making small changes to your approach, sometimes an updated design is the best way to drive clicks and action. If your most important call to action isn’t making any impact – whether it’s “add to cart,” “sign up,” or something else – consider changing the design to give it more focus and attention.
Special effects
Finally, for website owners who really want to impress their visitors or make their site stand out from the competition, some special effects or features may be required. This can include everything from flash animations to image galleries and horizontal scrolling. As a rule, whenever any special effects or features are requested, special development or design requests must be made. These features can significantly increase redesign time as well as costs. This is especially true if the requests you make go beyond what the company you are working with can cover. Avoid using any special effects or custom designs simply because you think they are “cool”. Every single element of your website should be inspired by data and customer needs. So if a flash animation or a room design tool will benefit them, go for it! But think carefully before using any special effects or custom development because if it doesn’t work, you’ll still be stuck with the bill. Now that we’ve gone over these common elements of a website redesign and given you some examples of what a redesign might include, let’s take a look at the cost of a new website design – and why it’s so hard to get an answer to the question “how much is it all going to cost?”
This is a fairly common question: “How much does a website redesign cost?” Unfortunately, as you might have guessed, there is no easy way to answer this question. The cost of a redesign depends on a number of factors, including:
– Design requirements (style of the new site, interactive elements or graphics needed, whether a new logo is also desired, etc.).
– Number of pages on the site
– Whether a new CMS is also needed
– E-commerce/shopping cart features
– How quickly the redesign needs to be completed
– In general, the cost of a redesign will be very close to what you would pay for a completely new website, excluding any copywriting costs, significant development, integration, etc.
A very simple website redesign with a small number of pages, no e-commerce features, and no new development required can cost only a few hundred dollars. On the other hand, a complex e-commerce website redesign with hundreds of products and pages that need to be migrated to a new CMS can cost thousands of dollars.
The cost of a website redesign is different for everyone. While some companies may provide a “base” price, keep in mind that each additional requirement or component will increase the cost. Look for a company that will provide you with a detailed proposal and quote upfront instead of trying to sell you a one-size-fits-all redesign plan. This way, you’ll have a better idea of what you’ll have to spend right away instead of being surprised by the total cost at the end of the process.
However, the money you spend may not be the only cost of modernizing your website. There are other costs that you should carefully consider before pulling the trigger: – The cost of any downtime during the CMS or design change
– The time it takes to train sales staff, customer service representatives, or other employees on how to use the updated website
– Any time you or other employees may need to spend on the process
– The investment in additional features or functions you may decide to do at the same time
– On the last point, it’s very easy to say “while we’re at it, let’s do this too!” That’s not a bad thing: an updated website design can provide a great opportunity to implement long-awaited functionality like a new shipping rate plugin, a physical store locator, or updated copywriting. However, you probably didn’t budget for these “little things” and they can quickly add up. Try your best to keep your redesign within its scope, and plan to implement these additional elements later, unless they are extremely important to your site’s performance.
The cost of website design can be overwhelming, and it’s hard to spend money on something you have no idea will be successful. Having said that, you probably already know if you really need a redesign. If your website is outdated and losing business because of it, it will be quite easy to justify the costs.
Try not to pull the trigger on a redesign because of personal feelings. If your CEO says the site is “boring” or you hate looking at it, but conversions are still off the charts and no customer has complained about it… well, why mess with a good thing? In this case, find ways to update the site without changing the customer experience, such as updating your logo or even just changing the color scheme of the site.
When your new design is launched, you may be surprised by the results… and not necessarily good ones. Perhaps some of the new pages aren’t performing as well as you’d hoped and conversions are low. On the other hand, maybe your traffic is off the charts, but it doesn’t look like your site can handle it. What can you do about it?
In addition to A/B and CRO testing, which we’ve already discussed, here are a few ways to solve common problems that arise during a website redesign.
Slow website speed
One of the most common complaints after a redesign is completed is that the new website is very slow. Why is this happening and what can be done about it? Typically, a new website will have more graphics, features, and pages once it’s completed. This can put additional load on the server. Combine this with any increase in traffic and you have a recipe for a slow website.
Fortunately, this is usually quite easy to solve: contact your web host and ask about upgrading your server. Allocating more bandwidth or upgrading the available hardware resources is usually all that’s needed to get your site up and running again. It may cost a little more, but in the long run, the reduction in bounce rates will be worth it!
In general, your website’s homepage should only take a few seconds to load. If it takes longer than 5 seconds to load, you should reduce the amount of content on it, compress any images, or refresh your server (or even switch to a different host).
Server failures
If you’re pushing your site or server to its limits due to a significant increase in traffic or resource requirements, you may experience crashes or even failures. Again, the solution to this problem is usually quite simple: contact your host to ask about increasing bandwidth or upgrading your hardware to better meet your site’s requirements.
That being said, not all server issues are caused by high traffic. If your server starts to crash regularly or your database is unstable, there may be a problem that is out of your control and not the result of the redesign. Your host should be able to tell you what’s wrong. If they can’t or won’t help, it’s time to look for a new one.
Decrease in sales or leads
Although the goal of a website redesign is usually to increase sales by improving the customer experience, sometimes sales drop for a short period after the redesign is implemented. This can happen for several reasons.
– Does your redesign meet your customers’ expectations? Is it fast, easy to navigate, and searchable? – Have your rankings for keywords that matter to you dropped? – Are you in the middle of a server move? This could result in a temporary loss of traffic. – Have you 301 redirected all your old pages to the new ones? – Have you inadvertently copied, deleted, or changed your site’s most important content? With careful planning and knowledge of how your redesign will affect your website visitors, a redesign should, in the best case scenario, cause only minimal traffic disruption. However, if any of these issues occur, you may see a decrease in traffic instead of an increase. Fortunately, it’s relatively easy to fix all but the first problem. A brief drop in traffic and sales is natural if you’re switching servers, and it will resolve itself in just a day or two. For the rest, make sure your site content is not duplicated and that nothing was missed during the migration, and check your server logs to find 404 errors that are not redirecting properly. In case of ranking issues, find any places where content is missing or can be added, check page titles and headers, and make sure that every page on your site has a link to the navigation, header, or footer.
The first problem – customer dissatisfaction with the updated design – is the worst, and it takes time to resolve. There’s nothing harder to fix than unhappiness, and investing in a new website that no one likes can feel like a slap in the face. However, if you’ve followed our guide, we doubt you’ll have this problem. As long as you start the process with a clear idea of how an updated design will help your visitors, you should be on the right track to increase traffic, not lose it.
Confusion or complaints
If you have a dedicated customer service department, you may hear a few complaints from those who knew the old website inside and out and now have trouble finding what they need on the new site. To address these concerns, consider organizing a training or Q&A session to answer questions, concerns, and complaints. Don’t ignore customers who call, email, or post on social media to complain or express concerns about the redesign. Customers who take the time to tell you what they don’t like about a website should at least be thanked, even if you don’t agree with their opinions or ideas. Sometimes this insight can be incredibly valuable and can lead to much-needed improvements or inspire great ideas for future additions. Be open to all feedback you receive. It can be frustrating, especially if you’ve invested a lot of money or time in a redesign, but this honest feedback can potentially make your site better than ever.
Downgrade in the rating
Finally, it is not uncommon to hear about a drop in search engine rankings for important keywords or phrases after a redesign. As we mentioned above, it could be because the site is missing the necessary content, because 301 redirects are out of place, because the bounce rate is higher, and so on. If you’re not sure why your relaunch has affected your rankings for certain terms, dive into Google Analytics and look for patterns that might indicate a spike in bounce rate or any other metric. Compare the content of your old pages with the new ones. Did you rewrite your homepage copy and inadvertently remove all your keywords? Are your title tags “better” but actually much worse? Unfortunately, A/B testing isn’t very effective for SEO simply because you’re trying to measure search engine satisfaction, not customer happiness, and there’s not always a match. If you can’t figure out why your rankings have dropped, contact an SEO company like PulseWEB for help. Good luck and work only with quality specialists! Conversions to all:))