A website is an important marketing tool for business. But over time, even well-designed sites need to be optimized and relaunched. Properly thought-out updates can increase the number of new users and sales by several times. In this article, we will look at the most common situations when a business needs UI/UX design services, in particular, to redesign a website.
What is a redesign?
A redesign is a complete relaunch of the site, it is not only about the picture, but also about changing a product in whole. As part of this process, we can work on:
- the structure and architecture of the project,
- content,
- the visual component of the site,
- functionality,
- technical capacities.
The result of a redesign is always a new version of a product or project that is better and more useful than the previous one.
Website redesign includes activities such as:
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- site audit;
- usability analysis;
- development and implementation of an updated design, and functional software modules;
- layout and content of new pages;
- introduction of new opportunities for users (portfolio, blog, registration form, social networks, special offers, etc.);
- transition to a more convenient and modern management system (CMS);
Reasons to change a website design
The reasons for a website redesign vary depending on the specific marketing goals of your business. The most common ones are website rebranding, increasing traffic, generating more leads, and expanding functionality to improve user experience.
The scale of redesign assignments is determined by business objectives. For example, if the business does not make changes to the brand, then minor updates are enough for the site: changing the color palette, creating a blog. If a business has changed its marketing strategy, then tools are needed that will allow you to completely change the structure and design of the site.
To give you a better understanding of what happens in the redesign process, let’s take a closer look at the most common goals and what you need to do to achieve them.
You want to rebrand your site.
Websites need to be convenient for users. If a person clicks on a link from the home page and ends up on a page that looks completely different, they may be confused or even think that they were redirected to a malicious site. Even small differences, such as different navigation menus in different sections, can frustrate visitors.
Such inconsistencies in design are quite common, particularly on sites that have merged with other microsites and are edited by different authors. If your website has evolved significantly over the past few years, then it might be time to revisit and implement brand guidelines and styles to help create a consistent look and feel. We are talking about the choice of color palette, fonts, typographic hierarchy, button styles, iconography, and many other design elements.
You want to increase site traffic.
Your website’s great design won’t matter if no one sees it. To drive traffic, you need to optimize it for search.
A great way to achieve this is to make a blog part of your content strategy. Websites with a blog are more likely to rank high in search engines.
When creating a strategy for a website’s blog, do research concerning the popularity of keywords. It is needed to define what specific words and phrases people use in their search engine queries. They must be included in the headings, site header, articles, page meta descriptions, and URLs.
As your blog grows, you can link new posts to existing pages and posts that are relevant to the topic. It is required to show users and search bots the relevance of the content on your site.
If you have already built your site on a publishing platform or website builder, you may need to upgrade to a CMS with more advanced content management features. To do this, it will be possible to use platforms with built-in SEO tools that help optimize content. Otherwise, you will have to set up integration with third-party solutions such as Google Webmaster Tools or SEMRush.
You want to convert more visitors into leads.
If you have enough traffic to your platform and want to convert users into leads, you need to create a plan with a luculent conversion strategy for your site.
Tell your prospective customers about the values and goals of your brand. Your website should tell visitors about your views and thoughts concerning your target audience. Then it prompts them to take the next step toward buying a product or a service.
Another great way to convert visitors to leads is by offering small business website packages. By breaking down the cost of digital services and organizing them into several easy-to-understand pricing tiers, designers can help clients quickly decide what services they need and how much it will cost them.
You want to expand the functionality of the site.
The website should be simple, clear, and easy to navigate for both site visitors and your marketing team.
As traffic and staff grow, you will likely need to expand the site’s functionality to meet the growing expectations and needs of customers and employees. For example, you might want to add live chat, create and manage multilingual content, or run A/B tests right on your dashboard.
If you want to integrate smart filters or other features into your platform, you have to find a tool that has effective built-in functionality and the flexibility to integrate with external software. It can continue to be used as the site grows.
You want to adapt your website for mobile devices.
Since mobile devices are very popular, search engines have adapted to them. If you try to search Google on your phone, you’ll see the search results for mobile pages first. Therefore, you need to make sure that your website is optimized for both desktop and mobile devices.
Final thoughts
Website redesign is a task that requires great care from the performer. When we start a project from scratch or reanimate a completely dead web resource, we have a lot of opportunities to maneuver: it’s not so scary to spoil a white sheet. But, if a live site with stable traffic and a more or less decent rating is being redesigned, then everything becomes like mine clearing: one careless move and positions can collapse, significantly harming the business.