Your 6-Step Website Redesign Project Plan That’s Easy as Pie
With over 1.6 billion websites on the Internet, you’ve certainly got your work cut out for you if you want to have one of the best. The truth is, by the time you’re finished reading this post, thousands of new websites will be born. That being said, it’s best to create a website that is perfect for your audience — and stands out from competitors.
But what if your website is outdated? What if your company went through a redesign and you need a new website to go with it?
For whatever reason, if you’re looking for a website revamp, it’s important to come up with a solid website redesign project plan.
Planning ahead for your new website is crucial to its success, especially if you’re redesigning a large website. If you’re working with a website redesign agency, they’ll be able to help you along every step of the way.
On this page, we’ll fill you in on how to approach a website redesign, give you a step-by-step website redesign project plan, and fill you in on what can affect your website redesign project timeline.
If you’d like to speak with a specialist before reading on, reach out to us at 888-601-5359!
6-Step website redesign project plan
Let’s talk more about what your website redesign project plan will look like for both you and your designer.
Step 1: Get to know your current site
When you hire an agency, they’ll want to know everything about your current site — what you love, what you hate, and what you want to change. This is an important first step of your website redesign project plan because it creates a strong base for your project.
Without this information, it’ll be hard to get the results you want.
Step 2: List your goals
You’re redesigning your website for a reason — is it because your bounce rate is too high? Your page speed is too slow? Your color scheme and graphics are outdated? Your navigation is confusing?
No matter what it is, to accomplish your goals with your website redesign, you have to do two things — realize your goals, and list them out.
Step 3: Create an action plan
The potential goals we listed above are pretty general — after all, there are tons of ways that you can improve your bounce rate or site speed.
However, you need to determine exactly what you want to do with your design to improve key metrics.
For example, is your current navigation extremely confusing and causing people to bounce from your site? That’s action item number one!
Do you suspect that your time-on-page is low because users aren’t interacting with your content? One way you could accomplish the goal of an increased time on page would be to opt for custom graphics and videos on your site pages.
No matter how you plan to accomplish your goals, think of them through the redesign lens: “How can I accomplish this goal with design?”
Step 4: Launch the redesign
After you’ve chatted with your designer about your goals, how you want to accomplish those goals, and what you’re looking for with your design, it’s time for them to get to work!
When the design is finished and you approve the changes, your agency will launch the new and improved version of your website. But your work is far from over.
Step 5: Analyze the results
Building or revamping a website without analyzing the results is like throwing all of your hard work down the drain.
There is a reason you wanted to redesign your website — whether you weren’t seeing the sales you anticipated, or your design was just outdated. Ensuring that you’ve fixed those issues is crucial, and you can do that easily with analytics.
Step 6: Consider other strategies to boost results
Redesigning your website is an undertaking that can have dramatic results, and if you want to see even more dramatic results, your designer will likely recommend other marketing strategies that pair well with website design.
These could include search engine optimization (SEO), content marketing, and more. This is the perfect time in the website redesign project timeline to decide on whether or not you’d like to take advantage of digital marketing.
How to approach a website redesign project plan in 4 steps
So you’ve decided that the worn out graphics and slow load time on your website is cause for a redesign, and you’re probably right. Google takes site design and user experience into consideration when ranking sites — which means that conversions can be directly attributed (to an extent) to your website’s design.
But where do you start? If you have questions about how to approach a website redesign, we’re here for you.
Check out our step-by-step suggestions below:
Step 1: Determine what you’re looking for in a redesign
Do you just want to redesign your blog or are you looking for a total site refresh? Either way, it’s crucial to determine exactly what elements need a revamp up front, so that you can determine things like budget, timeline, and who to hire.
Beyond that, you should make a list of the details you hate about your site and specific changes that you want to see.
Step 2: Determine your budget
You’ll thank yourself later for determining your budget up front and sticking with it. It’s important to be realistic when it comes to setting a budget, so you’ll want to do your research. For example, if you’re only looking for a blog redesign, it’ll be much cheaper than an entire site redesign. So, keep that in mind when setting your budget.
Step 3: Start calling website redesign agencies
Hiring a professional web redesign agency like WebFX is the best option when it comes to refreshing your website.
The elements involved in a site redesign can be daunting and tedious, and if you’re in any sort of time crunch, an agency will be able to do the best work for you in the shortest amount of time. Keep in mind that by short, we don’t mean one week, but it’s likely that an agency will be able to finish your redesign before you could on your own. You’ll want to do your research to determine the best possible redesign agency for you.
Step 4: Hire an agency
After you’ve done your research, it’s time to hire an agency that you believe will do the best job redesigning your website based on your budget, your timeline, and the changes you want to see.
You should also keep in mind that before signing on any dotted line, you’ll want to speak directly with the agency!
Things that can affect your website redesign project timeline
Many people ask how long it will take for their redesign to be up and running. However, there isn’t really a hard-and-fast answer to that question.
The answer depends on a few things:
- How many people are working on your redesign? If you work with a huge agency, you’ll have a team of specialists working on your project and may have the final product sooner than you would if you work with a smaller redesign company.
- What is the extent of your redesign? Are you looking for a change in color scheme or a total CMS rehaul? Do you want to add a few bells and whistles, or do you want to add tons of bells and whistles? These items can affect the website redesign project timeline.
- How many pages does your website have? If you’re redesigning a large website, it will most likely take a little longer. Depending on the way your site is built, changes will need to be applied to each section of your site, which can take time.
- Do you want to change a lot of little details? If you’re looking to update things like site images, navigation, multimedia, etc., your website redesign project timeline will increase in time.
WebFX can help create a custom redesign project plan for you
Whether you know exactly what’s causing your website to be unsuccessful, or you need a bit of guidance, WebFX is here for you.
Our web design specialists have won over 50 awards for their incredible designs, which were all prefaced with an effective website redesign project plan.
If you’re ready to dive headfirst into your website refresh project plan, contact WebFX online, or give us a call at 888-601-5359!
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