By my current workload, it is clear to see that “that time” of the year has started. While everyone’s complaining about business slowing down in favor of year-end parties, us web designers have our hands full with clients requiring website redesigns. I guess companies reflect on the results they’ve achieved, and they consider new things that can be done to enhance business.
Of course, here at Unbound Website Designs, we recommend that you keep your website updated all year round. That’s why we’ve designed our website management packages, that offer the following benefits:
- Software is kept up to date all year round, to avoid conflicts, malfunctions, and security breaches.
- When you need small changes all through the year, we’re only an email away.
- When you do need a redesign for branding purposes, it’s a much quicker (and more budget-friendly) exercise.
However, you’re here now and you want and need a website redesign. Now what?
5 Steps to Website Redesign Decoded
Step 1: The Planning Stage
One of the main reasons why some companies require website redesign once a year (at least) is because they skip this crucial step.
I urge you to take the time to plan properly. By properly deciding what you need first, you will have the framework for a site that lasts for years, delivering the results you require.
This step involves:
- Defining your brand standards
- Setting goals you wish for the website to achieve
- Researching your target market
- Analyzing your competitors
- Creating a sitemap
- Procuring and optimizing your content
Step 2: The Design Phase
At this stage, you need to decide on the design. There are 3 main options:
- WYSIWIG (what you see is what you get) Template: This is a cost-effective option which supplies you with templates which you can customize with your own content and images. However, it doesn’t offer much in terms of customization freedom.
- Genesis Themes: You know already that I’m a big fan of Genesis themes. By customizing a theme, you save money on development, but you still have plenty flexibility with regards to the appearance of your site.
- Design from Scratch: When you design from scratch, you have unbound freedom with your design options, provided you’re a professional, or that you have the money to hire a talented designer.
Step 3: The Development Phase
During the development phase, you will combine your vision with advanced technology to make your site work for you:
- You will add eCommerce functionality, member portals, and more.
- You will integrate your site with customer relationship management and other functionality.
Step 4: Quality Assurance
When you have completed steps 1-3, you’re almost ready to unveil your new and improved website redesign.
However, it is important to first:
- test to ensure that every link and every functionality works as it should.
- test to ensure that your site appears uniform across a variety of browsers.
- fix any bugs that come up during your testing.
Step 5: Launch!
Your new website is ready for launch.
When you have completed all 5 steps, you will have a brand new online home, even if it as the old address.
We recommend that you either set aside time at least once a week to update your site with new information, images, or blog posts, or that you get in touch with us to learn about our website management packages.
Contact us today to find out more about redesigning your site for the new year!