Nothing can bring a website to life like a great redesign! New graphics, user-friendly interface and new features can really make a website exciting again. However, there are some important things to keep in mind before you jump headlong into a redesign.
1. Boredom is not a good reason to redesign.
Remember, even though you look at your site every day, your customers usually don’t. Be aware that redesigns can introduce a level of frustration to frequent visitors who have already figured your site out. If you redesign, make sure the potential for user frustration is a worthwhile inconvenience for the added benefits. That brings us to the next item.
2. Make sure your redesign significantly improves your site.
If you’ve lived with your site for two or more years, chances are that you’ve made a mental note of things you would have done differently, or features you would like to have added. Improving the site’s usability should rank number one. Increasing sales and/or prospects should rank second. Once you’ve made certain that your ideas will improve these two areas, then focus on the graphics and new features.
3. Don’t lose your search rankings!
Changing file names and locations might make the site easier for your visitors to navigate, but it can result in losing hard-won search engine ranking. All search engines have an catalog of the pages in your site, and each page accrues ranking with the search engines over time. If a file is moved, the search engines won’t know to transfer the page rank from the old page to the new page, and you will be left at square one all over again. And while the new page is being indexed, the search engines may still lead potential customers to a broken page with the dreaded 404 Error. There’s no faster way to lose a customer than to keep feeding them broken links. As a knowledgeable web firm, we know exactly how to create a redesign while maintaining and frequently even improving your search engine results.
4. Out with the useless, in with the useful.
In a perfect world, all sites have a record of analytics. Before you redesign, install Google analytics, or make sure that you have at least six months of analytics data. Going on gut instinct is good in a pinch, but it’s better to have hard facts about which pages on your site are visited frequently, and which pages are just dead weight. Having analytics data will allow us to define a better sitemap, make recommendations for content changes, and clean up pages that are cluttering your message or getting in the way of conversions.
5. Choose a web firm experienced with redesigns.
This point can’t be stressed enough. Owners of existing sites have very different needs from those who have never had a website before. Existing sites have a history of use, frequent visitors, as well as a record with the search engines. Concentrating on only the face of the site can have dire consequences if these other factors are not taken into consideration.
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About the author: Jeune Ortiz is VP of Marketing and Creative Director at future-ink. With more than 20 years of experience in graphic design and marketing, Jeune brings extensive knowledge and creativity to each website and internet marketing solution to grow your business.
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1 Comment
Better Uno | August 10, 2010
I had no idea my site site could loose rankings if the redirects are not properly issued. I have a CMS and work on my site and change pages all the time. I didn’t realize I was hurting my rankings. Thanks for the info.