6 Key Steps To Website Redesign Process For Small Business

A website redesign process is a detailed process of redesigning your site that includes updating and quality content, refreshing layouts, and improving navigation for improved conversions and site performance.

Your website serves as the public face of your company and serves as the foundation for your digital identity.
A website is divided into two parts: the backend and the frontend.

The backend, or code, is what drives the website and its functionalities, whereas the frontend is what determines how your site looks. A Website redesign process is a complete overhaul of either (or both) of these two components.

What Is The Best Way to Website Redesign Process?

Here are six things you should know before embarking on, and then completing, a website redesign process:-

1. Be Aware of  Your Website’s Most Valuable Pages

Consider the website redesign process to be like a home renovation. You wouldn’t begin a re-modeling project by swinging your hammer in random directions and knocking down walls without first double-checking to see if they were load-bearing, before embarking on a redesign, you should have a clear map of your website ecosystem and understand which pages must be handled with care and which can be torn down and rebuilt from scratch.

 

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• High conversion, high traffic pages are the most precious and valuable pages for your business. Any mistake you make here could have disastrous consequences, so approach them with caution and 10x more care than everything else while following the website redesign process.
• High conversion, low traffic pages are important because of the conversions they lead to, even if they don’t currently have a lot of traffic, which means you need to approach the redesign with caution so that you don’t break anything that is already working.
• High traffic, low conversion pages the traffic on these pages is high, but something is not working. Redesign with the goal of improvement in mind: because you aren’t risking conversions with the changes you make, you can be more experimental than in the previous two categories.

Changes to low traffic, low conversion pages are unlikely to be noticed due to the low traffic, and you’re not risking conversions anyway. Redesign as much as you want: these are the most risk-free.

Having less time? Watch the video below!

2. Understand Who is Visiting Your Website And Why?

Identifying your most valuable pages is one of the most overlooked aspects of a website redesign process, in our opinion. But, knowing what the important pages are is only half the storey: you must also know who is visiting them and why?

Google research from a few years ago revealed four main intent types that drive people to a website: ‘I want to know,’ ‘I want to go,’ ‘I want to do,’ and ‘I want to buy.’ Website visitors may come to your site as a result of this framework:-

• Are you interested in learning more about your company or products?
• I’d like to contact you! e.g. finding a physical location they can go to.
• I need to learn how to use one of your products.
• Are prepared to buy something from you.

Personas assist you in determining with a high degree of certainty:-

• Who your ideal customers are (less in the sense of ‘female, 42, has two dogs, lives in the city’ and more in the sense of ‘project manager who leads a remote team of 5′)
• What their primary intent or “driver” is when visiting specific pages on your website (for example, the project manager who leads a team of 5 may be “looking to buy a piece of software that helps her automate 30% of her tasks”).

3. Understand What Motivates or Demotivates Your Customers

Knowing website redesign goals, what your most valuable pages are and who is visiting them (and why) is a good starting point for a website redesign process, but it is not enough for a successful one. At this point, you still have two major knowledge gaps: what is convincing/helping customers to complete the actions they came to take, and what is preventing them from doing so.

Investigating barriers and hooks will assist you in developing a clear understanding of what:-

• works and what doesn’t work on individual pages.
• people think about the experience.
• Is almost preventing people from converting?
• Is the reason for their uncertainty?

4. Understand How Your Team Will be Affected and Involve Them Early On?

Rather than the usual company-wide grand unveiling of the redesigned website once it’s completed, consider involving people earlier in the process. 

Your website affects every aspect of your business, and everyone who works with it (and with customers) should be aware of what is changing. As an example:-

• UX and design teams will be responsible for ensuring that the user experience is not jeopardized and will have critical insight into which website design elements need to be added, changed, or re-done.
• Content and copywriting teams will be in charge of new copy and editorial decisions, and they will need to know where their new content is displayed and how much space they have to work with.
• SEO and development teams will want to oversee the technical aspects of the redesign, including a potential URL migration, to ensure nothing breaks on a page and existing search engines are still running.
• Sales representatives may currently use the website to capture target leads, and they will need to understand the intricacies of its updated structure.

Success and encouragement teams will need to know where to direct customers seeking information or help with a problem.

5. Understand How to Use Key Performance Indicators to Measure Success KPIs?

Metrics related to your bottom line are the most accurate way to see whether your changes were successful if you are a business selling online. 

They get right to the point: did your redesign benefit the company?

Revenue-related metrics are related to the goal of your website redesign process: to create a site that your target customers will enjoy and, as a result, buy from. They are as follows:-

• The total number of conversions
• Rate of conversion
• Average Order Value in Revenue (AOV)
• Customer Loyalty Value (CLV)

You can also use qualitative metrics to assess the effectiveness of your redesign. As an example:-

• Is the volume of support questions/tickets down since the redesign?
• Has the Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) improved? Are customers more satisfied with certain aspects of your service (particularly support)?
• Has your Net Promoter Score (NPS) increased, and has the distribution of your company’s detractors and promoters changed as a result of the new website version?
• Customer Effort Score (CES): One of the most common goals of a redesign is to make the new website easier to use. Do people think it’s easier to use your website now than it was before?

6. Understand What Needs to be Changed And How to Test It?

You’ve done your research, established your KPIs, and are ready to begin the redesign. The temptation to completely overhaul your site at once is lurking in the background.
However, a safer and more efficient approach is to start with the small things that can make a big difference, make changes, and test the results.
A/B testing is a good solution, particularly if you have enough traffic to achieve significant results. Take one of your new elements and compare its impact on your site’s goal to the current site. For instance, you could:-

• Check to see if the video on your homepage (which existing customers have already told you they like) can be moved above the fold. If it works…
• Check to see if social proof affects conversions on your checkout page. If it does…
• Continue with another modification.

How Much Does Website Redesign Process Cost?

The cost of the website redesign process can range from $1,000 to $10,000, depending on how you approach it and whether you do it yourself or hire a professional. Consider the following factors:-

a. Data

To guide decisions and changes, a good website redesign relies on quantitative data e.g., data from tools like Google Analytics, and qualitative data e.g., user personas and data from behavior analytics and feedback tools.

b. Talent

You can use internal talent—the team you already know and trust to help you stay within a budget for your website redesign. If you have an in-house copywriter, for example, they can write the content for you.
Hiring external talent provides access to expertise that your team lacks; yet, they will not have a deep understanding of your business in the same way that your current team does.

c. Site size

 Small Business Website Redesign Cost may be less expensive, depending on the complexity of redesigning each page. Redesign research will assist you in determining how many pages you need to redesign and how?

Best Practices for Website Redesign Process

Before beginning the redesign project, the following steps should be examined:-

a. Objectives Of The Website

Determine your website redesign goals to define your initiatives, targets, and measures for the website redesign process, as well as the metrics you want to use to achieve your goal.

b. Audit of the Effectiveness of a Website

First, you must audit your internal web capabilities. SWOT analysis, for example, can be used to assess the effectiveness of your website. Perform an industry analysis to identify trends and best practices.

c. Identify the gaps

To identify any gaps in website infrastructure, create a checklist that includes people, processes, and technology. To improve the UX, for example, you can identify specific elements of the web page, such as a misplaced CTA button, a shady web form, or anything else that is distracting or confusing the visitors.

d. Make a Road Map

Determine the steps and technologies required to close the gaps. For example, you can A/B test problematic elements and fix them in the new wireframe design.

Top Mistakes to Avoid in Website Redesign Process

• Failing to Establish Long–Term website redesign goals.
• Failure to Select a Technology 3: Failure to plan an effective redesign strategy.
• Failure to Pay Adequate Attention To Content 5: Failure to simplify website design.
• Failing to calculate the total budget for the redesign.
• Failing to optimize your website design for lead generation.
• Failure to design a functional and mobile-optimized website 9: Failure to set a realistic launch date.
• Failing to make the website responsive.
• Failure to analyze previous version analytics and feedbacks.
•  Inadequate testing
• Failure to deploy following the initial launch date.