If your website is old, outdated, or just in need of some refreshing, you may be considering doing an entire website redesign. While this could be a great option for you, there are some things that you might want to consider before you take on a task such as this.
To help you in getting yourself prepared and organized for this endeavor, here are three things to consider before going through a whole website redesign.
Don’t Forget About All Your SEO Work
Especially if you’ve had your current website for quite some time and have put a lot of effort into your SEO work, you’ll want to be careful with what you do with regards to redesigning your website.
According to Richard Foulkes, a contributor to Moz.com, if you throw away all of the content and URLs from your current website as you create a newly designed website, you run the risk of losing all of the hard work that you’ve put into growing your online presence through SEO. Knowing this, you’ll want to be sure that you redirect your old URLs to go to the new URLs that you’ll be creating with your new website. This way, you’ll be able to keep that content and the credibility that your website has gained even with designing a brand new website.
The Amount Of Testing
While it can be exciting to roll out a brand new website all at the same time, you might want to be careful when making this many changes at one time
When you do a whole website redesign, online marketing guru Neil Patel shares that it can be very hard to know if the changes you’re making will prove to be positive or negative for you. So before you start making a new design or putting in sweeping changes, you may want to test out some templates or design elements on your current website so you can feel more confident in the changes you’ll be implementing as part of your new design.
Clearly Understand Your Messaging
In the buzz of creating a whole new website, it can be easy to lose sight of what your main intent and goals were behind your desire to create your new site in the first place
To ensure this doesn’t happen to you, Sarah Millard, a contributor to Business2Community.com, advises that you clearly understand the messaging of both your brand and your website before you jump into your redesign. Then, periodically as you’re going through the redesign, make sure you look at everything that’s being created through the lens of staying true to that original messaging.
If you’re about to begin redesigning your website, consider using the tips mentioned above to help you cover all of your bases beforehand.
