Times change, and so do design trends. Websites are usually the first impressions customers have with your business. Website design is the face of your company. Let's think about ourselves, when we break a tooth we run to the dentist, or when our hair gets pretty messy means that our hairdresser will be receiving some calls. The same happens with websites. Website redesign is a process in which we change the weak and old elements in order to have a fresh final product.

Things to take into account before having a website redesign

I know that introduction got you very excited but wait. Before you contact any designer here you have 6 crucial elements you must think about before making any rush decisions.

1. Understand what a redesign involves

You must know what you are going to do. Website redesign means you are going to update your business’s site so it's more friendly with new design standards. When you redesign you can just change the visual appearance, and the whole coding will suffer some significant changes. This can result in a huge (positive) visual identity change, with fresh features.

Another similar term is “website refresh”. We can think of a website refresh as makeup, minor changes that result in an appearance modification. However, redesigning would be more like cosmetic surgery, where the website will suffer structure modifications and the functionality will be somehow different. A website refresh implies that the functionality and main structure of your website are intact, with minor changes being applied. For example, changing the color palette of your site pages and changing the typography

2. Analyze your current site

Redesigning your website can be a large process, so, before you make any rush decisions you have to first analyze what isn't working for your website. You should ask other people to help you see what elements are disturbing. When you recognize the errors you have to think if you need to redesign these or directly eliminate them. There are plenty of analytic tools such as Ahrefs that will help you see what's positive and negative about your site, based on user interaction.

3. Analyze your competition

Once you have identified the weak spot your website has, it's time to do some industry research. Navigate your competition websites, you have to find what works for them and try applying it to your own product. You have to demonstrate why you are better than your competition. Understanding how your other sites work will help you embrace trends and new practices that are being followed in your industry. You will also be able to recognize their errors and avoid them to have a better final product.

5. Know the key design elements

There are certain design elements that are crucial for a website redesign process. These are fundamentals in general website design. If you are thinking of hiring a pro, you should engage these elements so you can truly tell the designer what you want. Some of these are color, typography, images, and animations. These last can be considered as more superficial, however, there are other elements such as navigation and layout that are crucial for a good redesigning.

6. SEO Friendly

Website redesigning is an opportunity to up your game and make your site discoverable amongst the other sites out there. Optimizing your website for SEO (search engine optimization) during the website redesign process will help you rank higher on Google searches. Meta descriptions, titles, permalinks, a good structure, and defined keywords.

These are just some of the crucial SEO booster elements.

Reasons why website redesign is important for your business.

We've already talked about crucial things to acknowledge before having a website redesign, Now it's time to understand why should we have one of these.

1. Accessibility

Accessibility is crucial for customer attraction. If your website is full of barriers, you must eliminate them to create a better user experience.

2. The First Impression

Your web design is the face of your business on the internet. First impressions must be simple, nice, and apealing. Trust me, if your main page isn't well designed you won't have a lot of customers.

3. Brand update

Your brand will evolve. You'll start selling new products or offering more services, this is why your website must keep up. Maybe you need to completely change your identity, but it's more common to just redesign certain elements so your product stays in line with the last industry trends.

4. Clear path

Your website must take the users step by step to achieve what they want to do on your website. Everything must be clearly labeled. Think of it as a process in which you'll have to guide users to make them customers.

5. Telling your Story

You have to show why yours is a trustful business. It is important that you include your company's story in your website design. You should transmit what your business does, how, and why you do it. Talk about background, passion, and objectives.

6. Schema and keywords

You must ensure that your website has defined and concise keywords. This will bring order and also boost SEO. Search engine crawlers will identify the important content on your site by making sure your text uses the right schema.

7. Site speed

Load time is one of the ranking elements Google uses. You have to use the algorithm as a useful tool and not as a barrier. Site speed is also fundamental for a good user experience. Who is going to like a slow site that takes minutes to load? absolutely no one.

8. Hire the right designer

Website redesign is a process that can not be done by anyone. Of course, you can try it yourself, but you'll probably make some mistakes that won't help your website's growth. A professional will assure you of efficiency. You could either hire a freelance designer or an agency, such as TDP. The Design Project offers a complete design service where you have a team of professionals hearing you out so you can have a great final product.

Final thoughts

Website redesign is a necessary process that will keep our product fresh and friendly with the latest trends. In this post, we've highlighted 6 things you should think about before having a redesign, and we've also stated the 8 reasons why you should have one. After all, if you want to keep succeeding you must stay fresh and updated.