What is website redesign?
It means improving the look and functionality of your site so that visitors will have an enhanced experience and be more likely to buy/hire/consult with you. There’s no question: websites need regular updates and maintenance, and many businesses consider re-doing their entire site: moving content around, refreshing their look, simplifying navigation. In fact, some businesses begin using new technologies such as mobile sites before they even launch the full desktop version of their new website. This is all done with one goal in mind: to make the website easier (for both users and search engines) to find, use and navigate.
What does it mean for a website to be redesigned?
Many people think that redesigning your website is as simple as updating the color scheme or swapping out pictures or icons.
However, there are many complicated elements involved in completely redesigning a website. The layout of the site has to be changed and new features can sometimes be added to make things run more smoothly. When an entire site is being redesigned, many factors have to be considered before settling on a final product. The best way to thoroughly understand these changes is to talk with someone who specializes in website development – they’ll know exactly what has to be done and can explain everything in detail.
Though this may seem like a daunting task, it is still essential to the future of your website and online business. Web redesigning ensures that you are keeping up with current trends in technology so that your site will be optimized for search engines and technologies such as HTML5. A website redesign can also help keep visitors engaged on your site by making sure they have a fresh new experience every time they visit.
What are the best ways to improve a design before redesigning?
1- Enlarge your view of things: Take time for an overview, so you’ll know where it goes, and where you want to go.
2- Unify the design: It is important for your design to have a uniform look, so break up other elements in the page that do not fit the style of other text on the site or images.
3- Find what’s effective: You can use heatmaps from tools such as CrazyEgg to find out which areas users spend time looking at when visiting a webpage. It will help you determine if people are spending time looking at certain parts of a webpage.
4- Keep it simple: Simplifying a website is an excellent way to improve it before moving forward with a redesign project. This could mean going through the content and eliminating questionable material, while also streamlining navigation menus and similar items throughout the website.
5- Keep it consistent: One of the most important parts of any website is consistency. You want to make sure that your designs, colors, and content work well together, even when using different systems.
6- Improve loading times: A slow site won’t be able to attract visitors for very long; in fact, much like a snail with anemia. To avoid this problem you’ll need to review every aspect of the page and ensure that it can load quickly enough to keep people interested.
7- Make sure animations and videos are worth watching: The charm of video and animation comes from their ability to convey information in a unique way. It could be anything from text instructions on how to use a product or service, testimonials from previous clients, or even funny commercials to make your homepage look more appealing.
8- Make it mobile-friendly: The number of people browsing the web on their phones is increasing every day, so you’ll want to ensure that your website is designed with them in mind as well. More than half of all page views now happen on mobile devices, and if your site isn’t compatible with them – you’re not going to get much traffic
Before considering a web design update, consider the following five factors:
1 – Examine Your Current Website
Take some time before beginning a web-redesigning process to think about how visitors currently use your website. This includes going over any statistics you might have regarding the average number of pages visited or peak hours of traffic on your site. If you have found that visitors tend to use your site for a specific purpose, such as downloading a certain type of file or staying on a particular page longer than others, then you may want to give extra attention to the design and layout of this portion of your website.
2 – Analyze Your Competition
Though it is important for any company’s website to be unique in its own right, it is still good practice to look at websites similar to yours and see what they do well and how users interact with them. You should also pay attention to other websites that offer products or services that are somehow related to your own business. Studying other sites will not only help you develop ideas for redesigning your own but might also help you spot areas of improvement or new things to add.
3 – Maintain Your Brand
Though your website is a great marketing tool and is very useful in keeping people updated on your company, it should not be the only way for visitors to experience what your business has to offer. Your website’s design should also reflect the image that your advertisements, literature, and other branding efforts give off.
4 – Update Irrelevant Content
Though some content might still be relevant, such as an About Us page, there are often certain pages that just do not need to be included in a website redesign. For instance, if you no longer have openings for interns or positions with your company then you shouldn’t waste any space on your site with openings that don’t exist. If you need to update the job description of a former position, it is best to simply move this content into an archive or remove it altogether and link it somewhere else where people will be able to access this information.
5 – Web Redesign Checklist Is Required
It can be quite difficult for businesses and website owners to keep up-to-date with current design trends as well as technology such as HTML5, but make sure that you do not neglect certain factors in your web redesign checklist. Some things to consider incorporating into your next site overhaul include mobile compatibility and SEO optimization. Take the time before beginning any kind of web design project, whether it’s updating your current website or creating an entirely new one. Think about what visitors are looking for on your site, how to best implement this, and how you can make your site as easy as possible to use.
Conclusion
Redesigning a webpage can be beneficial for both users and business owners. Websites should include an easy user experience and loading times so readers do not get frustrated and leave the website. The content of the webpage should be relevant to the business owner’s desired audience. Finally, websites should go through a checklist before starting redesigning process in order to ensure that design is efficient.
Pixel Street – Web Design Company is an expert website design company that offers up-to-date websites. You can also reach out anytime for more information or a free consultation – just ask!