Is it time to redesign your website?

Are you considering redesigning your website, but unsure if it’s worth the hassle? If you already have a website, you may be wondering if you should just edit your current site. And while this is a completely reasonable strategy, it doesn’t work for all situations and there are times when a complete redesign is best. In this post, we’ll talk about:

• Reasons to do a website redesign
• Checklist for what all you need before getting started on a redesign
• My website design process

At the start of 2022, I decided to rebrand my business. When I first started my business in 2018, I had limited time to spend on logo and website design. I was a stay at home mom with a toddler who had just started a two-day a week half-day preschool. So I worked while she was in school and during naptime.

I also had a mentor (shoutout to Dr. V!) who always encouraged me to get the content out there and not worry about it being perfect. You can always make changes later, but the fear of starting holds you back more than a misspelled word.

So I put myself, my website, and my logo out there. I got clients and made small changes to my site along the way. As I learned more about my ideal client and what I wanted to offer them, I continued adding on to my website.

But just as adding onto a house can start looking disjointed, so did my website. I had hidden pages that were still in my original color palette. I had information that was incorrect. I had plugins I wasn’t using, but slowing down my site. I wanted to take a good hard look at my entire brand and business and do a refresh. It was time for a redesign.

I started with my brand and who I am as a business owner. I really looked at who I enjoy serving and who I serve best. From there, my new brand emerged.

Once I had my new branding, it was time to dive into my site. Again, I could have just edited my old site, but as I’ll address below, there are reasons a redesign works better than editing your current site.

It was fun making myself my own client. I set up a subdomain which just means I built my new website in the background while my current site stayed live. I put in my new color palette, fonts, and logo, and got to work on my site. I went slowly through each page. Reading and rewriting the content then forming the page around the words.

At the end of the process, I ran the site by a few colleagues, my business coach, and, of course, my mom, and was ready to launch by April 2022!

So now that I’m on the other side of a website redesign, I want to share what I’ve learned. And although I do this for clients every day, it was a totally different experience putting myself in the client seat.

Why should I redesign my website:

A website redesign is not required for every change you need to make to a website and these are great questions to ask a web designer, but here are a few situations a website redesign is more beneficial than simply editing your site:

New branding

If you have recently rebranded your business, it’s time for a redesign. Many website builders have the branding embed in the settings. So once you change the settings you’ll have a mix of new and old branding. It looks unprofessional and is a lackluster way to launch your new brand.

Disorganized content

If you’ve been adding on to your site for months or years, it’s only a matter of time before your content becomes disorganized and inaccurate. For example, I noticed on one page I mentioned a service I no longer offer! And this was no simple fix, I had talked about this service throughout the entire page. Talk about embarrassing. Your business and website should feel consistent and organized. This gives visitors the impression that you know what you’re doing and it helps build trust.

New Functionality

If you are adding some major new functionality to your website like an ecommerce store or a course platform, it is probably a good time to redesign. Most likely this new addition needs to be mentioned throughout the site. Your site might also need a different builder. Wix is a great way builder for a new business that needs to get just get the information out there, but if you decide to start adding courses, you’ll want to look at WordPress, Kajabi, etc. This move would require a redesign.

Check out my post on Which Website Builder is Right For You.

Slow website

If your website has been running slow for awhile and you’ve tried the basics to speed it up, it may be time for a redesign. After years of adding photos, videos, pages, posts, and plugins, there is a lot to comb through to figure out what is slowing down your site. I find it much easier to redesign the site.

Improve the user experience

This is probably my favorite reason to redesign because at the end of the day, your website is made for your visitors! Putting yourself in your visitors shoes and creating pages that will drive them to move to the next step and connect with you is fascinating and extremely beneficial. A redesign is a great time to create new sales funnel like this!

Website Redesign Checklist:

If you’re like “okay, I’m sold! I need to redesign my website, but where the heck do I start?!” I’ve got you covered. Below is a checklist I give to my clients to get them started:

• Logo: Locate or create (Canva is great tool for creating logos!) a logo. This will be used in your menu and as a favicon in the browser tab.
• Style Guide: You’ll need your colors, fonts, and any specific design requirements or elements.
• Graphics, photos, videos: Start gathering your photos, videos and any graphics you plan on using for your website. It’s easier to design when you already have those ready. And if you need stock images, Canva and Unsplash are both great options to find stock photos.
• Written Content: This is probably the most important part of the prep process because while good design engages, good content sells. I recommend writing your content before you even start on the design so your design is formed around the words you use.
• Login credentials for your hosting, website, and domain: If it’s been awhile since you’ve logged into your hosting, domain, or website, it’s time to dig those out!
• Testimonials: I recommend getting at least three testimonials to include on your website. These are so valuable in the selling process!

Website Redesign Process:

A website redesign can feel overwhelming, but I follow a tried and true process that gives my clients great results. Below is that process and feel free to use what works for you in your redesign!