What to change during a site redesign
There may be numerous reasons to redesign, but it all comes down to one thing: the site has to be changed. But how must it be adjusted and what to do to achieve that? Let’s see.
Define site problems
Before doing anything, you need to define the reasons for redesigning your website, such as:
- low amounts of traffic
- low or zero conversion rates
- site structure change
Find solutions
Each of the site issues has its own remedies.
Low traffic can be cured by
- providing precise descriptions of your product or service
- adding more content, relative to your product or service to your website
- adding content, providing unique and valuable information to your visitors
Conversion can be cured by:
- rewriting the site content in simple language
- providing unique, precise descriptions of your product and its benefits
- providing easy navigation
- using clear link labels
- having pages, focused on one subject
- improving text formatting (shorter paragraphs, sentences, subheadings, lists, etc)
- showing your customer testimonials to your visitors
New site structure can be changed by:
- just inserting a new section in the site under the old template (not a redesign, really)
- adding secondary navigation through a Server Side Include
- completely revising the underlying code (PHP, ASP, etc) and the HTML template to accomodate to the new content structure
Do what you need to
Depending on the issues your site has, you’ll need to list what you need to do.
Sometimes, adding more content doesn’t require changing your site structure. However, if you need to add a couple of sections, you may want to analyze which sections of your site are required for your visitors and group them accordingly.
With minor changes, you’ll simply need to adjust the existing files or the Content Management System contents.
With serious adjustments, you’ll need to rewrite the HTML template to change the primary and secondary navigation.
At any rate, if you are adding content, you may consider inserting context links (links from the text) to other related pages to provide necessary information at the visitors’ wish.
When redesigning a site, pay attention to using CSS, semantically correct code, valid HTML and clear language. This will not only ensure your visitors will read and understand what you want to say, but the search engines will value your site a bit more, too.
Feel free to post your questions in the comments if you need advice on redesigning a site.
Related posts:
- When and how to redesign a web site
- Redesigning large (dynamic) websites
- How to work with a web designer