Website Redesign Strategy 2022 - A Comprehensive Guide

While the world pushes to return to normalcy in the wake of covid-19, some changes are here to stay. Work from home and remote offices have given way to an e-commerce boom that has enabled businesses of all sizes, across industries, to make the shift to online business. As such, websites have become dominating tools, with most business owners having successfully re-crafted their business models around website redesign! This has already paved the way for 2022 to be as competitive as it would be exciting for the online business landscape.

An extremely valuable asset that is instrumental in helping the business grow, websites are the visual representation of the business itself! They provide the first online interaction between the business and its potential customers making them a pivotal point in any buyer journey! Research shows that 80% of consumers say that the experience a company provides is as important as the products or services it sells — including the experience they have with the company’s website!

However, often the objective of the website is simply to maintain an online presence. As such, business owners choose not to invest in website redesign or upkeep. While this may not seem like a major concern, with the digital age and online business has become a rage, an antiquated website design can hurt the business image and its brand value tremendously. Keeping this in mind, it is not only highly essential that the website is up-to-date but also that it is periodically restructured and updated to stay ahead of its time to optimize its ROI! Following the need, this blog is a comprehensive guide to building a successful website redesign strategy -

 

At a glance:
- What is website redesign?
- When do businesses opt for a website redesign?
- How often do businesses redesign their website?
- Guidelines for an effective website redesign strategy

First and foremost, what is website redesign?
Website redesign is the process of revamping and updating the structure, navigation, content and layout of an existing website to enhance its overall performance and boost conversions for the business.

Next, when do businesses opt for a website redesign?
The decision to undertake a website redesign, by a business, can be a result of various factors. According to research, some of the dominant factors that contribute to this are poor user experience, low conversion rate, high bounce rate, non-responsiveness, outdated design and failure to be SEO-friendly.

How often do businesses redesign their website?
While most businesses choose to redesign their website, on average,  every 3 years, there is no standard time frame for this as such. It is highly subjective as it is dependent on various factors like the industry that the business belongs to, changes in customer preferences, online presence goals, the performance of the existing website, budget availability, etc.

Now that we have a basic understanding of website redesign and its significance to a business, let us get an overview of the steps involved in creating an effective website redesign strategy for a business -

 

Analyze Performance Metrics Of The Existing Website

The primary step for any successful website redesign strategy is to conduct an audit to measure and analyze the performance metrics of the existing website. These metrics include the total number of visits, bounce rate, average visit duration, the total number of pages indexed, high-performing keywords, number of leads generated, conversion rate, etc. This will not only help in understanding the current standing of the existing website but also assist in identifying the gaps in the strategy adopted, thereby helping in crafting the website redesign strategy constructively. While there are several tools available to measure these website KPIs, Google Analytics is one of the most popular and widely-used tools for this purpose.

 

Define Website Redesign Goals

Establishing clear goals in alignment to undertake the website redesign project forms the foundation of any successful website redesign strategy. Doing so assists in streamlining the process by establishing the next actionable steps, estimating the budget and timelines, tracking the progress and measuring the overall success of the project! Examples of certain goals concerning the website redesign project plan include increasing traffic, reducing bounce rate, improving domain authority, boosting conversions, etc. Referring to the performance metrics of the existing website can help to set realistic goals and KPIs for the revamped website. Furthermore, comparing the new KPIs with the old ones once the new website is live, will help in determining the effectiveness of the website redesign project as a whole.

 

Ascertain The New Strategy And Functionalities

The next step involves ascertaining the significant aspects of a website framework like the new structure, navigation, content and design strategy, etc. An effective technique here is to conduct a detailed buyer persona and customer journey research, specific to one’s business. Doing this will help in understanding one’s target audience and their preferences better, to be able to make data-driven strategic decisions that are not only relevant but also provide value to them. Concerning functionalities, a must-have functionality for every website is mobile responsiveness. Research shows that 52% of customers are less likely to engage with a company due to bad mobile experiences. For this reason, it is important to take all the necessary measures to make the website completely mobile-optimized, thereby offering a seamless experience to users.

 

Optimize For Search Engines

Thereafter, it is just as important to improve the website ranking for the Search Engine Result Pages (SERPs) and boost search traffic in one’s industry organically. To do so, refer to the Search Engine Optimization (SEO) analysis reports of the existing website to learn which of the pages attract the maximum traffic and inbound links, thereby boosting online visibility and facilitating conversions. Next, ensure that as a part of the website development process,

301 redirects are created for each of these high-value SEO pages to retain the traffic and link value associated with them. In addition to that, try to incorporate the targeted keywords throughout the website (eg: the page title, the headline, body text, image alt text, etc) to maximize search engine visibility. To learn about SEO strategies for 2021 and beyond, read this.

 

Conduct a Competitive Analysis

Another effective tip when it comes to website redesign is to evaluate the websites of one’s competitors in the industry. Conducting a competitive analysis will assist in understanding the strengths and weaknesses of the competitor’s website, learning about any new industry trends and assist in determining the areas of improvement for one’s website, if any, to achieve maximum reach and engagement. Having said that, it is important to remember this analysis is to be undertaken only for reference and one must not blindly follow a competitor’s website optimization strategy. To learn about the fundamentals of building a strong online presence, click here.

 

Launch and Monitor Progress

Finally, after following and incorporating the steps mentioned above and deliberately testing the entire website, launch the newly designed website! However, not stopping there, carefully track and monitor the progress of the new website to ensure that it is performing optimally. In case of any glitches or errors that arise, try to fix them on a priority basis to provide the best user experience at all times. Additionally, as mentioned earlier, monitoring the performance of the new website and measuring its KPIs for the old ones, will also help in determining the overall success of the website redesign project.

 

For further support to grow your business, our team at Parkyd Digital is available and happy to help you. With a deep understanding of the digital marketing landscape and over a decade of industry experience, we offer holistic marketing solutions that are customized according to your requirements to effectively boost your ROI and achieve your business goals.

 

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