Ever decide to click on a link and it takes you to a website that looks like it hasn’t been updated in over 10 years? Maybe there’s flashing colors, animations, odd sized text and even weirder fonts. Maybe you don’t know where to click, or there’s too much information on one page that’s confusing, or there seems to be no contact page. Or maybe, this sounds like your website…. and you’re here because it’s time for an upgrade. Whatever the reasoning, it’s a good thing you’re here, because websites are constantly in need of maintenance and updates. Here at Target River, we’re going to show you how to design a website that actually converts online bystanders into real life customers.
Website Redesign Action Plan
There’s about 6 steps to take in order to masterfully redesign your website. Let’s get started
#1 – What’s Your Current Performance?
Before you can do anything, you need to understand where you’re at numbers wise. In the following areas, write down or organize the following monthly metrics:
- Bounce rate/time on site
- Number of visits, visitors and unique visitors. Yes, there’s a difference.
- Top performing keywords
- Number of inbound link domains
- Total new leads/form submissions
- Total sales generated
- Total pages that receive traffic
- Total pages indexed
Redesigning a website will take more than one type of skill; it uses search engine optimization, data analysis, content writing/creation, graphic design, and a deep understanding of metrics. Due to this, a website usually is quite a project, and can take months to complete. Every 1.5-2.5 years, a website needs to be updated in order to stay up to date with the latest changes in the industry, search engine updates like Google, as well as aligning itself with the current goals of your business.
#2 – What Are Your Redesign Goals for Your Website?
Come up with a list of goals you have for your website. While improving your website’s appearance is a worthwhile goal to have, it’s not the only important thing: how the website works and functions is just as important. Once you come up with your goals, send them to your design team or agency to help bring to life. Your goals might sound like this:
- Increase the number of visits and visitors
- Reduce bounce rate
- Increase time spent on website
- Improve domain authority
- Increase form submissions and leads
- Enhance SEO rankings
- Increase total sales generated
#3 – Define Your Branding
Before creating your new website, you need to think about what and who you represent. Think about what your main message is, and don’t overcomplicate it. What’s the value of your brand? What do you bring to table? Has something changed? Be crystal clear with all your messaging. This will create consistency throughout your website. First impressions matter. Anyone who visits your site for the first time should immediately understand who you are, what you do and what you offer the customer.
Make sure your colors and themes match what the company currently uses. Don’t use jargon that the customer won’t understand, either. Keep it simple!#4 – Define Buyer Personas
When creating your new website, it’s important to know that the content is for the customer. You should be crafting the design around them. Focus on your buyer personas to achieve this, and if you don’t already have a buyer persona, make one! A buyer persona is a fictional character in your marketing plan that represents a real customer. They are defined through demographics, behavioral patterns, interests, goals, and other information that gives you an in-depth understanding of the target audience.
Has your target audience changed? Do your branding and content align with this audience? Answer these questions as you’re strategizing your website redesign.
#5 – The Platform
Building a website is tricky business. Choosing the right software or platform to host your website is important. This is known as a CMS, or “content-management-system.” You probably know them as WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, etc. These platforms are beneficial as they simplify the creation process of a website, as well as publishing content… which, sidenote, take inventory of your best content, and repurpose it for future use!
Choosing the right CMS though depends on your business, such as what CMSs you’re already familiar with and what features your website redesign requires. There’s hundreds of platforms to choose from, so you’ll want to do some research beforehand.
#6 – Optimization
What good is a website if no one can find it? That’s where search engine optimization, or SEO comes in! Optimization basically just means that more people can discover your site, or content. SEO is basically the process of helping people discover your content. Here are a few things you’ll want to do to protect and promote your site:
- Create a 301 redirect strategy. If a page on your site fails to load, visitors will be redirected automatically to a functioning page with content, so they’re not stuck looking at an invalid URL.
- Do your keyword research. For every page you create on your website, choose 1 topic, or keyword, that page will focus on. Then add that keyword frequently to your content and optimize the page using them. For more on optimizing, visit https://www.targetriver.com/seo-a-step-by-step-guide-for-2021
- Document your most search-valued pages. Use your analytics to find out which pages get most traffic and inbound links, convert leads and contain your best-performing content.
- Add security to your website as well as links to other pages on your site.
Now that you have a basic toolbox set to redesign your website, it’s time to get started. Web design is a challenging task, and is a large project not for the faint of heart. But with this guide, hopefully you have a better understanding of how to craft your very own website that’s built to convert strangers to customers. Target River offers a team of professionals in web design and development, SEO, social media marketing, content writing and more. All of these are vital when it comes to creating a website. If you ever need efficient, professional aid, we’d love to help! We were awarded in 14 categories of marketing by the State of Utah themselves!
