At a time when websites are the portals to the internet and are used for practically every purpose, a website is the most necessary development to do as a company. Once you are done with the website development process, you also need to consider redesigning the website from time to time. There are many new website design trends that are taking over the landscape each year.
To keep the website high-performance and interesting, you need to hire website redesign services from a company. If you hire a good website design company, it will share the web redesign checklist with you and follow it step by step. For the best changes, it is important to plan and monitor the checklist. Here is a web redesign checklist to follow if you already do not have one.
Table of Contents
1. Website redesign 1st checklist: Initial planning
The first thing you need to do is create a plan as detailed as possoble that has clear objectives and an estimated timeline.
1.1. Set clear objectives
It is important to set clear objectives for the site redesign process so that the team of designers knows what they are aiming for when designing the website. Without clear objectives, the website redesign process loses its direction and might not deliver excellent results.
The objectives need to be set with the past design and the expected design changes in view. The objectives should also take the growth phase and target audience into account.
1.2. Establish a timeline
When going into the initial planning phase, your company also needs to establish a timeline of development that should be followed. The initial action plan will define a number of milestones at different points of the design phase. The expected timeline and deadline should be defined so that the design team can pace its progress.
2. The 2nd thing: Stakeholder engagement
The stakeholder engagement plays an important role in the whole website redesign project. Hence, you need to find the main stakeholders to focus on, and bear in mind to keep them in touch regularly.
2.1. Identify key stakeholders
The site redesign checklist also has to include the website’s stakeholders, which include the company management, the internal team, and the audience. The redesigning team has to identify the key stakeholders and create feedback channels for clear communication throughout the process. The stakeholders have to be kept in the loop for the redesign so that the output is acceptable.
2.2. Communicate regularly
Once the team has identified the stakeholders, it should also interact with them and communicate about the progress and problems faced so that the whole process and feedback generation are streamlined. Transparent communication with the stakeholders is necessary for the creation of a proper funnel for website redesign.
3. Audit existing content and structure
The 3rd checklist is audit all existing content and structure to ensure a smooth web redesign process.
3.1. Content inventory
The website redesign and redevelopment team has to also focus on the content that goes on the website. The website needs to be audited for the existing content, and it needs to be revamped according to the problems seen in the content and the issues that need fixing. A thorough content audit and reevaluation is necessary for a complete change and improvement of the existing content.
3.2. Technical assessment
After the content assessment and audit, you also need to assess the technicality of the website. The website needs to be properly checked on the back end and the front end to know the technical aspects and the problems it has.
A technical assessment should be made of the different aspects, such as navigation, load speed, and other features of the website. The technical assessment of the website can save it from a lot of bigger problems in the future.
4. Design and User experience (UX)
According to the clear objectives of your web redesign plan, remember to keep eyes on web’s design and user experience.
4.1. Create wireframes and Prototypes
The site redesigning team should also create wireframes and prototypes after the content and technical reassessment. Based on the improvements needed and the changes expected, the team has to design the wireframes and prototypes on which the full-fledged website has to be developed. The wireframe and prototype are the basic design ideas on which the later websites are developed fully.
4.2. User feedback
The website redesign process also takes user feedback into account because the most useful feedback comes from the actual user. Any design and content of the website are created for the user base, and any changes should also be useful to the old and new users. The users should also be involved in the actual testing of the new design so that the actual impact and acceptability of the design are seen.
5. SEO and Accessibility considerations
To ensure the ‘reborn’ website would be on top of Google Seach page and reach as more users as possible, SEO optimization is the key.
5.1. SEO best practices
The SEO practices are updated with time, and the team should try to implement all the necessary SEO practices and changes according to the internet trends. The content on the website should be optimized and properly organized so that the whole website is user-friendly and SEO-friendly.
The content of the website should also have the necessary keywords and tags so that they are easily recognized by leading search engines. The checklist for website redesign should include an SEO checklist that takes care of the content and design.
5.2. Accessibility standard
The accessibility standard of the website needs to be re-evaluated and changed during the website redesign process. Based on the users that use the website and are targeted by it, the accessibility of the website should be changed and improved. The navigation bar should be kept at an easily reachable location so that any user can easily use it when needed.
6. Development and Testing
Now, let’s go further with the development process in which you will update the language, technology, and much more for the whole website.
6.1. Platform and Technology selection
The website redesign checklist should include the platform and technology that will be used for the whole redevelopment process. With time, website development platforms and technology evolve. Your website redesign company should focus on selecting the most updated language, technology, and runtime environment for the website redesign process.
6.2. Quality assurance
The testing process matters the most in the redesign and launch of the new website. The website redesign process should yield a good quality output, which is then tested with multiple test cases, and the results are validated. The testing process roots out bugs and design problems so the website can be improved in the final round of testing before launch.
7. Launch strategy
‘Go live date’ is just not a ‘date’ that you launch your website. You need to build a strategy with the soft launch as the ‘soft-opening’ part, and the full launch as the officially go live.
7.1. Soft launch
The team responsible for launching the newly redesigned website has to first soft launch the website with certain basic features to test out the response to the new design. Once it is accepted by the user base, the website can be developed to its full-fledged design.
7.2. Full launch
After the soft launch of the website, the team needs to prepare for the full launch with all the necessary features and changes. The full launch will have a completely working and redesigned website.
8. Last but not least: Post-launch activities
Website redesign checklist is not done yet. After launching the website successfully, remember to do the post-launch check to ensure that everything goes through.
8.1. Gather user feedback
After the full-fledged launch of the website, the team also needs to gather user feedback and consider the suggestions and complaints made. Sometimes, the best ideas come from real users of the website. You can gather user feedback from different channels and then use it to improve features.
8.2. Continual improvement
A major need for updated website design is continual improvement of the website design. Depending on the feedback received, the design team should implement continuous improvements and changes for proper website development. The continual improvement of the website design can create a highly useful and popular website when needed.
Conclusion
In this competitive world, your company needs to focus on website redesign and re-development. The website redesign and re-development process should be done by a highly reputed website redesign company. Before the re-design process, the company needs to create a complete checklist of the changes and processes needed for the output.
