How to redesign your website: a plain checklist

How do you know it is time to redesign your website?

It is time when the site gets in the way of customers. Looks alone are rarely a good reason. A site that is old but clear and quick can still work well. A new look on top of a confusing site will not.

• It is hard to read or use on a phone. Open it on yours and try to find your phone number and hours.
• Customers ask questions the site should answer, such as your price range, your hours or where to park.
• You are embarrassed to give the address to a new customer.
• Information is wrong: old staff, closed locations, services you no longer offer.
• You cannot change the words or photos yourself without paying someone.
• The site does not do something you now need, such as take bookings or payments.
• It does not match your sign, your vans or your printed material any more.

If two or three of these are true, a redesign will likely pay off. If one is true, a smaller fix may be enough. Ask first whether you need a full redesign or just a few changes.

What should you do before you redesign?

Write down what the site is for and what is working now. A short written list stops a redesign from drifting into arguments about colors.

1. Write the one action you want a visitor to take: call, book, ask for a quote, or buy.
2. Make a list of every page on the current site.
3. Mark the pages people actually visit and the ones that bring inquiries.
4. Save your best photos and the text you like, so none of it is lost.
5. Collect three sites you like and note exactly what you like about each: clear prices, big photos, easy booking.

To find which pages bring visitors, look at Google Search Console, a Google tool for site owners that shows which pages appear in search and which get clicks. Your current site builder may also show visits per page. If you have neither, ask whoever manages the site to pull the list.

What should you keep when you redesign?

Keep the pages that already bring visitors, and keep their web addresses. If an address has to change, send the old one to the new one with a permanent redirect. This is the step most often missed, and it is how sites lose customers after a redesign.

Here is what that means in plain words. Each page has an address, such as yourbusiness.com/services. Google, other sites and your customers' bookmarks all point at those addresses. If the new site uses a different address, such as yourbusiness.com/what-we-do, every old link lands on a broken page. A redirect is a signpost that says: this page has moved, go here instead.

Google recommends a permanent server side redirect when the address of a page changes, and says it is the best way to make sure Google Search and people are directed to the correct page. It also advises using permanent redirects when you are sure the move will not be reversed. Your designer should set these up. Ask for it in writing.

• Keep the same address for a page wherever you can.
• For every page whose address changes, set up a redirect from old to new.
• Send each old page to the closest new page, not everything to the home page.
• After launch, click through your old addresses and check each one lands somewhere sensible.
• Keep your domain name the same. Changing it is a bigger risk than changing the design.

Keep, too, the things customers trust: your phone number, your address, your reviews and your logo. A redesign should make them easier to find, not remove them.

What basic questions should you ask a web designer?

Ask about ownership, timing, what is included and what happens after launch. These are the basic questions about web design that owners most often wish they had asked sooner.

• Who owns the site, the domain name and the photos when it is finished?
• Will you set up redirects from my old pages to the new ones, and can I see the list?
• How will the site look and work on a phone?
• Can I change the words and photos myself, or do I pay you each time?
• How long will it take, and what do you need from me, and by when?
• What is included: words, photos, booking, payments, a contact form?
• Who looks after it after launch, and what does that involve?
• Can I speak to someone whose site you built, and see the live site?

Pay attention to how they answer. A good designer uses plain words, explains things twice without sighing, and is happy to put answers in writing. If you leave the conversation confused, that is information too.

What happens after the new site goes live?

Check it the same day, then again after a week. The first days after launch are when broken links and missing pages show up. Open the new site on a phone and on a computer. Tap your phone number. Send a message through the contact form. Click your old page addresses from your list and confirm each one lands on the right new page.

Then tell people. Update the web address on your Google Business Profile, your social pages, your email signature and your printed material. Search results can take time to catch up. Google says some changes take effect in a few hours and others can take several months, so do not panic if the old version still shows for a while.

Can you see examples of website redesigns?

Yes. We have two places to look, and we want to be clear about what they are. Our before and after page shows an illustrative basic site next to the same business set up properly. It is a worked example, not a client. Our sample work shows full websites for businesses such as a restaurant, a vet and a builder. Every business in it is made up, and the pages say so.

When you look at any example, ask what changed and why. The useful differences are usually plain ones: the phone number and the main action are easy to find, the pages load quickly on a phone, the photos show real work, and the words say what the business does in the first line.

When is it worth getting help?

If your site is small and your platform lets you edit it, you can redesign it yourself by working through this checklist. Get help when the redesign touches booking, payments, many pages, or an old address structure that needs careful redirects, or when you simply do not have the time. We build websites for small businesses, including redesigns that keep what already works. Get in touch for a 20 minute conversation about your business.