We have been very busy here at Sherpa over the past few months, and one of the projects we have been working on is our new website - which you can take a look at here!
Redesigning a website is more than just about giving it an improved new look. The successes and shortcomings of the existing site are invaluable in knowing how to truly improve the site and make the re-design worth the time, effort, and cost.
Like any site design/development, a clear set of goals and purposes should be established to direct the project.
Without knowing specifically why the site is being re-designed or what needs to be improved, you may wind up with a better-looking design, but it is unlikely to be more effective for the business or for the users.
So before you go performing a website re-design without a plan, here are a few questions you should ask yourself...
1. What is the goal of the redesign?
Regardless of whether you’re creating a new website or re-designing an existing one, it’s critical to identify the purpose and the key factors for determining the success of the project.
Setting clear goals and well-defined personas will also help create a clear compass for all future project decisions, and it also keeps you focused on the right people and intended outcome.
A beautiful website won’t do anything for you if it’s not effective at communicating the intended goals of the project.
2. What will visitors want from the website?
Meeting the needs of IT visitors is important to the success of any website. Will visitors be coming to the site looking for information? If so, make it easy to find the information and make it a prominent part of the design.
Will they be coming to the site to find products? Will they be coming for some other reason? Anticipate what your visitors will want and do your best to give it to them.
3. What does and doesn't work currently?
No matter how large or small the redesign, chances are there will be some elements of your existing site that work very well and some that don’t work at all. Now is the time to go through your site and identify these elements.
Some elements will need to remain (though possibly given a makeover), some will need to be cleaned up and some will have to go.
Break your site down into its key components and then compare those with the goals you decided on in step one and the overall vision for your website. If something doesn’t fit, it’s out.
4. Just doing a redesign doesn’t mean your website will get more traffic!
Final Words
12 weeks down the line from the beginning of this process we know that the things to consider list could go on - in fact this blog is merely scratching the surface, but when you get down to it a website never really is 'finished' - and we know this from experience.
The truth of the matter is that constant optimisation, design iteration and content management go on behind the scenes every day and the more often you can do this - the more successful your site will be!
And despite the launch of our site at the beginning of the week, we are still in the process of creating landing pages, new content, campaign material and more - and that will never stop - achieving the sort of results we do is no walk in the park - trust us!
The best way to look at it in this day and age, a website should be thought of as a living, breathing entity that needs to be updated in real-time to stay healthy and perform well.
Sherpa are now listing our services on DesignRush - Check us our here.
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