There often comes a time when a website’s design needs to be changed. Perhaps it was designed months ago and is not up to par anymore. Perhaps your market or brand has changed. Maybe you need to implement new technologies that your old platform doesn’t support.
Regardless of the reason why you wish to redesign your website, here are a few tips on how to make the redesign go smoothly.
Staging the Website
Generally, the best way to do a smooth redesign is to create a fully functional staging website. For example, if your website is www.example.com, then your staging site might be at www.example.com/stage/. The staging website should be a fully functional version of the actual website with all links, pictures and content intact.
When you’re ready to launch, all you do is switch out /stage/ for your root or public html folder. That way, when your new website is ready to go live, you will have already tested your website for bugs and have a fully functional website to launch. Make sure you have a back-up of your site that you can switch back to quickly and easily if something does go wrong with the switch. Also, do the switchover at night for the least service interruption to users.
Letting the Design Sit
If you’re using a designer, they’ll generally give you a few rough designs first. You choose the one you like; they finalize the design and then implement the website on that design.
Instead of jumping on a new design right away, mentally choose the one you think works best. Then wait a week before making your final decision. You’ll often return with a fresh perspective and a couple of ideas on what to change. The same applies to redesigns that you’re designing yourself. Put your work down for a period of time and don’t let pride of excitement cloud your judgment.
Consider the Platform
There are many platforms your site could be built on: Plain HTML/CSS, WordPress, Drupal, Joomla and others. A site redesign is the perfect time to reconsider your site platform. If your site started out as a ten-page website and has now ballooned to a 200-page website, it’ll soon get unwieldy and be nearly impossible to make mass changes. It may be time to switch to a real CMS. Since you’re interrupting user experience anyway, you might as well do it just once and switch your CMS now if you’re doing a redesign.
When NOT to Do a Redesign
The one time you shouldn’t do a redesign is when you’ve gotten bored of the old design. You really don’t need to do a redesign if:
1. The old website is converting well and making money
2. The users enjoy and have grown accustomed to the old website
3. The old website works perfectly
4. The old website still conveys your brand.
Website owners may get tired of a website design after a year or two and want to change it, when their users really don’t care and would be burdened by having to get used to a new interface.
Redesign only when there’s a valid purpose to it.
