How To Best Plan For Your Site’s New Web Design

Once you have decided that your website needs to be completely redone, it is important to remember that there is a lot more to it than simply handing it all over to a designer and kicking back until it’s all up and running. There are actually a number of things that you, as the owner of the website, need to plan and consider when it comes to getting a new web design:

• Assess what parts of your current website work well
  You can do this by looking over your site’s analytics and even by reading your visitor’s comments. Try having someone who has never used your website before look over it and see what parts they love. Make sure that you create a list of all the elements of your web design that work well.
• Assess what parts of your website aren’t working well
  To figure this out, you can also start by looking over your site’s analytics and by reading visitor comments. You could also ask the same person spoken about above to see what parts of your website they hate. Find out where you are losing visitors and try to determine why this is.
• Are there sections/pages that could be removed/combined/added?
  Print out your sitemap and take a good look at what pages and sections you have – are all of them necessary? Could you combine two sections into the one page or remove one altogether? Do you need to add any new pages or sections for new services or products that you have added?
• What attracts visitors to your current website?
  You can find this out by looking at where your traffic is coming from, including that from referral websites and particular search terms that visitors are using. When redoing your web design, look specifically at how you can improve on those less popular areas.
• Assess whether you need new images or photos
  If the images and photos used in your current web design are more than two or three years old, they will probably be starting to look a little outdated and should be changed. You should consider getting custom photos taken or by purchasing stock ones from other websites.

Once you have looked at all of the above areas, your new web design plan should take into account any other considerations that may crop up during the process, as this will prevent any nasty little surprises from catching you off guard. Don’t forget to look at elements such as screen resolution, connection speed and even your website’s target market. You never know what issues are going to pop up and delay your progress, so it is best to be prepared for everything.