![\"Free](\"https:\/\/no-cache.hubspot.com\/cta\/default\/53\/a59b611b-bd88-4184-9b69-b1b5ccc786a7.png\")
<\/a><\/p>\nToday, your website needs more than just content. To appear in search engine results, websites must balance user experience, brand clarity, site structure, security, and technical infrastructure. And I\u2019ll say that\u2019s fair, because customers expect nothing less from a business they trust.<\/p>\n
In fact, according to a study, 75% of visitors<\/a> decide if a website is credible based on how the content is presented. If your website is experiencing a high bounce rate, a drop in conversions, declining traffic, or other issues, you might need a redesign strategy.<\/p>\n Below is everything you need to know.<\/p>\n Table of Contents<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/a> <\/p>\n \n Over the years, I\u2019ve seen many brands redesign their websites when they pivoted their business strategy, transformed their brand, or simply because their conversion suffered.<\/p>\n Website redesign<\/strong> often requires substantial resources, time, and effort to accomplish. It isn\u2019t a simple makeover that can be completed overnight. So before we move on, let’s determine whether you truly need a total redesign or a simple website refresh.<\/p>\n A website refresh<\/strong>, unlike a website redesign, focuses on updates that don\u2019t affect your website\u2019s structure. This means that you don\u2019t need to republish entire blogs, revamp landing pages, or realign the customer journey with new content.<\/p>\n For example, if you\u2019re just tweaking the font, colors, or layout of your homepage, that\u2019s a website refresh. On this note, I\u2019d suggest using HubSpot\u2019s AI Website Generator<\/a> to quickly reimagine your homepage, create a prototype, and draw inspiration. All you need to do is describe your business, the style you want, and the tool\u2019s generative AI will do the heavy lifting.<\/p>\n Sometimes, you need to revamp your entire website to stay relevant, especially in today\u2019s fast-paced digital landscape.<\/p>\n Even if your website still looks presentable, some style, content, and features may have become outdated. For example, effects like typewriter and parallax were trending around 2019, but many brands opt for a minimalist layout these days.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re unsure whether you need to redesign your website, use these questions as a guide.<\/p>\n A \u201cyes\u201d to most of the questions often calls for a redesign, because, in my experience, there are no shortcuts to revitalize a website that is failing in many aspects. Also, more often than not, several issues are correlated, which means you can\u2019t fix one without addressing the other.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s say that your business has grown and is adopting new brand values. Chances are, the existing color, content, and style no longer match your brand\u2019s new identity. A brand and web content mismatch, then, will undermine the audience\u2019s trust, resulting in decreased dwell time and conversion rate.<\/p>\n \n There are no strict rules about website redesign. That said, some best practices, when applied in a planned sequence, help you avoid mistakes that can be costly to fix.<\/p>\n Below, I share the steps I use to redesign my website.<\/p>\n Before you kickstart the redesign process, analyze your current website. It\u2019s important to know what\u2019s working and what needs improvement. Otherwise, you might end up repeating the same non-performing element, or worse, mistakes, when redesigning your site.<\/p>\n Trust me \u2014 it\u2019s painful to find out that the revamped website is no better than the previous one, especially after paying handsomely for it. I made that mistake once when running my engineering business. Back then, I had no clue that a website could be such a powerful lead generator, and one that I shouldn\u2019t revamp without a plan.<\/p>\n So, go to your analytics and note down these metrics.<\/p>\n I must remind you that website redesign isn\u2019t a minor task. Often, you need to invest time, effort, and money to revamp your website. So, ask yourself \u2014 what are the results you want to achieve with your website?<\/p>\n Typically, companies revamp their websites for these reasons:<\/p>\n I know that some business owners are tempted to redesign a website just for the sake of doing so. Gentle advice: Don\u2019t. This is because if you don\u2019t tie your website redesign to quantifiable goals, you won\u2019t be able to measure its success later.<\/p>\n A successful website reboot relies on audience insights. If you\u2019re aware of their preferences, navigation behavior, and how they consume information, you can avoid design blind spots and misguided assumptions.<\/p>\n So, reach out to your target audience and ask for their opinion. Better still, create one or several personas<\/a> you want to target. Then, let them explore your website and tell you what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not working.<\/p>\n For example, I\u2019m currently revamping my personal website, which offers SEO content creation services, and I\u2019ve reached out to marketing managers to gather feedback.<\/p>\n But don\u2019t stop here.<\/p>\n If possible, map the persona to a customer journey<\/a> so that you can structure your website accordingly. For example, a marketing manager might not immediately engage my services. Therefore, I funnel them to an email newsletter and nurture them.<\/p>\n Pro tip: <\/strong>Some businesses target multiple personas, which can be challenging to manually create. Check out HubSpot\u2019s handy buyer persona builder<\/a> to help you create detailed buyer personas.<\/p>\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n A website bridges the gap between your business and its customers, which calls for an engaging and relatable experience. Therefore, avoid using generic design templates as-is.<\/p>\n Instead, your website should reflect your brand through the choice of colors, fonts, messaging, and layout. Be it your logo, blogs, or product pages, be consistent when aligning them with your brand.<\/p>\n For example, if you\u2019re running a tech startup that pitches products to improve productivity, you\u2019ll want a minimalist website that reflects the time-saving benefits. Meanwhile, a business championing environmental causes leaves a lasting impression with a blend of green-themed elements and empathetic messaging.<\/p>\n I know that deciding on branding elements has significant implications, so I often browse similar websites for inspiration before shortlisting a few themes. But these days, you can use AI web development tools<\/a> to generate web prototypes simply by describing your brand to the chatbot.<\/p>\n Does exploring your competitor\u2019s website help you redesign a better one? Well, yes and no. Remember that every business is unique. Therefore, you wouldn\u2019t want to be overly influenced by what other websites look or feel like. What works for another may not work for you.<\/p>\n Yet, competitor analysis helps you uncover content gaps, architectural issues, funnels, and marketing strategies you might overlook. For example, you can find out their best-performing web content on search engines. This way, you can create better content that will potentially outrank your competitors.<\/p>\n Next, decide if you want to stay with the same web hosting provider and content management software (CMS). For example, many small businesses began with WordPress and Wix due to their ease of use and low cost. The downside is having to integrate dozens of plugins to enable business, website, and other functions, which, based on my experience, is challenging to manage at scale.<\/p>\n However, as their business grows, many companies seek a more scalable CMS that is integrated with their sales and marketing workflows. Some might choose to develop a custom website, particularly if they plan to offer in-page apps or tools. While this provides more control over the entire redesign workflow, you\u2019ll need to manage the technical complexities that come with it.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, I\u2019ve also seen businesses that host their websites on business-driven CMS like HubSpot. The beauty of this option is that it allows them to create web content, monitor performance metrics, and nurture leads from a unified platform. Moreover, they can also use HubSpot\u2019s Content Hub<\/a> to create AI-assisted content that reflects their brand voice.<\/p>\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s tempting to take on the mammoth task alone. But be aware of the tasks involved when redesigning your sites. You\u2019ll need a blend of creativity, content creation, SEO know-how, coding, and other skillsets to rebuild a website successfully.<\/p>\n For most businesses, their time is better spent on core activities, such as sales and marketing. If that\u2019s the case, collaborating with an external web design team is better. For example, I\u2019ve built several websites from scratch in the past, and it pushed me to my limits. Now, I collaborate with web designers I trust.<\/p>\n Your new website must be easy to navigate, both for humans and search engines. So, decide how you organize topics, web pages, and blogs. And that\u2019s where a sitemap is helpful. A sitemap describes the hierarchy of various web content, usually grouping similar topics together. It also serves as a blueprint that guides web designers, developers, and SEO specialists.<\/p>\n For example, if you run a software development company, you can organize your site into separate sections for generative AI development, mobile app development, and application testing. Then, create blogs, web pages, and landing pages for each category. This way, visitors can easily find the information they\u2019re searching for.<\/p>\n Chances are, you will need to revamp most of your web content. As you do so, keep the audience in mind, because that\u2019s the reason why websites exist. Instead of randomly publishing content, align it with your customer\u2019s journey.<\/p>\n Remember, an effective content strategy not only increases conversion but also positions your brand as an authority. Think of content as a layered funnel that supports your audience throughout their purchase cycle. Each piece of content should meet the user\u2019s intent.<\/p>\n Personally, I\u2019d suggest striking a balance between transactional and informational content. Simply put, don\u2019t only publish product pages, but also include blogs that guide the audience in their discovery, commercial investigation, and purchase touchpoints. Additionally, you can also publish case studies, whitepapers, and success stories to subtly convince them that your brand is worth its value.<\/p>\n Once you have decided on the type of content to publish, schedule it into an editorial calendar<\/a>. You don\u2019t have to create all the pieces of content at once. Rather, you can launch the new website with several strong pieces and continue publishing from your content pipeline.<\/p>\n While it\u2019s great to have a stylish website, it\u2019s even better to have a functional one that actually drives business outcomes. According to a study, businesses lost $1.42 trillion in sales<\/a> due to poor user experience (UX). If you don\u2019t want to leave money on the table, you need to take UX seriously.<\/p>\n User experience (UX)<\/a> is not merely giving a website a superficial facelift with fancy colors and layouts. Often, you need a more thoughtful consideration of how users actually interact with a website. Specifically, when you optimize your site for UX, you focus on the ease of use, accessibility, and convenience that your website offers.<\/p>\n To get started, you\u2019ll need to answer questions like:<\/p>\n Then, you turn them into an actionable plan.<\/p>\n For example, if a landing page has a high drop rate, you need to find out whether customers find the purchase path confusing. Then identify other possible causes that cause customers to leave. Sometimes, the problem can be technical, such as slow loading pages. However, there are also cases where the choice of copy, such as in the call-to-action, might cause customers to hesitate.<\/p>\n If your website has been driving search traffic, you\u2019ll want to maintain, or, if better, improve your revamped site\u2019s search visibility. And that means integrating SEO into your web redesign strategy.<\/p>\n SEO is a broad topic that involves various principles, strategies, and tactics. I learned SEO when I started building WordPress websites in 2015. Since then, I\u2019ve helped my clients rank web content on Google. If there\u2019s anything I can share with you, it\u2019s to keep these points in mind.<\/p>\n Use a 301 redirect to route traffic from the web content that you\u2019ve removed to the new one. This is important because some web pages might have gained credible backlinks over time. If you don\u2019t redirect them, you\u2019ll lose backlink authority and, consequently, your search ranking.<\/p>\n Make sure your content is skimmable. Use subheadings, bullet points, and numbered lists to structure your content. Otherwise, you risk turning visitors away because of large, chunky text.<\/p>\n If possible, use rich media like charts, images, and videos in your web content. Not only do they help with SEO, but they can also provide more context to your content.<\/p>\n Also, don\u2019t forget to connect related pages with internal links. For example, you can link an old blog about \u201cemail marketing tips\u201d to a new \u201cbest email marketing software\u201d article. Doing so helps your website establish topical authority, which in turn improves its SEO performance.<\/p>\n If you\u2019re building your website on HubSpot, you can cross-check on-page optimization with the SEO recommendations it offers<\/a> when you create a blog. Personally, I\u2019ve tried it, and I must say, it\u2019s solid.<\/p>\n Source<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n Keywords help search engines understand our content, even in the age of AI-led search. You still need to optimize your web content with keywords if you want it to be found by the right users. Just remember, don\u2019t overstuff them.<\/p>\n Pro tip: <\/strong>As a best practice, I use the target keywords naturally once in the title, first paragraph, and at least one of the subheadings.<\/p>\n Traditionally, the goal of SEO was to rank on Google and other search engines. Now, with generative AI transforming the search landscape, many brands are hoping to be found on AI platforms like ChatGPT as well.<\/p>\n At the moment of writing, AI search optimization is still evolving fast. Basic SEO still matters. But what the SEO community knows is that brand presence is a contributing factor to being cited by AI.<\/p>\n Pro tip:<\/strong> If you\u2019re not sure if your business has a strong brand presence, use HubSpot\u2019s AI Search Grader<\/a>. It\u2019ll return a score indicating your brand\u2019s sentiment and share of voice.<\/p>\n Always test your new website before replacing the existing one. Despite having a comprehensive redesign plan, there might still be issues to iron out. For example, some landing pages might look awkward to actual users. Or you might face integration issues with third-party tools.<\/p>\n While you can run internal tests to assess the website, I recommend conducting usability tests with actual users. That\u2019s because if you\u2019re involved in the redesign effort, you might develop familiarity blindness, a phenomenon when you\u2019re so used to seeing the design that you don\u2019t really notice that there\u2019s something amiss.<\/p>\n After validating your website\u2019s functionality, plan for a switch-over. But before you do so, inform all stakeholders that you\u2019re replacing the existing site with a new one. Give customers and users enough time to prepare for the eventual rollover and notify them of what changes they can expect.<\/p>\n Also, if possible, consider allowing users to remain on the existing web interface for a grace period. This way, they can explore the new web interface at their own pace, which helps in easing the transition.<\/p>\n Of course, not all businesses are in a position to do so, because maintaining both versions on the production environment can be challenging.<\/p>\n The first several weeks are crucial after your new website goes live. Based on my experience, even if you\u2019ve done your best, some issues might slip through the tests you conducted.<\/p>\n So, be on the lookout for metrics that can help you identify post-launch issues. And that includes:<\/p>\n In a way, you\u2019re re-auditing your website again to ensure that the redesign is meeting its objectives.<\/p>\n I know \u2014 measuring so many metrics can be challenging. When I started building websites in 2015, I had to use several tools to consolidate them. But these days, you can use HubSpot\u2019s Marketing Analytics<\/a> to unify all the data.<\/p>\n\n
Website Redesign vs. Website Refresh<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Signs You Need a Website Redesign<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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1. Audit your website.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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2. Determine your redesign goals.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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3. Research your audience.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n4. Define your branding and messaging.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
5. Analyze competitors.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
6. Choose a web platform.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\n7. Choose your web design team.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
8. Structure your website.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
9. Create an audience-led content strategy.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
10. Apply best UX design practices.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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11. Work on SEO.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
Redirect old pages.<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Perform on-page optimization.<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\nUse keywords strategically.<\/strong><\/h4>\n
Optimize for AI search.<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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<\/p>\n12. Stage your website for testing.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
13. Perform a switch-over.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
14. Monitor performance.<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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