Why redesign planning matters
A website redesign should improve usability and support clear business goals, not just refresh the colours and typography. Without a structured plan, a launch can accidentally remove useful content, break links or make it harder for visitors to complete important tasks.
1. Review the existing website
Identify your most useful pages, common visitor journeys, enquiry paths and known problems. Use analytics and customer feedback when available.
2. Define measurable goals
Decide what the redesign should achieve: clearer service information, more qualified enquiries, easier content updates or better mobile usability.
3. Audit content and search visibility
List important URLs, existing headings, page titles and high-performing content. Preserve useful material and plan improvements before deleting pages.
4. Plan navigation and information architecture
Group pages logically. Visitors should be able to find services, proof of work and contact details without guessing.
5. Design for mobile and accessibility
Review desktop, tablet and mobile layouts. Use legible typography, sufficient contrast, keyboard-friendly controls and descriptive form labels.
6. Prepare images and calls to action
Choose relevant images, compress them appropriately and write accurate alt text. Make calls to action visible without overwhelming the page.
7. Test forms and integrations
Check contact forms, email delivery, CRM automations, booking tools and any payment flows with realistic test submissions.
8. Protect URLs and technical SEO
Keep established URLs where possible. Map changed URLs to relevant replacements using redirects, update internal links and review indexability and canonical tags.
9. Review performance and security
Check page speed, backups, access permissions, supported software versions and important security settings before launch.
10. Test the full visitor journey
Follow links, inspect mobile navigation, check browser compatibility and verify that confirmation messages and error states make sense.
11. Launch with a checklist
Confirm DNS and SSL, remove temporary noindex settings when appropriate, submit updated sitemaps and check for broken links.
12. Monitor after launch
Watch analytics, indexing, enquiries, error logs and performance trends. Fix unexpected issues quickly and keep a record of the changes.
Need a redesign?
See my website design portfolio and web design services for examples of complete website projects.