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What is a website redesign?
Redesigning a website involves changing its functionality and/or visual appearance in order to adapt it to the company's digital or marketing evolutions. There are two main types of redesign:
- Graphic redesignwhich is limited to modifying the site's design;
- Structural redesignThis involves an in-depth transformation of the structure and tree structure, often accompanied by a change of CMS (content management system).
Depending on your needs and the state of your site, the redesign will be more or less extensive. It's an important operation in the life of a web site, and one that needs to be thought through and prepared in advance to reap the maximum benefits.
The stages of a redesign are virtually identical to those for website creation:
- Project definition audit, specifications ;
- Mock-up web page mock-ups;
- Development CMS installation and configuration, development of ;
- Content integration : layout of texts, images and videos ;
- Referencing tag optimization, internal linking, redirects ;
- Receipt tests, validation and launch of the new site.
These different phases are orchestrated by a web project manager to ensure optimum results.
What are the advantages of a website redesign?
1/ Enhanced user experience
Online for several years, your website is now obsolete?
Your website contributes to your brand image and conveys your values to prospects, customers and partners. First impressions are crucial: a home page with an outdated design can drive visitors away, increasing your bounce rate.
Thanks to the redesign, you'll benefit from a more modern, aesthetic and ergonomic website. It will offer a better user experience (UX) to set you apart from your competitors and encourage visitor conversion.
2/ Optimal technical performance
Is your website too slow and not adapted to mobile browsing?
Today, it's essential to create a responsive design site, compatible with all types of screens and browsers. Indeed, 64% of French people consult the Internet from their smartphone. A "mobile friendly" site offers better accessibility and therefore generates more traffic. Page loading times should also be as short as possible (less than 3 seconds).
The redesign gives you a fast, high-performance site that meets today's display standards. These criteria not only improve your site's UX, but also its ranking, since Google takes them into account in its rankings.
3/ Better visibility on search engines
Is your site not appearing in Google's top results and generating few visits?
Redesigning your site allows you to work on your SEO (Search Engine Optimization). An optimized site meets the requirements of Google's ranking algorithms, to ensure better positioning in search results.
Search engine optimization (SEO) depends not only on a site's technical performance, but also on the optimization of its content. Redesigning your site is therefore an opportunity to implement a content marketing strategy: choosing keywords, working on semantics, defining an editorial line, etc.
4/ A secure website
Does your website's URL start with "http" and not "https"?
Since 2017, Google's algorithm has favored HTTPS (HyperText Transport Protocol Secure) sites. This protocol guarantees a secure connection between server and browser, thanks to an SSL certificate.
If your site uses the HTTP protocol, you risk being penalized with an "unsecured" label and losing traffic. Take advantage of the redesign to increase your site's level of security by switching to HTTPS. This will boost SEO and inspire greater confidence among your visitors.
5/ Adding features
Would you like to upgrade your website to offer new services to your customers?
Much more than just a shop window, your website should be seen as a real sales machine. It's the keystone of your digital strategy.
The redesign allows you to add features to build loyalty and convert your audience: article sharing, newsletter sign-up form, user space, online booking or sales, order tracking, etc.
6/ Increased conversion rate
Your site is optimized and performs well from a technical point of view, but doesn't convert?
The most important thing is not the aesthetics or design of your website, but the quality of the content you deliver and its ability to convert. We speak of conversion when a visitor performs the expected action: subscribing to a newsletter, filling in a form, placing an order, etc.
The redesign optimizes lead collection and conversion by playing on different parameters: increasing page loading speed, optimizing forms, adding call-to-actions, etc.
How to successfully redesign your website?
1/ Conduct an audit of your current site and your competitors
Before proceeding with the redesign, you should ideally analyze your existing site to identify its strengths and weaknesses. This audit can be broken down into four stages:
- Technical audit: loading speed, mobile compatibility, number of referenced pages, indexing problems, traffic volume, bounce and conversion rates.
- SEO audit: keyword positioning, page structure, HTML markup.
- Navigation audit: menu intuitiveness, ergonomics.
Also scan your competitors' sites (using SEMrush software, for example) to create a competitive benchmark that will help you stand out from your rivals.
2/ Draw up specifications to define your objectives
Following the audit phase, it's essential to reflect on your needs and expectations in order to frame your redesign project. To facilitate discussions with your service provider, draw up a set of specifications that includes the following elements:
- a presentation of the company (activity, market, products or services, key figures, etc.);
- redesign objectives ;
- your budget and a provisional timetable (maintenance schedule, delivery date, etc.).
To maximize your chances of achieving the expected results, define your objectives using the SMART method: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time-bound.
3/ Opt for a content management system
Proprietary solutions should be avoided, as they require you to go through your service provider to update your site. For greater flexibility, opt for a site that can be managed via a CMS (content management system). You'll be able to create and publish content on your own, even if you don't know HTML.
Choose an open source CMS such as WordPress, the world's most widely used content management system. Numerous themes and plug-ins are available to personalize your website while respecting your graphic charter.
4/ Optimize your website
One of the main objectives of the redesign is to improve your site's natural referencing. Emphasis should therefore be placed on SEO optimization of the following parameters:
- Technical aspects: responsive design, installation of an SSL certificate, 301 redirection of old pages, creation of robots.txt file;
- Content: editorial quality, keyword work and semantics, HTML markup (H1/H2/H3 tags, title, metadescription), page URLs ;
- User experience: ergonomics, easy navigation thanks to internal meshing, short and explicit menu, attractive visuals;
- Conversion: insertion of CTAs (call to action), form management, landing page creation, purchase path analysis.
For greater efficiency, you need to connect your website to your company's ecosystem: CRM (customer relationship management), Google Analytics and Google Search Console accounts, social networks, emailing platform, lead scoring tools, and so on.
5/ Putting your website redesign on a long-term footing
The redesign is only the beginning of the process: it's up to you to bring your new site to life! Once it's online, promote it via your various communication channels (social networks, email marketing, etc.) to invite your leads to discover it. Internet users (and Google) are fond of fresh content: offer them regular, relevant information through a blog or news section.
With the right editorial strategy, you can optimize your SEO and increase your organic traffic over the long term. Your CMS also needs to be updated frequently for performance and security reasons.
6/ Entrust your redesign project to a professional
Choosing the right service provider is crucial to the success of your redesign project. It can be difficult to find a freelancer who has all the necessary skills: design, development, integration, SEO, marketing, project management, web copywriting, etc.
The simplest solution is often to call on the services of a web agency. Thanks to the expertise of its multidisciplinary team, Autour de l'Image can support you from A to Z in the creation or redesign of your B2B website.
Would you like to generate more leads with a turnkey website?
