So you’ve decided to redesign your company’s website. Great!
Maybe it’s been a few years since your last website redesign, or maybe you’re still using the original website you launched when you started the business. Chances are, this website redesign is long overdue.
What is your website redesign strategy?
If someone asked you, “What are your website redesign goals?” you could probably rattle off a few—make the design more modern and up to date, fix all the outdated information and broken links, maybe add some new functionality and content.
You know, make it look like your company isn’t frozen in 2015!
It’s a good start, but kind of vague.
Set concrete goals for your website redesign process
Before you spend the time and money on a website redesign project, I want to challenge you to set some more concrete goals. It’s worth the effort because it will allow you to get a much higher ROI out of the website redesign process.
Embarking on this website redesign journey without a comprehensive and clear set of goals can lead to missed opportunities and ineffective outcomes.
To help you generate ideas and come up with your own list of objectives, I’ve listed below 30 of the most essential website redesign goals in 2023, grouped by category.
You will probably want to incorporate most of these goals into your own website redesign project, and you will likely have more to add that are specific to your own business goals and situation. This list is not meant to be comprehensive, just a way for you to kickstart your own strategizing.
User Experience and Design
1. Improve user experience (UX) and user interface (UI)
Improving user experience (UX) involves enhancing the overall satisfaction and ease of use for website visitors. This can be achieved by simplifying processes, reducing friction points, and ensuring intuitive navigation. User interface (UI) improvements focus on optimizing the visual design and layout of the website, making it visually appealing, engaging, and easy to use.
2. Enhance aesthetics
Use appropriate color schemes, typography, and imagery to create a cohesive and visually pleasing site. Pay attention to layout, spacing, and visual hierarchy to ensure that important elements stand out and guide users through the content.
3. Simplify navigation and improve site structure
An important aim in a website redesign is to make it easier for users to find the information they need. This involves organizing the website’s content into logical categories, implementing clear and intuitive menus, and providing breadcrumbs or navigation aids. By simplifying the navigation process, users can quickly and effortlessly access the desired information.
4. Implement a clear and intuitive information architecture
This website redesign goal is closely tied with the previous one. Ensure that your new website’s content is organized in a logical and hierarchical manner. Categorize content, create a well-defined site map, and implement clear labeling and naming conventions. An intuitive information architecture helps users understand the website’s structure and find relevant information efficiently.
5. Enhance content presentation and readability
Use appropriate typography, font sizes, and line spacing to improve readability. Pay special attention to the formatting of text, headings, and paragraphs to make content scannable and easy to digest. Well-presented content ensures that users can consume information effortlessly.
6. Implement interactive design elements
Interactive design elements, such as animations or micro-interactions, can engage users and enhance their overall experience by adding visual interest and interactivity to the website.
Performance and Technical Optimization
7. Increase website speed and performance
Increasing website speed and performance involves optimizing various aspects of the website to reduce loading times. This can include optimizing code, compressing images, leveraging browser caching, and minimizing the number of HTTP requests. By improving website speed, visitors experience faster page loading times, resulting in a smoother and more enjoyable browsing experience. Speed is also a ranking factor for search engines. Use Google Analytics and PageSpeed Insights to benchmark your current website and aim for better results from your new site.
8. Optimize for mobile responsiveness
Ensure that your new website is fully functional and visually appealing across different mobile devices. This involves using responsive web design techniques to adapt the layout and content of the website to different screen sizes.
9. Optimize images and multimedia for faster loading
Byte for byte, images and video are often the biggest files your website will load and can have a major impact on site speed. Reduce file sizes without sacrificing visual quality by using compression techniques, image format optimization, and lazy loading. Your site will have a better user experience and reduced bandwidth usage.
10. Optimize the site structure for SEO
Site structure is an underappreciated element of search engine optimization efforts. Ensure that bots can easily navigate and index your website’s content by implementing a clear and logical URL structure, using proper header tags (H1, H2, etc.), and providing XML sitemaps. By optimizing the structure, search engines can better understand and index the website’s pages, potentially improving search engine rankings.
11. Improve loading times for large or media-heavy pages
If website redesign includes pages with a significant number of images, videos, or other multimedia elements, employ techniques such as lazy loading, asynchronous loading, and a content delivery network (CDN) to reduce loading times and deliver a faster and smoother user experience.
12. Optimize website forms
Reduce the number of form fields, use autocomplete and validation features, provide clear instructions, and optimize the form layout. By making forms easier to use, visitors are more likely to complete them, leading to higher conversion rates.
13. Optimize for faster loading on slow internet connections
An important goal for your website redesign should be to provide a satisfactory browsing experience for users with limited bandwidth or slower internet connections. Techniques such as content minification, file compression, and lazy loading can be employed to reduce the amount of data that needs to be downloaded, resulting in faster loading times and improved usability.
Branding and Marketing
14. Enhance brand identity and consistency
Strengthen and maintain a consistent brand image throughout the entire website, using appropriate colors, fonts, and visual elements to create a recognizable and cohesive brand presence.
15. Improve SEO and visibility
Optimize website content, structure, and metadata to increase visibility on search engine result pages, attracting more organic web traffic through strategies like keyword research and optimizing page titles and descriptions.
16. Increase website conversions and lead generation
Optimize website design and content to encourage visitors to take desired actions, strategically placing compelling calls to action (CTAs) and improving user flow toward conversion points to effectively convert visitors into leads or customers.
17. Implement effective calls to action (CTAs)
Strategically place compelling buttons or links throughout the website to prompt users to take specific actions, using clear language, contrasting colors, and prominent placement to increase engagement and improve conversion rates.
18. Improve social media integration and sharing capabilities
If appropriate, integrate social media platforms into your website. Adding social sharing buttons to your blog posts helps encourage readers to share your content, which can significantly enhance your exposure.
19. Showcase your services
If you are a service provider, be sure to present your services in an attractive and informative manner, using high-quality images, detailed descriptions, and highlighting key features or benefits. The goal is to engage visitors, build interest, and increase conversions.
20. Personalize your content
Deliver tailored experiences to users based on their preferences, past behavior, or demographics, using dynamic content, personalized recommendations, or user-specific messaging.
Functionality and Integration
21. Use a content management system (CMS)
If your existing site doesn’t have a CMS on the back end, you know how hard it is to make updates and edits. Your new site should utilize a reliable and feature-rich CMS, such as WordPress, to efficiently manage and update content, allowing for easy content creation, editing, and publishing, and providing flexibility for future website growth and scalability.
22. Implement a responsive and user-friendly contact form
On many simple portfolio websites, the contact form is the main way users convert. It’s worth your while to pay it some special attention. Create a contact form that is optimized for different devices and screen sizes, ensuring it is easy to use with clear instructions and an intuitive layout, making it easy for visitors to reach out and submit their inquiries or messages.
23. Integrate chatbots or virtual assistants for customer support
Chatbots are not right for every site, but they can be an easy way for your visitors to get support quickly. Consider setting up a chatbot or virtual assistant to provide answer frequently asked questions, guide users through processes, and offer real-time assistance.
24. Implement live chat functionality
It would be strange to walk into a store and find no employees there to help you. Why would there be nobody available to help visitors to your website? If you have the capacity, enable live chat functionality on your new website to connect visitors with customer support representatives in real-time. You can even set it up so your chatbot does the initial support and is backed up by a real person when appropriate.
25. Integrate video effectively
Video can be tremendously engaging and can convey information effectively. Incorporate video content into your new website, making sure it’s optimized for fast loading and compatible across all devices.
26. Implement structured data markup
Structured data markup is some code you add to the head of your website. Human visitors to your site won’t see it, but it provides a lot of additional information to Google about your website’s content. It can help you with your ranking on Google, and it can enable so called rich snippets, which help your site show up in a more visually appealing way in the search results. See schema.org for more information.
Accessibility and Trustworthiness
27. Improve website compatibility with assistive technologies
Ensure that individuals with disabilities can access and navigate your website using assistive devices or software. Adhere to accessibility guidelines, provide alternative text for images, implement proper semantic structure, and use ARIA (Accessible Rich Internet Applications) attributes.
28. Enhance website security and privacy measures
Implement robust security protocols, use SSL certificates to encrypt data transmission, regularly update software and plugins, and adhere to privacy regulations to ensure user data protection and build trust with visitors.
29. Gather user feedback on your current site and your new one
It’s helpful to gather user feedback about your existing website to help guide your redesign project. Once your new site is launched, keep gathering feedback and strive to make regular improvements. Usability testing, even if it’s just done by your friends and family, can help you gain insight and identify pain points to address.
30. Enhance website trustworthiness and credibility
Incorporate trust signals such as security badges, customer testimonials, certifications, or affiliations to establish confidence among site visitors, and assure them of your reliability and credibility.
Are you ready to redesign your existing website?
At Electromagnetic Web, our web designers can help you meet all 30 of these website redesign goals. With our collaborative approach and focus on delivering exceptional results, we are passionate about helping your business thrive in the digital landscape. Contact us today and let us be your trusted partner in creating a website that represents your brand, engages your target audience, and drives tangible growth.