The first weeks of a new year are the ideal time to take a long, hard look at everything your business does and decide whether or not it’s time for a change.
If you’ve made your mind up that 2018 is the year you update, refresh or completely overhaul your website, here are 7 top tips to help you kickstart the project:
- Make a list of all the faults of the current design. Drawing on feedback from customers and your own team, jot down everything you can think of that doesn’t work properly, could be quicker or more efficient or that drives you mad when using the site.
- Note down all your must-haves and would-like-to-haves. A list of all your ideas for the new site will help to inform your wish list when briefing designers and developers, and you can use points from your faults list to create the wish list too. Not everything you include on this list will be possible, feasible or advisable, but it’s a great starting point.
- Define your new site’s goals. What do you want your new site to do? You need to set a primary goal, such as a high conversion rate, and then think about secondary goals such as communicating the brand message or encouraging subscription signups. Remember – a focused website is a more effective and efficient one.
- Keep an eye on web design trends. You don’t necessarily need to jump on the bandwagon with any of the top website design trends for 2018, but it helps to be aware of them and discuss ideas with your design team. After all, the last thing you want is for your brand new website to look outdated right away.
- Be realistic about what is achievable. This mainly refers to budget. You need to sit down with your designers and developers and discuss what you can actually afford to do. You may not get all the bells and whistles you dreamed of, but you should end up with a great-looking, superbly functioning website that helps your business.
- Think about the user experience at every turn. During every single part of the process, you need to have the user experience at the very forefront of your mind. Is the design intuitive? Does the navigation make logical sense to the user? Is it easy and quick to find essential information?
- Be generous with project timescales. Designing a new website from scratch always takes longer than you may think. It’s important to iron out all of the bugs, test extensively and get every detail just right before launching the site. This is why it could be a good idea to add on a couple of extra weeks when setting deadlines.
If you need more help getting started with your website redesign or would like to discuss your ideas with an expert, contact the bespoke website design team here at Ambos Digital – we’ll be happy to help.
