If you're like most business owners, you probably think about redesigning your website regularly. After all, a website is often the first impression potential customers have of your business so it needs to be professional and up to date.
But, when it comes to website design, there are numerous factors to consider.
In addition to layout, navigation, and color scheme, there are a million other details that make up an appealing and effective website.
At ruttl, our team has a history of working with hundreds of web design agencies that handle design projects. With our years of experience backed by client knowledge, we have come up with a web design checklist that will turn your next web design launch successful.
The powerful 15-step website design checklist
A successful web design project not only gives an attractive look to your website but fulfills your business goals too, be it conversions or getting more traffic. Here’s how to hit the nail right on target with our web design process:
1. Set your goals
What happens when you participate in a race without a fixed end point? You may go in a different direction or you might end up demotivated and forsake running. That’s the same thing that can happen with your web design project.
Without a proper goal in mind, your team will not be able to strategize properly. For example, let’s suppose your team started designing without a goal. They ended up making an aesthetically pleasing website but they failed to target the right audience. Would this website design lead to conversions? Definitely not!
Here’s how to get clarity on your goals by answering these questions:
- What does our company do? What value do we bring to our customers?
- What problem is our web design going to solve? What is our end goal? Is it to rank higher on search engines or educate our current customers?
- Do we need to keep in mind some current trends in our industry?
- Who are our competitors? How are we different from them?
Next, break your goal into a well-defined objective. Here’s the difference between the two and an example to get you inspired:
2. Analyze your existing website
If you already have a website, it’s best to perform a detailed analysis of it first
This could include conducting user interviews to understand their feedback, holding a brainstorming session with your team to know their suggestions, and conducting a competitor audit to figure out which website elements and trends they are capitalizing on.
This will help you find the current website’s strengths and weaknesses and what you need to update/change while redesigning.
For example, during the brainstorming session, your customer success representative may tell you that they have got a lot of feedback on navigation problems for certain web pages. You can take note of that and direct your designers to address the problem while redesigning.
You can even make use of tools like Semrush and Ahrefs to find existing issues/problems with your website. Here’s what a site audit looks like in Semrush:
3. Set your website design budget
Can you design your website for a hundred dollars? Or can it cost you a little over a thousand dollars? The truth is it depends. The cost can shoot up if you do not spend sufficient time planning your budget properly.
While setting the budget, make sure you consider the costs for all these crucial elements:
- Interface design costs
- Responsiveness, creation, and insertion costs
- Content development costs
- Graphic design and stock photo costs
- SEO costs
- Design and development costs
- Maintenance and updating cost
You also need to add to this the human resource cost.
For example, you’re running a web design agency. If 2 designers are working on redesigning your website, calculate the number of hours it will take. Multiply it to their hourly rate.
Also, consider the opportunity cost (even if you don’t add that to your budget) of those 2 designers not being able to work on other projects when they are working on yours.
4. Set time frames
Not everyone will have the luxury of working on a website design for several months. If you’re an SME or a startup, you may want to launch your website quickly and get the ball rolling.
While setting time frames, first create a blueprint of what you need to work on. Do this for every phase. For example, the content phase may include 4 activities while the design phase may include 7 activities.
You can create a work breakdown structure like this for each phase:
Set time estimates for all the activities and sub-tasks first. Once that is done, you’ll have a clear idea of how much time each phase of your web design will take.
You can then plan to assign additional resources if required so as to get the project done quickly and have your website up and ready in a few weeks.
5. Define your target audience
Image Source: Pinterest
Finding out your target audience is a crucial step to getting success with your goal.
For example, if your target audience is business leaders, you may want to have clear and concise website copy that doesn’t take away too much of the visitor’s time.
But how to find out your ideal customer base?
Here are 5 ways to do that:
- Interview your current customers Look at their characteristics, demographics, interests, buying patterns, and other commonalities.
- Conduct market research Find out the recent trends in your industry. This will help you get a clear idea of who your target audience is.
- Research your competitors Who are they targeting? What kind of people are engaging with their content on social media?
- Make use of Google Analytics to get data on the type of users visiting your site.
- Create buyer personas if you deal with a business that appeals to a lot of different customer segments.
6. Think about the content strategy
You might already have some content on your existing website. But how much of it do you think is relevant? How much will it require an update? And is there scope for more content addition?
Your content strategy will depend on these answers and if you’ll be making any web page additions that will require additional content.
Even if you decide to move ahead with your existing content, copying and pasting that content to the new design can be time-consuming and complex.
For example, the new design may only allow for only one headline per section while your existing design has two. Now, do you omit one sentence? Or do you reduce the font size? Or do you opt for a different font style?
These decisions may take time which is why it’s important to create a content strategy that is in line with your new design.
7. Your current website design
Sometimes, you may not need to change your website’s design. You may just need to add some additional elements or content to it.
At this stage, you should first do a design audit. Is the current design great for usability? Or is it leading to some confusion? Are visitors navigating to the web pages or website elements that are key to your business’s growth?
Here’s a sample design audit checklist for you to get started:
Find out the answers to such questions by conducting user interviews or simply accessing Google Analytics or similar tools to track user behavior.
You can even ask your teammates that have daily interactions with prospects and buyers for some information.
After this is done, you will come to know whether to stick with a similar design or move in an entirely different direction.
8. What platform to choose?
If you’re just starting out and don’t wish to hire developers to build your website, you can choose to have a website builder.
While there are many website building platforms, here are the top ranking ones:
1. WordPress:
Over 43.1% of all websites on the Internet are powered by WordPress making it one of the most popular website builders out there. You can use it to build any kind of website. They also have a drag-and-drop editor that helps you easily create custom website designs.
2. Web.com
Web.com also offers a drag-and-drop website builder that’s easy to use for non-tech people as well. They also give you access to many pre-made website templates. You can customize these designs to match your brand with just a few clicks.
3. HubSpot Website Builder
HubSpot offers an all-in-one website builder that promises to create your website in just a few minutes. They make this possible by providing conversion-optimized website templates. They also let you do adaptive testing where you can choose up to 5 variations of a page and HubSpot lets you know which is the best performing option.
If you are redesigning a website, it’s best to use the website builder that you previously made use of. This will save you time as you’ll only need to change a few elements.
9. Think about graphic design
Is graphic design an important part of your website?
For example, if your buyers are not that active on the Internet and you’re just making a website because you have to, you might not want to hire a graphic designer. Instead, you can make use of readymade templates and website builders.
But let’s suppose you’re a design agency. You want to leave a lasting impression on those prospects who visit your website. You may want them to think, “They have made such a great design. If ever I need one, I think I can trust them enough to hire them.”
In such a case, you can’t rely on readymade templates that millions of businesses are using.
You need something unique. The best bet here is to hire a great graphic designer who can build things from scratch and create a unique and visually appealing site.
If you decide to hire a graphic designer, here are some things you must check for:
10. Development complexity
Development complexity refers to things that are impossible or difficult to know at the beginning of the project and which only become clear as and when the project progresses.
For web design projects, this could mean learning unfamiliar languages or programming practices, websites needing to work properly across various dissimilar environments, and facing errors and setbacks that are difficult to predict.
This development complexity may depend on the type of website you’re aiming to create.
For example, if you’re creating a simple site with a few web pages just to display information or have a blog, the complexity would be far less than if you’re wanting to go in-depth about 10 different services your business is providing.
Whether you have minimal or large development complexity, you should be creating a buffer for it so that your web design project doesn’t get delayed.
11. Mobile Optimization
The percentage of mobile device website traffic has crossed a mammoth 58.99% in the 2nd quarter of 2022.
This means that your website should be optimized for mobile. Otherwise, you’re missing out on a lot of traffic and conversions.
But what does mobile optimization mean? It means that your website’s design adjusts to different mobile sizes, visitors can see a purpose-built version of the site regardless of the device they are using, and so on.
Here’s how to optimize your website for the same:
- Choose a mobile responsive template or theme. If you’re building a site in WordPress, you can easily search for “responsive theme”
- Make sure the content on your mobile website is not too lengthy. Here’s an example for you to take a look at:
- Make CSS and images light so that they can load faster
- Avoid using pop-ups or even if you use them, make sure that it’s use is minimal.
- Make use of large and readable font
Did you know that you can use ruttl to check if your website is mobile-friendly or not? You can even make iterations by inspecting CSS whenever you like.
12. Search Engine Optimization
If getting more website traffic is your goal, SEO is the way to go.
SEO helps your website be more discoverable. How? When they search for terms that are related to your brand (for example, best website design), SEO helps your website (for example, design agency) come up in those searches and turn that visitor into a customer.
To optimize your website for SEO, you need to conduct thorough keyword research, integrate those keywords strategically on your website, have a great blog with long value-adding and rich content pieces, get quality backlinks, and focus on on-site SEO which includes factors like URL slugs, meta tags, headlines, and subheadings.
13. Think about user experience
Is it enough for your website to look aesthetically pleasing? No.
It’s the user experience that is the most important factor of all.
User experience is how a person feels when interfacing with your website. Do they find that the website provides value? Do they find the website easy and pleasant to use?
Great user experience design is when the visitor answers, “Yes” to all these questions.
Here’s how to improve your website’s user experience:
- Know who will visit your website (target audience) and build experiences that they want to have
- Don’t stuff your website with too many elements. Keep it simple.
- Make use of whitespace generously
- Make sure that every page on your website loads fast
- Make your website responsive
- Ask for customer feedback regularly and ensure to implement that feedback to keep making your website better.
14. Set the quality standard
Your perception of a “great website” may differ from your designer’s perception of a “great website”. A reason why you should set some standards.
While it’s important to give your designers the freedom they need to come up with creative ideas, it’s also crucial to have some guidelines in place so that your website adheres to the current trends and rules that your industry is following.
The best way to set these quality standards is by having a meeting with your design and development team. These standards could cover things like the company logo placement or the number of external links in the content.
When everyone agrees to these standards, it’s easier for all involved to take the right design decisions.
Here are some of the website design standards that are generally accepted by all businesses:
It’s also important to note here that while standards are accepted by everyone, sometimes if it makes sense for your website to have a different layout or element, you should try that too. Then go and ask for some feedback. And figure out if you can keep that change or not.
15. Test before you go live
At the end of the day, you’re creating the website for your visitors. If you don’t test it and get feedback from them, you’re missing out.
There are many other benefits to website testing: gaining user trust, minimizing bugs and errors, ensuring compatibility across different platforms, improving search engine rankings, and drawing more visitors to your website.
The following are the different kinds of testing you should get done:
- Functional testing
- Database testing
- Usability testing
- Performance testing
- Security testing
- Responsiveness testing
The best way is to test your website at regular intervals so that an issue doesn’t stay unresolved for a longer time than necessary.
Ruttl slashes web design feedback in half
Whether you’re an agency, a product company, or a B2C company, Ruttl helps you succeed with your web design projects.
Here’s how teams across the world are using Ruttl to share precise feedback and avoid the back-and-forth that generally happens on email and other channels:
- Leave comments on live web pages and static images
- Make edits on live websites
- Tag teammates to assign comments as tasks
- Provide specific feedback through video comments
- Enable guest commenting where clients can share feedback without having to signup
- See how the mobile version of your website looks like and make iterations
- Inspect CSS and fix issues
- Replace images on live website
- Use it as a bug issue and tracking tool
- Integrate with tools like Zapier, Asana, Trello and Slack.
All of these features combine together to form a powerful tool. Read more about how our various clients have achieved extraordinary results with ruttl:
- How an agency used ruttl to speed up its feedback process by 50%?
- How Pixallus’s non-tech savvy clients have a breeze working with ruttl?
- How Agency 5 loved ruttl’s ease of use?
Tips for a successful website redesign project
Now that you know what to consider before redesigning your website, here are a few tips to help make the process smoother and more successful:
- Plan Ahead: One of the most helpful things you can do for a successful website redesign project is to plan. This means setting deadlines, creating a budget, and assembling a team of professionals who can help you with the project.
- Do Research: Before starting the redesign process, it's imperative to research what other websites are doing. You may find several designers creating videos online explaining any web design style so try to search online for informative sources. This will give you an idea of the trends in web design and help you decide which direction you want to go with your website.
- Create a Style Guide: A style guide specifies how your website should look and feel. This will help your team stay on track as they're designing the website and make sure that everything looks cohesive.
- Test, Test, Test: Once your website is up and running, make sure to test it extensively. This includes checking for broken links and other issues across different devices and browsers.
- Keep The Updates Coming: Improving your website regularly is one of the most beneficial things you can do. This means adding relevant content, tweaking the design, and ensuring that everything is up-to-date.
A website redesign can be a daunting project but if you take the time to plan ahead and follow these tips, you're sure to have a successful outcome.
Final Thoughts
There are a few things you should know before redesigning your website. First, check to see if your present website is meeting your requirements. If it is serving your goals, you may want to consider options such as updating rather than going for a completely new website.
Also, make sure your website makeover has a specific goal in mind. What are your goals for this project? Is there a specific problem you're trying to solve? Knowing your priorities can help you make better decisions during the redesign process.
Finally, be prepared for some challenges. Redesigning a website may be a time-consuming and costly process so be prepared for some setbacks — there's no assurance that everything will run well during the remodeling process. You can achieve tremendous achievements if you take the time to plan well and make wise selections.
Whether you opt for a complete makeover or just some small modifications, equip your team with the tools they need. ruttl is the perfect tool that can cut back your website launch time to half and make the design process a breeze.
