Before you launch your website, you likely spent weeks or even months researching design options, creating content, and populating your site with the perfect mixture of products, images, and custom features. However, once the site goes live, things don’t always go as planned. It’s not uncommon for websites to experience issues after launch — whether it’s due to a technical hiccup or simply because the site wasn’t effective in communicating your brand message. If this sounds familiar to you and your website needs a revamp, read on to learn how to rework your digital presence to meet your business objectives and eliminate user roadblocks.

Make sure your website is meeting your business objectives.

Your website is the foundation upon which all of your other digital marketing efforts are based. If your site isn’t meeting your business objectives, you’re setting yourself up for failure before you even begin. Before diving into any redesign effort, make sure you’ve identified your business objectives for creating a new website in the first place. If you already have a website and you aren’t sure what purpose it serves, take some time to review your site and identify the types of visitors you’re getting, the pages they’re viewing, and how often they’re coming back. Once you’ve identified these details, you’ll be one step closer to determining whether your website is successfully meeting your objectives.

Identify the problems with your website.

Once you’ve assessed your website and identified what needs improving, it’s time to dig a little deeper and identify the specific problems. Problems with your website can range from poor design and navigation to broken links and missing content. To address these issues, you’ll need to first understand why they’re problematic for your users. For example, broken links may be annoying users who are trying to access certain pages, but this problem could also be preventing users from making a purchase. Once you’ve identified the root causes of these issues, you can move forward with rebuilding your digital presence.

Decide what to change and why.

Now that you’ve identified the problems with your website, it’s time to decide which aspects of the site you want to change. A website redesign doesn’t have to be a complete overhaul of your site’s layout and design; it can also include small tweaks such as changing navigation buttons or adding new images. Before you make any changes, make sure you understand the overall goals of your redesign. For example, if your site has poor navigation, you may want to reorganize your content to make it easier for users to find what they’re looking for. If broken links are preventing customers from making purchases, you may want to remove these pages from your site altogether.

Develop a new site layout and design.

Once you’ve identified what needs to change, it’s time to put your redesign plan into action. Depending on the scope of your redesign, you may want to hire a web designer to help with the process. However, you can also jump in and create a new site layout yourself (with a little bit of extra help from your friends). If you’re designing your site from scratch, start by researching design trends and industry best practices to find the right balance between modern and effective. Once you’ve defined your overall design aesthetic, break down your site into different sections and decide where content and features should go. You’ll also want to consider your digital marketing campaigns as you’re designing your site. Your website should serve as a hub for all of your digital marketing efforts, which is why it’s important to keep your design consistent with your other channels.

Try new marketing tactics to boost engagement.

As you’re developing your new website, you can also try new marketing tactics to boost engagement between your redesign efforts. For example, you can create a content calendar to make sure your website is consistently bringing new visitors to your site and boosting your digital marketing efforts. You can also work with your social media managers to create consistent content and posts on your various channels, including your website. Engagement on your website is important because it shows Google that your site is active and encourages more frequent visits from users. Ultimately, engagement on your website is a great way to gauge visitor satisfaction, identify what’s working, and find areas for improvement. You can also use engagement to boost your rankings in search engines by providing visitors with the types of content Google looks for in its top results. You can also boost rankings by optimizing your website for mobile devices. Google has been pushing its mobile-first index since 2015, and a website that isn’t optimized for mobile devices may not be getting as many search visits as it could be.

Conclusion.

As you can see, there are many reasons why you may want to redesign your website. Whether you’re addressing a problem with your current site or simply looking to make some improvements, a redesign can be a great undertaking. Just keep in mind that a website redesign can be a lengthy process that requires a lot of work, so be sure to set aside plenty of time for the project.