Website redesign: 10 things to know before you start
There’s more to a successful site launch than great design. Here’s how to avoid costly missteps.
Your website should be working for your business, not holding it back.
As your business evolves, so should your website. Maybe your goals have changed, your customers expect more from their online experience, or making even simple updates takes more time than it should.
A redesign can help address these challenges. But without the right planning, you could lose valuable search traffic or discover something important was overlooked after launch. Not exactly the big reveal you had in mind.
Whether you’re planning a refresh or a complete overhaul, here are 10 things to consider before launching your new website.
A redesign doesn’t mean starting from scratch.
Review your existing website’s performance to identify the pages driving results and where visitors might be running into trouble. Set clear goals and benchmark your current performance so you can measure whether the changes are paying off. The idea is to improve what's not working without losing what already is.
2. Give your content a proper review
Not every page needs to make the move.
Audit your existing content to decide what stays, what needs updating, and what can go. Pay close attention to pages that bring in valuable traffic before combining or removing them. And don’t leave content until the end. Your messaging should help shape the design, not be squeezed into it afterwards.
Your website should make it easy for visitors to find the information they need.
Review your site structure and navigation to identify opportunities to simplify the experience. Think about how pages are organized, what information visitors are looking for, and how easily they can reach it.
4. Plan for what comes next
Your redesigned website needs to support more than your immediate business needs.
Consider where your business is headed. Are you planning to introduce new products or services, expand into eCommerce, or add new website functionality? Thinking ahead can help you build a site that supports future growth without unnecessary development work down the road.
A beautiful new website deserves to be seen.
Before making changes, identify your strongest organic pages and any technical SEO issues that need attention during development. And as AI-powered search continues to change how people discover businesses, consider how clear, useful, well-structured content can support your visibility in both traditional and AI search results.
6. Make accessibility part of the process
Accessibility and mobile responsiveness shouldn't be last-minute checks.
Build them into your design decisions early, then test across devices and with different ways of navigating. Follow Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) and understand the legal requirements that apply to your business, including Ontario’s Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA), where applicable.
A fresh design shouldn’t come at the expense of a good user experience. Review the journey visitors take to complete important actions. Where are they dropping off? Could a simplified layout or clearer call to action make a difference?
Use wireframes to explore how these changes could improve the experience before finalizing the design.
8. Don’t forget about integrations and redirects
Changing your website’s structure or URLs? Make sure you have a plan to direct visitors and search engines to the right places.
Map your existing URLs to their new destinations and implement redirects to help preserve search visibility and avoid broken links. Test your forms, integrations, navigation, and page speed across devices and browsers. Confirm that tracking is working, redirects are in place, and your new site is ready for search engines to index.
A clear launch plan and final QA process can help catch issues before visitors do.
Your marketing team will be the ones working with the website long after launch.
Consider how easily they’ll be able to update content or build new pages. Your CMS should support how your team actually works, without turning every small change into a developer request.
10. Keep an eye on what happens next
Your website is live. Now it’s time to see how it performs.
Monitor search rankings, traffic, and conversions after launch, comparing them against your original benchmarks. It’s the best way to catch unexpected issues early and see where there’s room to improve.
Ready to rethink your website?
A successful website redesign takes more than a fresh coat of paint. It takes a team that understands your business needs and knows how to make it happen.
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