Poor Sales? Maybe You Need a Website Redesign: Here’s How

Did you know that poor web design can hurt conversions and sales? An unattractive site deserves a website redesign.

No matter what your company size or industry is, though, it’s crucial that you take a strategic approach to your website redesign. Know what isn’t working, what does currently work, and what goals you wish to achieve.

Otherwise, how will you take advantage of your existing web traffic? Worse, what happens if your web design is causing people to avoid visiting your site at all?

How Do You Know if Your Website Needs a Redesign?

I answer three questions when deciding whether or not to redesign a website:

1. Does the design look outdated?
2. Are my conversions/sales decreasing?
3. Have I received complaints about user experience or design-related issues?

If I answer yes to any of those questions, a website redesign is necessary.

How to Redesign an Existing Website

When you already have a website, redesigning it can seem like an overwhelming challenge. You have to consider all the content you’ve already created.

To make the process easier and more effective, follow these strategies.

Research and competitive analysis
Carefully evaluate your top 10 competitors. What do their websites look like? What strategies are they using that you could co-opt? What do you think they’re doing wrong?

Use competitive analysis to make your website better than the competition’s. Redesign your website so it loads faster, offers more intuitive navigation, and present better offers.

Building the wireframe and mockups
Wireframes and markups allow you to visualize your site before it goes live. When you use a wireframe, you can place each element precisely on the page.

Grid-style websites have become the norm. The human eye appreciates uniformity and balance. Your web designer can create wireframes and mockups for you to evaluate.

Starting the new design
Take your website redesign one element at a time. Figure out what elements will extend across all pages — excluding, perhaps, your landing pages — and which are specific to individual pages.

Don’t neglect your blog pages. CTA placement, image sizing, and other visual elements deserve careful consideration.