4 essential steps for redesigning your website

Redesigning a website is a crucial step in remaining competitive in an ever-changing digital environment. But it's not a task to be taken lightly!

Before embarking on this project, it's essential to get organized and plan each step carefully.

In this guide, we'll take you through the 4 steps you need to take before redesigning your website, to ensure a successful result in line with your marketing objectives. Unfortunately, if you don't follow these steps properly, the impact of all your redesign efforts could be greatly reduced.

Step 1: Analyze your current site data

Before diving headlong into a redesign, the first step is to carry out an in-depth data analysis of your current website. This analysis will provide you with valuable information on its performance, strengths and weaknesses. Here are the key aspects to examine:

Traffic and user behavior Study the number of visitors, the sources of traffic (organic, direct, from social networks, etc.) and the most visited pages. Also analyze user behavior on your site, focusing on bounce rates, time spent on pages and navigation paths.
Conversion and target performance Analyze conversion rates for your site's key objectives, such as sales, registrations, downloads and more. Identify which pages convert best, and which present opportunities for improvement.
User experience (UX) Evaluate the overall user experience on your site. Look for usability, navigation, page loading and accessibility issues that might discourage visitors.
SEO Performance Analyze your site's search engine rankings for keywords relevant to your industry. Identify optimization opportunities to improve your online visibility.

Once this in-depth analysis has been carried out, you'll have a clear vision of your current site's strengths and areas for improvement, which will help you define your goals for the redesign.

Step 2: Define clear, consistent objectives

The second step is to define clear, coherent objectives for your redesign project. These objectives must be in line with your company's overall strategy and reflect your specific needs.

Here are a few examples of common objectives for a website redesign:

Higher Website & Foot Traffic If your current site isn't generating enough traffic, you could set yourself the goal of increasing the number of visitors by improving SEO, developing quality content and using digital marketing techniques.
Improved conversions If your site attracts a lot of traffic, but conversion rates are low, the aim could be to optimize key pages to encourage more action from visitors.
Redesigning the brand : If your brand image has evolved or you want to modernize your visual identity, a redesign is the ideal opportunity to renew the look and feel of your website.
Enhanced user experience If visitors have difficulty navigating your site or finding the information they need, the aim may be to improve the user experience by making the site more intuitive and user-friendly.
Adapting to cell phones : If your site isn't yet optimized for mobile devices, the aim will be to create a responsive version to offer a consistent experience on all devices.

Clearly defining these objectives will enable you to guide the redesign process and measure the success of your efforts once the project is complete.

Step 3: Competitive analysis

A competitive analysis is an essential step before you start redesigning your website. It will enable you to understand what other players in your sector are doing, identify market trends and draw inspiration from best practices.

Here are some key aspects to take into account during this analysis:

Competitors' websites Identify your main competitors and analyze their websites in detail. Observe their design, structure, content and functionality.
Marketing positioning Study your competitors' marketing positioning to understand how they differentiate themselves, what their unique offers are and how they communicate with their audience.
Content strategy Analyze the content published by your competitors, whether blog posts, videos, infographics or other formats. Take note of popular topics and approaches that engage their audience.
Online performance Evaluate your competitors' online visibility in terms of SEO, social networking presence and brand awareness.

This competitive analysis will help you identify opportunities to stand out from the crowd, adapt your strategy and draw on industry best practices for your redesign.

Step 4: Keyword research and development of a structured tree structure

The last step before redesigning your website is to carry out in-depth keyword research relevant to your business, and develop a structured tree structure to organize your site's content.

Here's how it works:

Keyword search Use keyword research tools to identify the terms most searched for by your target audience. This research will help you understand the most popular topics and queries in your field. Select relevant keywords for each page of your website, making sure to integrate them naturally into your content.
Creating a structured tree structure Once you have a list of relevant keywords, plan the organization of your content by creating a logical tree structure. This tree structure should be clear and intuitive, making it easy for users to navigate your site. Think about grouping pages by theme and creating a clear hierarchy for menus and sub-menus.
Search engine optimization (SEO) With your keyword research and tree structure in hand, make sure you optimize every page of your site for search engines. Use keywords naturally in titles, meta-description tags, content, URLs and header tags. Also make sure your site is easily indexable by search engines by using a consistent internal link structure.
Reflecting on content : Redesigning your website is an opportunity to refresh your existing content and add relevant new information. Make sure you offer quality content that's up-to-date and meets the needs of your target audience. Content should be informative, engaging and visually well presented to capture visitors' attention.

By following these four essential steps before proceeding with the redesign of your website, you ensure that you approach this project in a strategic and thoughtful way.

Putting your research results to good use

In-depth analysis of your current site data, definition of clear objectives, competitor analysis, and keyword research with a structured tree structure are all crucial steps in ensuring a successful redesign, aligned with your marketing objectives.

Don't forget that redesigning a website is an opportunity to strengthen your online presence, improve the user experience and set yourself apart from the competition. By always keeping your target audience and objectives at the heart of your decisions, you'll create a high-performance, attractive website that attracts and converts visitors.

Once the redesign is complete, be sure to monitor and analyze the performance of your new website. Be ready to make adjustments if necessary to continually optimize your online presence and deliver a quality user experience.

By putting these tips into practice, you're on your way to a successful redesign that will strengthen your online presence and help you successfully achieve your marketing objectives.

Happy redesigning!