Your Guide to Redesigning Your Website
Redesigning your website can feel like a big task, but breaking it down into clear stages makes it manageable. This guide walks you through each phase of the process, whether you’re working with an agency or building it yourself.
The goal: a future-ready, user-focused site that delivers real results.
1. Start with a Strong Brief
Every successful website redesign begins with a clear, well-structured brief. This helps align your team and gives developers or agencies the context they need. A design brief is your project’s roadmap. It outlines the challenges you’re aiming to solve and the key considerations for your website’s design and development. It helps clarify your vision, keeps your project on track, and ensures we’re aligned from day one.
Think of it as a conversation starter, it helps raise questions you might not have thought of and brings focus to every stage of the process.
Why It’s Important
- ✅ Aligns your goals with our approach
- ✅ Highlights potential challenges early on
- ✅ Encourages deeper thinking around what you really need
- ✅ Keeps everyone focused and accountable
Don’t Worry — It Doesn’t Have to Be Perfect
The more detail you include, the better, but your brief doesn’t need to be polished or final. We’re here to help shape your ideas and guide you through the process.
2. Understand the Website Design Process
Once your brief is ready, use it as a roadmap — whether you’re hiring professionals or managing the project in-house.
🔍 Discover: Define the Vision
- Clarify the website’s purpose
- Conduct stakeholder interviews
- Gather user feedback
- Research similar projects for inspiration
🧩 Identify & Audit: Understand Your Starting Point
- Define goals using methods like the MoSCoW framework
- Identify your audiences
- Audit current content and plan new material (articles, videos, images)
- List required integrations (eCommerce, CRM, newsletter tools, etc.)
- Define roles, responsibilities, and timelines
- Plan for accessibility and mobile responsiveness
- Assess existing content—what stays, what goes?
- Decide how you’ll measure success
3. Create: Turn Plans into Prototypes
- Build the sitemap and wireframes
- Develop initial designs for feedback
- Begin the build
- Conduct early UX testing
- Draft and upload new content
4. Curate: Populate Your New Site
- Upload content and refine
- Integrate functionality
- Test accessibility and user experience
- Finalize legal policies (cookie, privacy)
- Gain stakeholder sign-off
5. Launch: Go Live with Confidence
- Launch the site
- Set up 301 redirects to preserve search rankings
- Integrate analytics to track performance
- Final round of testing and refinements
- Launch your communications campaign
6. Ongoing: Keep Improving
- Regularly measure performance and test new content
- Keep software and plugins up to date
- Promote content via social, email, and paid channels
- Review accessibility and privacy policies every 6 months
Should You Design Your Own Website or Hire a Professional?
Designing a website can be a time-intensive task, especially if you’re new to web design. If you’re short on time or unsure where to start, hiring a professional web designer might be the smartest choice.
Without design experience, it can be challenging to build a site that looks great and works well. A web designer can help bring your vision to life while ensuring usability and performance. That said, if you’re comfortable exploring on your own, website builders like Squarespace or Wix offer user-friendly templates that make it easy for beginners to create attractive websites without needing to code.
