Planning a website redesign project of any size can be an overwhelming endeavor. How do you know where to begin and what should be included? MoreVisibility's Website Redesign Checklist will help you: • Organize what areas of consideration should come into play with your planning, including: Design, Functionality, Content, etc. •Identify what your core project requirements are. •Focus your thinking on how to maintain what's already working, while addressing anything that isn't performing on the site. • Make your website redesign project discussions more fruitful and productive
Website Redesign Checklist
By: Khrysti Nazzaro, Director of Optimized Services
For More Information Please Visit
www.MoreVisibility.com
February 2010
Introduction Embarking on a website redesign project is never an easy undertaking - such projects can be cumbersome, intimidating, and expensive. Getting approval to start the project is the first hurdle, but once you do then comes the work of evaluating your project needs and establishing a strategy for execution. Regardless of whether you are outsourcing the project or handling it internally, for the average marketer or business owner knowing what needs to be taken into account for a successful website redesign is a foreign concept. We've created this Website Redesign Checklist to help you focus your thoughts and formalize them into a clear framework. By answering the following questions you should be on your way to developing a comprehensive RFP or project-scope plan that has the potential to lead to a redesigned website that delivers on your organization's core goals and objectives. Site Goals and General Questions Assess your responses to the following questions first to guide the rest of the process. Include all relevant internal decision makers in the discussion so that you ensure each department or division's needs is being addressed in the planning stages. . Why are you redesigning the site at this time? . What are your goals for the project? . Do you have timeframes or schedules that must be adhered to? (If so, you may need to evaluate whether they're realistic in comparison to the project requirements you compile with the questions in the other sections of this checklist.) . What is/are the purpose(s) of your site (brochure, informational, transaction-oriented, lead-gen, etc)? . Can you rate / describe your current levels of satisfaction with the site's performance, design, functionality, and content? And how do you want/expect those levels of satisfaction to change with this redesign? . How will you define and measure the success of the project? Performance Questions Based on your analytics data and sales / lead-conversion results, assess how your site is currently performing and determine what strengths and weaknesses it has that should be addressed as part of the redesign. Your goal should be to augment what is working to sustain it or make it work better in the redesigned site and to undo, fix, or replace, what's "broken" so that those weaknesses don't exist on the new site.
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. How are you currently tracking site performance / what analytics suite are you utilizing? Are you satisfied with the data the product collects and the reports you're able to generate or do you need to look into a new solution or more training on the solution you have? . Where does the majority of your current site traffic come from? Are those traffic sources economically sound for your overall business objectives (i.e., if the majority of your traffic comes from paid sources are you able to justify that expense based on positive ROI? Or is the present traffic model not self-sustaining and does your site need to receive traffic from other / different sources in order to demonstrate a positive ROI?)? . Does your current site have clear Goals / Points of Conversion? o If not, what should those be on the new site? o If so, are the current ones sufficient to carry over to the new site or should they be revised? How are they performing presently? Understanding that we all want to continuously increase our sites' performance, is your overall conversion rate weak and in need of serious consideration or does your current site perform relatively well? . Who are the various audiences your site is geared to? Can you prioritize the importance of each of those audiences relative to your bottom line? Does the current site adequately address their needs relative to their levels of priority? . What websites do you consider competitors of yours and how does the performance of your current site measure u... [download for more]
