A website redesign goes faster, costs less, and turns out better when the big questions are answered before design begins. Use these 30 questions to prepare your team and give your web partner what they need to recommend the right approach.
Goals
- Why are you redesigning now?
- What should the new site accomplish that the current one doesn’t?
- How will you measure success, such as leads, sales, applications, or support requests?
- What’s working on the current site that you want to keep?
Audience
- Who are your most important visitors?
- What are they trying to do when they arrive?
- What questions do they need answered before they contact you or buy?
- How do most visitors find you today?
Content
- Which pages get the most traffic today?
- What content is outdated, duplicated, or no longer needed?
- Who will write or update content for the new site?
- Do you have photography, video, case studies, or testimonials to use?
Brand and design
- Do you have brand guidelines, including logo, colors, and fonts?
- Which websites do you admire, and why?
- What impression should visitors leave with?
- Are there accessibility requirements you need to meet?
Features
- What do visitors need to do on the site, such as submit forms, book appointments, buy products, or log in?
- Do you need member, customer, or partner areas?
- Will you sell online?
- Do you need search, filtering, or multiple languages?
Integrations and data
- Which systems should the site connect to, such as your CRM, email marketing, or payment provider?
- Where should form submissions go?
- Do you need analytics and conversion tracking?
SEO and migration
- Which pages bring in search traffic today?
- Will any page addresses change, and how will you redirect them?
- What search terms do you want to be found for?
Maintenance and timeline
- Who will update the site after launch?
- How much do you want to manage yourselves versus with a partner?
- Is there a hard launch date, and why?
- What’s your budget range?
Tips for using this list
- Answer as a team. Include marketing, sales, operations, and leadership.
- Don’t wait for perfect answers. Rough answers are enough to start a productive conversation.
- Protect your search rankings. Planning redirects for changed page addresses is one of the most overlooked parts of a redesign.
BRIO designs and builds websites, microsites, digital portals, and online stores. For one agency, we’ve delivered open enrollment sites on deadline for eleven seasons.
Frequently asked questions
What should we decide before a website redesign?
Decide your goals and success measures, key audiences, content plan, brand direction, required features, integrations, SEO and redirect plan, maintenance approach, timeline, and budget range.
How do we protect SEO during a redesign?
Identify the pages that bring in search traffic, keep valuable content, and set up redirects from old page addresses to their new ones before launch.
Who should be involved in planning a redesign?
Include marketing, sales, operations, and leadership, along with whoever will update the site after launch.
