Redesigning a website is a major undertaking. Not only is the design changing dramatically, but logos are being updated, content is being rewritten, navigation is being restructured, and more. There are a million and one things to keep track of when redesigning a website, and plenty more you don’t even realize you need to keep track of until they aren’t working! And while there are much more comprehensive check-lists out there here are
% Implement 301 redirects:
It seems like such a small thing, but failing to implement proper 301 redirects can have the biggest repercussions for your website and your SEO. When you rewrite your URL structure those new4 Things to Remember When Redesigning A Website pages are basically starting from square one. Deleting an old URL and not redirecting it to the new URL means losing any SEO value that original URL had (trust and age), plus any inbound links that page may have had, and any visitors that page used to pull to your site. We had one client that, when they redesigned their website, forget to implement 301 redirects and had 4,000+ broken URLs! Their organic traffic dropped significantly because the website was basically starting from scratch and any SEO value their old URL structure may have had was lost in the transition.
% Test all forms:
The last thing you want when redesigning a website is to break communication with your target audience. While your new website is still in testing mode test ALL the forms on ALL the pages to make sure they work properly. Are emails getting sent to the right people internally? Are Thank You pages popping up with the correct tracking code? Do the forms have all the fields you want to collect data about your customers?
% Recreate PPC landing pages:
We were working with one client, helping move their website to a new CMS, and our contact person wasn’t even aware landing pages were missing until sales reps started wondering why they weren’t seeing the usual leads coming in from the usual sources. PPC landing pages aren’t typically part of your usual navigation, so when you are redesigning a website or moving to a new domain your developer might not even know they exist, especially if they are “floating” pages that aren’t tied into the rest of the site. Make a list of all the PPC landing page URLs you use for Google Bing and Yahoo and ensure that those pages are properly recreated when
your new site launches.
% Ensure Google Analytics code is installed properly:
Once your site is just about ready to go live ensure that your Google Analytics tracking code is properly installed within your new design. If your website is built in WordPress you can use a analytics plugin, or you can hard code it directly into the website. If your GA code is broken, improperly installed, or missing from several pages you won’t be able to effectively measure the impact of your new site design on your organic strength or conversion levels.
