The first impression is the last impression. This couldn’t be truer when it comes to web design.
Approximately 94% of first impressions of a site are related to its design. If a business’ website fails to make a great impression, its potential customers will simply bounce away. Thus, it’s important to have a visually appealing website.
Visual appeal aside, a website must function seamlessly. Users expect a smooth experience, whether they’re navigating pages, filling out forms, or making purchases.
For a smooth user experience, businesses must keep redesigning their websites. The frequency of revamping a website depends on the needs and goals of a business. But it’s advisable to redesign a site every two to three years.
Revamping a website comes with its fair share of challenges, however. If you’ve ever worked on a web redesign project, you probably know that not everything goes according to plan.
Here, we’ll explore some of the most common challenges you may encounter during a web redesign and how to tackle them head-on.
1 Striking a Balance Between Aesthetics and Functionality
Websites with eye-catching visuals keep users engaged. But too many visuals, especially flashy ones, can be counteractive. They make websites attractive but destroy the user experience.
If your website has too many visual elements, it will take forever to load. Excessive use of visuals will also make your website difficult to navigate.
A visually appealing site that’s slow or confusing to use is a surefire way to lose visitors. Research has found that 76% of consumers switch to competitors if a website’s user experience (UX) is poor.
A purely functional site, on the other hand, may fail to engage visitors and leave a less-than-memorable impression if it lacks visual elements.
Don’t compromise one for the other. Instead, blend form and function. The design of your website should enhance the experience, not distract from it.
People value speed and simple navigation, so prioritize them. Keep the design clean. Also, refrain from using cursive fonts and hand-drawn symbols. They negatively affect website usability and readability.
2 Content Overhaul or Lack Thereof
Content is often the trickiest part of a web redesign. You might be tempted to copy and paste all your old content onto your new site. But hold up! That content might not be relevant anymore, or worse, it could be underperforming.
Contrastingly, overhauling all the content can become a huge task. Maybe the team responsible for writing the copy underestimates how long it will take, or the photoshoot for new product images gets delayed. And suddenly, you’ve got a new design with no content to fill it.
How do you deal with it, then? Plan content creation early. Decide which pages and content pieces are performing well and which need to be rewritten, refreshed, or removed entirely.
Work with your team to ensure content is updated in a way that complements the new design and layout. Don’t forget to plan for blog posts, product pages, and any other ongoing content creation needs.
3 Preserving SEO Rankings
Search engine optimization (SEO) often takes a backseat during a redesign. You might be so focused on aesthetics, functionality, and content that you forget about your site’s ranking on Google.
A redesign can impact your site’s search engine ranking. Things like URL structure, metadata, and even page load speeds can all affect how your site performs in search engines. If these factors aren’t carefully managed during a redesign, it can take months to recover the lost traffic.
Bringing in an SEO expert in the redesign process is one way to ensure that a redesign won’t negatively impact your ranking. But that would be expensive. SEO service providers charge anywhere between $250 and $10,000/month. Agencies, on the other hand, charge even more, about $3,209 monthly, on average.
AI-powered website builders are affordable alternatives to SEO, however. Leverage them to redesign your website.
These tools not only help businesses launch their websites in less than five minutes, but also automatically optimize them for SEO. Thus, they help preserve rankings without the hefty fees.
Just make sure you choose a website builder with built-in AI SEO features. It should also support integrations with tools like Google Search Console and Google Analytics.
Look for an AI website builder that allows for manual editing, advises Hocoos. That way, it elaborates further, you will have control over your meta descriptions, URLs, titles, and other aspects.
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4 Mobile Responsiveness
More and more people are browsing from their phones more than ever. Over half, or nearly 59%, of global website traffic came from mobile in the last quarter of 2023.
A website that doesn’t adapt smoothly to mobile phones frustrates users. If your site looks great on a desktop but turns into a jumble of squished text and oversized images on the phone, you’ll lose visitors. Mobile responsiveness is, hence, non-negotiable.
A mobile-responsive site adjusts automatically to whatever device it’s viewed on, ensuring that buttons, text, and images all fit properly.
Mobile responsiveness is not just about resizing, however. It’s about making sure the mobile experience is just as seamless as on a desktop. That means fast loading times, easy navigation with thumbs, and content that’s structured for smaller screens.
A website redesign is a major undertaking. You’ll face challenges along the way that can derail the entire project. But you can overcome those obstacles by following these tips. Rest assured that you’ll have a website that not only looks fantastic, but also enhances user experience.
