How to Prepare for a Website Redesign
A practical checklist to make your next redesign smoother, faster and far more effective.
The best redesigns start well before any design happens. A little preparation removes most of the friction, delay and frustration — and dramatically improves the end result. Here's how to set your project up to succeed.
Get clear on your goals
Decide what the new site actually needs to achieve: more enquiries, better-quality leads, more online orders, or simply being easier to update. Goals guide every design decision, and without them a redesign becomes a matter of taste — which is how projects drift and disappoint.
Gather your content early
Content is the single most common cause of delay. Start collecting your copy, photos, testimonials, menus and any documents early — even in rough form. A great design with placeholder text can't go live; real content is what turns a mock-up into a working website.
Look at what works and what doesn't
Note which pages currently perform, where people drop off, and what questions customers keep asking. Pull together a few sites you admire, and be specific about why. This gives your designer direction and saves rounds of guesswork.
Agree how you'll give feedback
Decide who signs things off and roughly when. Clear, consolidated feedback from one or two decision-makers keeps a project moving; scattered opinions from a committee stall it. Knowing the process up front keeps everyone calm and the timeline realistic.
Think beyond launch
A website isn't a one-off event — it's a living tool. Plan for who will keep it updated and how. Sorting this out before launch means your shiny new site still looks current a year later, instead of slowly sliding back into the state that prompted the redesign.
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