The short answer
Settle ten things before anyone opens a design file: the goal, the audience, the pages that bring in business today, your current numbers, who owns the content, the features you need, the budget, the deadline, the redirects and who has the final say. Teams that agree on these first finish faster and keep the search traffic they already have.
What should you decide before a redesign?
We send this list to every client before a redesign starts. Write a one line answer to each and you already have most of a brief.
- One main goal, such as inquiries or sales
- The audience you most want to reach
- Which current pages bring traffic and leads
- Your numbers today: visits, conversion rate and speed
- Who writes and approves the content
- The features you need on day one
- A budget range
- A launch date and what drives it
- A redirect plan for every old address
- One person with the final say
Which of these gets skipped most often?
Content and sign off. A new design can be ready in a few weeks and then wait a month for the text. And when five people all have the final say, the project moves at the pace of the busiest one. Name one content owner and one decision maker on day one and most delays never happen.
How do you keep search rankings during a redesign?
Keep the addresses of pages that rank, or redirect each old address to its closest new page. Keep the page titles and headings that already perform. Then check Search Console every few days for the first month after launch, so any broken page gets caught early.
When is a redesign worth it?
When the site no longer matches the business, when it is slow or painful to update, or when people arrive and leave without doing anything. If only one or two pages underperform, fix those first. Sometimes the honest advice is that you do not need a redesign yet, and we will tell you that.
Planning one?
Websites at Enthros start from $350 and take 2 to 7 weeks.
