7 Essential Questions to Shape Your Website

Many people choose to redesign their websites for different reasons. You must make sure you redesign your website in a way that allows your users to obtain what they are looking for. You may need to make your website more attractive, add more features or you have other reasons such as changing your branding.

Website redesigning must be done while keeping your business in mind. You can’t wake up one morning and start redesigning your website. This step requires prior planning. Here are some questions which you must ask yourself before you begin making changes to your site.

1. Is a redesign needed?

What are your reasons for redesigning your website? You should at least have five reasons that support a redesign. If more than three reasons point towards usability, redesigning is strongly recommended.

2. Are your objectives for the website clear?

Website owners often face difficulty while providing answers for this question. You should have clear reasons for having a website. Is your site e-commerce based? Is its purpose to offer information? Is it a portal for other sites? Even before you plan site redesigning, you must be clear about the  aims for the  site.

3. Do you have the necessary resources to undertake website redesign?

Website redesigning requires a sufficient amount of patience, time, and money. Make sure you have all these before you being redesigning your site.

4. How long will it take to redesign your site?

A proper and planned website redesign project can take time. Website redesign should not be rushed. If you have done your research and acquainted yourself with all those factors that require your attention during site redesigning, you can easily calculate the approximate duration of your project.

5. When should you redesign your site?

You must not plan your redesign during the peak business seasons; you will probably end up confusing customers, and losing them if your site doesn’t work. During peak seasons, customers like operating with websites and menus that they are comfortable with. If you know your low season, try to schedule it around that time, to avoid losing business.

6. What are the good and bad areas of your site?

Webmasters must be thorough with their site. They must know what areas need changes. Web owners may also host third party polls and get suggestions for improving their site. Designers and web owners can work as a team and create better options which will suit needs on both sides.

7. What will your visitors’ reaction be?

Even before you think of a redesign plan, you must focus on the visitors’ reactions. Visitors are key to successful business and therefore it is extremely important to take their reactions into consideration. You can easily test proposed redesigning plans with your visitors and re-test them. Testing does not let you miss out on huge volumes of traffic. Do not try and predict visitor reactions. As there are many visitors to any given site, there can be mixed reactions. An online poll or survey is the best way to test several design ideas.

Planning a website redesigning scheme requires you to be patient. In the long run, this patience will help you save time and money. Try and seek answers for each of these seven questions even before looking at website redesign as an option.