Are you looking for business website redesign tips? Say you’re looking to build your dream house — it’s something you’ve wanted for a long time, and you’re excited to see the image of the perfect more come to fruition before your eyes. What do you do first? Do you grab two pieces of wood and begin building immediately? Lay down the plumbing pipes before you even know where the bathroom goes?
No good structure is ever created without design plans first, and website layouts are no exception. A common mistake many small business owners or fledgling site managers make is putting the cart before the horse and not taking the time to truly plan what their website will look at.
Exceedion works with clients who want to design a new responsive layout for their WordPress, but we always need to discuss what they’re looking for before building a site for them — how can we provide a layout without knowing what the design will look like, after all?
Before you look into building a website, consider these five crucial Indianapolis web design planning tips for your new business layout:
1. Look at your competition.
We don’t ever recommend being a copycat, but snooping on the competition is something all good business owners and marketers do to get a feel of their industry from time to time.
Visit the website of your biggest competitor and ask yourself some questions: are you doing anything better than they are when it comes to site design? Is your website lacking in an area that theirs isn’t? Take these elements where their site shines and figure out a way to incorporate them into your own site.
2. Determine your website’s purpose.
You must know why you want a new website, right? Sometimes a great idea is to list out all that you want to achieve with your new responsive design so that your wishes are easier to communicate to your Indianapolis web designer:
- What problems exist on your website that you want to fix?
- What pages do you want to draw people to first?
- What do you want visitors to do on your website?
- How can your website better use your business idea to convert visitors into leads?
3. Explore your analytics.
Your website can tell you a lot about your own sales funnel. The pages that visitors spend the most time on should be kept in the analytics platform that you use, whether it’s a WordPress plugin or Google’s analytics methods. The pages and areas of your website that receive the most traffic should be featured prominently on your new website.
Alternatively, do you want to promote a new area of your site? Highlight lesser used areas of your site by telling your web designer about these pages.
4. Choose three base colors.
You likely already have your branding taken care of, and many businesses like to either choose a minimalist white design or one that incorporates their branded colors into the design. In color theory and design it’s important to not get too busy with colors, so choose between three and five to discuss with your designer so they have a jumping point when it comes to your website layout color scheme.
5. Shop around other sites.
Have you ever been to a hair salon? It’s absolutely normal for salon clients to bring in photos of hair styles they want in order for their stylist to get a basic idea of what they’re looking for. You can do something similar with websites.
Look for websites that you like the design of — competitor or not. You aren’t looking to copy their style completely, but you are looking to see if you can mimic their design success. Something as simple as the way a menu works of the site structure can help you figure out what you’re looking for and can further help your site designer give you what you want.
If you want to know more tips about prepping for your site redesign with Exceedion, we would love to hear from you. Clients looking for responsive design can consult with us so we can collaborate and figure out the best site design for their business.