Do you want a guide that gives you tips and advice of what and what not to do with your current website redesign?

Well, you’ve come to the right place!

Here at Graphic Tide, we’ve recently told you guys that we’ve been busy re-designing our website, so it’s easier for you to interact, promote yourself, and have access to all sorts of different features.

Even though we’ve been really excited to show you what we’ve been up to (me, Ash & Cam), wanted to produce a blog post today which gives you a guide of what to do if your thinking about redesigning your website, and what to avoid in the process.

Re-designing your website can be a daunting thought, but if it’s done effectively, it can change your whole business into a successful and effective business, which pulls in traffic and user engagement, so let’s get started on today’s ‘Guide To Re-redesigning Your Website!’

Contain Your Re-Design Excitement

You might be really REALLY excited about showing off your brand new website design to your followers, users, family and friends, but only do this if it’s 100% ready, and don’t cut any corners with the design.

Why do I suggest this?

It’s because we fell through the exact same trap. We published our new home page and dashboard, without actually finishing the other pages off first, and then showcasing the whole website re-design to the world.

But why was this a problem?

We had inconsistencies throughout the website, as two pages were different from the rest of the website, which thankfully, we’re gradually sorting out. But this is something which you need and can, avoid with your website.

If you don’t like working with pressure, don’t tell anyone that your re-designing the website, which allows you to be flexible with your release date. After you’ve finished the re-design, tell your audience when it’ll go live, and you can create buzz around your new website design, without the pressure!

What Are The Problems With your CURRENT website?

Your main priority for your website re-design, is to make to make your website easier for your users to interact with your website. Avoid adding gimmicks to your website, and always think about how your audience will interact with your new design.

Does it help your users more than your current design?

In your opinion, would it capture their attention further?

If you think it’s currently difficult for users to navigate through your website, concentrate on making this your priority.

Ask as many questions as you can about what works and what doesn’t within your current design, so you know exactly what you need to work on and address. But more importantly, it also allows you to step back from your website, and think like your audience would.

Ask yourself these questions, and you’ll create a new design that captures your audience’s attention, and make it unique from the rest.

Ask Questions To Your Audience

But you can however, instead of doing this all by yourself, ask your audience questions about your website. Ask a few questions about what they like and dislike about your current website, how you can make it better, and what features they’ll like to see with your re-design. The way you ask your audience is really up to you, but it could be asking them on social media or asking them in person.

It not only gives you insight into what your audience wants with your new design, but it also allows your audience to feel their part of your community, that you care about what they suggest to you, and that what they say, has a big part of what you do as a business. This increases customer value and satisfaction.

So, instead of trying to think like your audience would, if you ask your audience before you re-design your website, you can get valuable knowledge of what’s working and what’s not.

Be Consistent And Reflect Your Brand

Consistency and brand works hand in hand in business, and your website design should be no exception. Create a design which is completely consistent, use the same typeface throughout, the same colours, the same navigation, so your audience develops an understanding of your brand.

Think about your consistently, and also your USP (Unique Selling Proposition).

A unique selling proposition is what makes your company unique and different from the rest. Have a think about actually who your target audience is, and work your design towards them. If your perfect customer is a young, active and contemporary male, develop your design to tailor their needs.

This could be creating bold, crisp and contemporary designs, that perfectly suits what young males are about nowadays.

In contrast, if you were to produce a design which was aimed at old females, then your not going to sell your service or products very well, as your target market will become completely disinterested about what your communicating to them.

If you know who your target audience is, the easier it will be to design, but remember, you can’t please everyone.

Re-designing your current website can transform your business and turn it into a traffic pulling machine, that encourages user engagement, builds a sense of community and increases your sales as a business. Make sure you follow these tips, and you’ll create a website which really makes you different from the rest.

Summary Of Points

• Contain your website re-design excitement and only publish it when your 100% ready
• List the problems that your current website has, and concentrate on addressing this first
• Be consistent, and create a website which tailors your target audience
• You can’t please everyone! So create a design that is targeted towards this audience
• Instead of thinking of problems for yourself, ask questions to your current users and followers, and see what they like and dislike about your website

So thanks for visiting today, be sure to leave a comment below, as we would love to hear from you. Be sure to follow us on Twitter, Facebook and Tumblr, it will be great to see you on there. Thanks again, and have a great day!