What’s Different About a Website Redesign Project?
Effective and responsive sites inspire confidence. The inverse is also true.
Have you ever driven past a house being remodeled and thought, “Ew, do those people have any idea what they’re doing?” You might not be an architect, a civil engineer, or an urban planner, but when something looks bad or doesn’t seem to work correctly, you notice without fail.
It’s the same with our sites and those of our clients. When sites work extremely well, the informed members of the audience are impressed. When sites function correctly, it goes largely unthanked, but there are no complaints.
When a site doesn’t function as it should, however, it’s the first thing that almost everyone in an audience notices.
What’s worse, this can damage the credibility of that business, regardless of whether they have anything to do with IT or not.
But unresponsiveness is not the only aspect of a site that can turn audiences off from a site. Other aspects include:
- Clunky interfaces or layouts
- Dated graphics or images
- Out-of-date information
And the list goes on.
It’s why sites need a redesign from time to time, and it’s what you need to keep in mind for yourself and your clients going forward. This is especially true for those clients that come in simply wanting to add a feature to their website to bring them into the 21st century, when in reality they need a massive makeover.
But how do you convince someone who’s let their site go out of style and function more than Birkenstocks and socks that they need to let you do a site redesign?
- Research, research, research.
Sometimes the flaws in a site’s makeup are easily spotted from a mile away. Others are a little bit sneaky. If you’ve got in mind to do a site redesign, part of your deep-dive includes finding all of the major—and minute—details that need a change.
Depending on the client, you might be given carte blanche to overhaul anything you need to, or you might have to lay out each and every little insight. Prove your worthiness of that trust by not letting anything slip by you.
- Be transparent about a client’s need for a site redesign, and be ready to educate.
As with any aspect of a proposal, you need to be transparent about time, costs, and client content contribution. Site redesigns might take a little bit more explaining than that, especially given the age demographic or industry of your client.
Your obvious concern is, as always, function over form. That being said, there are times when both need to be updated. It’s a good idea to explain to a client why this is the case, and be ready to be met with resistance. You’re a great project manager and client communicator, though—be persistent!
And remember—a little bit of a mockup can go a long way.
- Spell out suggestions and points of necessity for site redesign in your acceptance agreements.
If you have a long list of site areas that need to be redesigned, make sure that you’re doing it in a way that allows not only for the client to understand what you’re doing, but also to understand why they’re paying you a little bit more for it.
By going through each area of the site, ideally with an interactive explanation, everyone will be on the same page. This is especially important for factoring in your timelines and also your change criteria. Make sure that you’re receptive to hear any objections or additional edits that they might have, too.
Remember that you can also use site redesign as a lead generator, or as an added service for recurring clients (if they need it of course—don’t be abusive!). Keep your clients’ best interests at heart, and you, they, and their sites will be golden.
Are ALL your projects getting done on time and within budget? If not, we got you!
Join the WP Project Manager’s Academy – a FREE membership program where you can learn everything you need to know to consistently get your projects completed on time, within budget, with features that meet the client’s business requirements WITHOUT sacrificing profit.
You might also want to Join our Facebook Group where we have weekly live trainings on all things project and productivity management as well as a Friday chat session.
