Is a Website Redesign Worth the Money?

Before we answer this question, we have a question for you: what is motivating you to want a website redesign?

Your website is dated
Your competitor has a new website
You can’t update your website whenever you want
Your website is not responsive to mobile phones and tablets

These are legitimate reasons to want to redesign your website; however, the motivating factor should be driving sales-ready leads to your business with your website. Online search is evolving quicker than we could have imagined, so the need for a GREAT website has never been more important.

But here is the question: Do you have a plan for how your website will generate leads?

Think about that for a second.

If you redesign your website without a plan, then why bother? The only advantage is that you can go to the cocktail party and brag about your new website or send an All About Us email that says “Visit our new website!”

Here are the 5 objectives you should have when redesigning your website:

1. Identify your buyer personas and align your website with their needs

What does your ideal buyer look like? Most clients are amazed at the importance of going through the process of creating Buyer Personas and how it benefits their overall sales and marketing efforts. This is the single most important factor in redesigning your website. Your website should be designed for your Buyer Personas, not for you. Think about their goals, and position your website to help them reach those goals.

The woman in the picture is no accident. The client understands who their target audience is and what is important to them.

2. Focus on driving qualified website traffic

Become the solution to your client’s problems. As the expert in your field, you not only lend credibility to your website when you share your knowledge, but you vastly improve your search rankings. How? BLOGGING. If you have heard this from me before, please listen this time. Companies that blog more than 15 times per month receive 5x the amount of traffic than companies that don’t blog at all. This is your opportunity to create content based on what you already know and what your potential client is looking for.

Notice how this company answers the question that their potential visitor is looking for. Become the obvious choice to a new visitor.

3. Create a clear conversion path

Now that you’ve attracted visitors to your site, you want them to do something. Conversion paths are essential to your buyer’s journey. At this stage, the buyer is looking for information that will help them make a decision to purchase, and you’re looking to collect information about your website visitors so that you can nurture them as leads. Create actionable Calls to Action (CTAs) for every page that guide your leads through the conversion path. The typical conversion path looks like this:

Arrive on webpage
Click CTA for a free offer and arrive on landing page
Fill out form
Receive offer and become a lead

4. Use your website to nurture leads into customers

Once you’ve attracted visitors to your site and they’ve taken some action, your goal is to keep them coming back for more. One of the most prominent CTAs on your site should be encouraging people to subscribe to your blog, sign up for email updates, receive a newsletter, or stay in touch with you in some other way.

5. Delight your customers into becoming raving fans

So, let’s review. You’ve redesigned your website to focus on your Buyer Personas, attract them to the site with content, convert them into leads with a conversion path, and nurture them into customers. Sounds like these website objectives are directly following the inbound methodology, doesn’t it?

The last objective, but certainly not least important, is to delight your customers into becoming raving fans. This could mean exclusive offers just for current customers, or putting up content you know they’ll enjoy to keep them coming back.

Our marketing persona’s main promotions goal is to cut costs for her company and stay under budget, so we’re sure to delight her by offering lots of opportunities to save.

Redesigning a website with a plan creates opportunities that businesses never new existed. A website redesign can be an exciting time for a business, but it can also be a waste of time and money. That’s why it’s so important to follow the 5 objectives I outlined here.

So, is a website redesign worth the money? YES, if you follow the inbound methodology and use your website to attract, convert, close and delight your visitors.

Let’s change the phrase to website reposition so we don’t get hung up on the word design.

That being said, I’d love to get your thoughts on these 5 objectives. What suggestions would you add to the list? What changes have you made to your site that have led to success?