Why should you redesign your website?

Why should you redesign your website?

One of the biggest challenges in website redesign is deciding why you want to do it.

Sometimes, the reason is quite obvious. For example, you may have whipped up a little site to get your name out there. But that was five years ago, and now you need something that looks more professional.

Or maybe your customers have been asking how they could send you orders via the Internet. Which means that it's time to take the plunge into the world of e-commerce.

But there are also times when the reason isn't so obvious. You might find yourself saying things like, "My site's been up for a while, and it needs re-focusing and reorganization. But I'm not sure what needs to be changed, or how to go about it."

The good news is that you can solve this problem by borrowing a time-honored technique from the retail world:

Taking Inventory

In many stores, inventory is taken by teams of employees who hand-count everything that's for sale. Other retailers outsource this task to professional inventory-takers who use handheld scanners.

On your website, you could take inventory by going to your site map, then following the site map links to all of the pages. This system works well as long as you're at the computer.

But if you prefer to think things through on paper, an extended link-hopping tour from your site map won't be very helpful. Instead, use that site map as a clickable tool that will get you to every nook and cranny of your site, then make a printout of every page you land on.

By the time you're finished making printouts, you'll have quite a stack of paper.

Your next task will be best performed in an empty conference room. Take that big stack of paper and sort it into little stacks that reflect the various functions of your site. Don't worry about matching the categories on your site map. You probably won't.

After arranging your site pages into functional groupings, it's time to ask yourself some tough questions. Questions like:

1. Why does this grouping exist?
2. What's working?
3. What isn't working?

Don't be afraid to get tough here. After going through this exercise, you may decide to eliminate one or more of your site's functional groupings. You may also decide to add some new groupings.

Okay, enough of those functional groupings. Now it's time to step back and take a big picture view of your site. For this exercise, take two pieces of blank paper. Or draw a line down the middle of your conference room whiteboard.

First, make a Gripe List. This is where you put down everything that you don't like about your website.

Hate the graphical theme? Put it on the list. Does the written copy bore you to death? Write that down too! Is the site supposed to be making sales, and it hasn't made a single sale? Tell it!

When you've run out of things to complain about, it's time to start working on your website's Kudos List. This is where you write down everything that has been going well on your site. Brag a little. Or brag a lot.

Once you've gone through this entire exercise, you'll have an excellent idea of what's on your site, how well it's working, and what should be added to—or eliminated from—your corner of the World Wide Web. Now you can proceed with your website redesign.

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