It may sound weird to hear it coming from a web design firm, but we strongly discourage our clients (and potential clients) to undertake a redesign of their site simply because they are tired of the way it looks. In fact, we prefer to "realign" client sites rather than simply redesign them. Check out why...

To effectively update your business website, you have to have meaningful reasons to do it.  What is the purpose of your site? What are the key objectives you have for it?  What will things will be improved once the realignment is complete?  The reasons for realignment could be as simple as making the navigation more understandable and intuitive for users, or as involved as adding a completely new set of features and functionality to increase customer involvement on your site. You have to assess your needs before you set off changing your web presence.

You have your existing website for specific business reasons, don't you? (We hope so!) What are they? If your existing site is doing what it needs to do, you might not need to spend the money to simply redo the look of your site. A redesign for the sake of a redesign does not make sense. Now, if your site isn't meeting the criteria you have set for it, well that is where Westslope's realignment expertise comes in!

Another important thing to remember is the effect the realignment will have with existing users of your site.  Will the realignment make it easy for them to transition to the new site, or will it mislead, confuse or aggravate them?  These questions are always about magnitude. What is the minimum amount of change (or additions) necessary to fulfill the objectives of the realignment? That is what you need.

It is also important to decide whether your newly-realigned site will roll out all at once, or in a phased rollout scenario.  Depending on the answers to the previous questions in this post, it might make more sense to roll out new features and elements one at a time. Most people prefer to take big changes in bite-sized pieces. Plus, you get to show your users that you believe in "continual improvement"!

Now, with all of that being said, we are by no means averse to a complete site redesign. In fact, we love doing them. But a comprehensive site redo really should be part of a larger realignment plan, and that realignment plan has to have well thought out reasons and goals behind it for it to be truly effective for the client.