Start planning with SEO in mind. Redesigning a website is a chance to start with a clean slate, to design an optimized site from the ground up and avoid costly mistakes made in the past. The first stage of doing a site redesign is determining what the goals and objectives are going to be for the site. Ask yourself what will the site be used for? Lead Generation? E-commerce? How will revenue be realized from the site? If you have metrics from the present site, what is working well on the site? What isn't? Where are customers coming from? Where do they enter the site? Where are the common points where customers abandon the site?

Once you have determined the purpose of the site we can begin with the actual design phase. Does this mean hire the programmers? Not just yet. Site design is beyond just fancy artwork and a splash of text here and there, your internet site is a complex marketing and sales tool and therefore should be planned to be incorporated into the company strategy as a marketing vehicle. Your site is designed to convey a message to the potential customer, begin to sell to them from the moment they land on the page.

Websites should mirror the typical sales process that is expected by the user. Content should be laid out in an easy to follow sales presentation taking the customer through the website and, at each successive click, bringing that customer closer to conversion. Every page that is written should have a purpose within the sales process. There are four categories for site pages: router pages (designed to direct the user to the appropriate information), convincers (get the visitor ready to buy), closers (getting visitors to commit to the purchase/conversion) and closers (reassure the customer that the decision they have made is the right choice).

With business-to-business (B2B) sales the website can be used as a lead generation and marketing communications platform to support the sales process. Most B2B sales take place offline with face-to-face meetings with the key decision makers; however, research shows that 93% of decision makers will go online to research a B2B purchase. Further research shows that search engines are the preferred method of doing web research, favored by 64%. Conversely, only 19% of those surveyed would go directly to a known manufacture/supplier's site. Lead generation is an important function of the website, providing that your website ranks well and can be easily found. SEO will ensure that your new website will perform to yield the highest ROI.

Website redesigns involve testing content continually with A/B testing. In the case of a redesigned site, usually the older site is left online while the new site is in development. Using the old site, certain variables can be tested with A/B and multivariate testing. Google has recently released its Website Optimizer tool, running in conjunction with Google Analytics, to enable companies to quickly and easily set up online multivariate testing. However, it is highly recommended that this testing be done by organizations with extensive SEO and research experience to ensure the best results. After all, an experiment is only as good as the variables tested. Multivariate testing will deliver the best combination of messaging and design for the site and ensure maximum results on launch.

During the website redesign development phase it becomes easy to implement several of the best practices right at the initial design phase. Several of the SEO best practices include ensuring proper Meta Data is used and are optimized, externalizing JavaScript, using CSS coding to emulate JavaScript navigation bars, performing Keyword analysis to determine which keywords to optimize for. This list can be very extensive and is not the objective of this article. What is important is the fact that Search Engine Optimization should be the precursor to Website Redesign.

Starting with SEO in mind and hiring professional Search Engine Marketing consultants will be an initial cost that will yield a significant cost savings in the near future. Many sites have spend hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars in redesign costs only to have to spend additional dollars making changes to ensure compliance with SEO best practices.

A full service Search Marketing firm, such as Enquiro, can not only aid in the Website redesign with search engine optimization strategies, but can also give support during the transition period to ensure minimal traffic loss and develop strategies to quickly regain and surpass previous traffic levels. Enquiro will also be able to develop strategies to take your site forward; ensuring your site is kept current with the latest search trends and developing industry-leading e-marketing practices.


Kyle Grant
Sponsored Search Marketing Strategist
Search Engine Positioning by Searchengineposition
Enquiro Full Service Search Engine Marketing

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