Lately I’ve had a lot of redesign (and static html site to cms powered system) assignments at work. And while doing these assignments I naturally made some mistakes that I had to redo. So I started making a list of the pitfalls that I had to watch out for because I’m not a big fan of having to redo things. The company I work for also provide SEO services so some of the Items on this list will be things to watch out for from a SEO standpoint too.

1. Define the goals for redesigning the site.

When you are starting a redesign of a website be sure to get all the information you need from your client. I’m not talking about asking your client if they want a black background or they want orange links. I talking about getting a feel for what they want their website to do. What’s the call to action. What are their conversion goals. Who are they targeting. Being thorough with this will save you time.

2. Make sure the site is scalable.

No matter how much info you get from your clients they will at some point want to be able to scale their business with new products, new sections or something else. Thinking about these things from the beginning will save you some headaches I promise you.

3. Identify usability issues early.

Does your client have issues with their usability? Are they using a 10px font on a website targeting seniors? Identify these early and you will be well on your way to a successful redesign.

4. Get feedback from the audience and/or your client during the process.

Be sure to include your clients every step of the way and possible some portion of their users. This will help you to see if you have missed anything.

5. Watch your navigation architecture.

Making a clear navigation is a key ingredient in that delicious redesign soup your are making. If the old site had a navigation link called Shop you should be careful with renaming that to something like Our Products. Sometimes this is the right thing but not always.

6. Get those 301’s in place!

Linked to number 5, When you rename sites be sure to get those redirects in place. They will help users and search engines get to the page they want. This will also ensure that old links will still work. How you do this will of course depend on the size of the site. This can be a real headache if we are talking about a 50.000 page site.

Remember to tell me if I missed anyone.