In many ways, the process re-designing a Website is very much like designing one from scratch (for more info please go to our page on the web design process).

However, there are several important differences…

First of all, if we are re-designing a site for you, that means that you have already had a web presence. It may have been for as little as a few months, or for years but you have had a functioning Website.

This is important because we are not starting from square 1. If you have been running a Website for any amount of time you should know 2 crucial things, that you did not know when your original site was built:

  1. What has been working.
  2. What has not been working.

This puts you miles ahead of a client that is designing a site from scratch because you are aware of the sites strengths & shortcomings. This is why in general, the re-design process is both cheaper, and faster than your initial site design. You should know what to leave in, what to leave out, and what needs to be added to make your new site work better.

But what if I don’t know what needs to change?

Well, that’s where we come in. We have re-designed many web sites. You may be unsure of what needs to be changed, but we can assure that you have that knowledge in your head somewhere, and we know how to get it out. Usually it only takes a few minutes over the phone or by email, and we can help you to get a good picture of what needs to be done.

Revolution , Evolution or Rejuvenation

There are 2 general approaches to re-designing a web site – Revolution, and Evolution.

Revolution is a sudden drastic change, and has the advantage of having a big impact on your customers. It is often referred to as a Launch or Re-Launch. In this approach, we design a brand new site for you. Once it is done it is uploaded to your domain and viola your customers see a brand new site. This can be done without warning, or it can be accompanied with a bit of hype. That will depend on your goals.

Evolution is a more gradual approach which involves slowly upgrading your site. This approach has the following advantages:

  • First of all, it is faster. In this approach, the first step is to re-develop the look,  feel and navigation of your site while using the same content. This saves you the time required to update your current content, or to add new content.
  • It  allows us to assess if the content was the problem. Maybe your content was fine and the presentation was off. Maybe your old site was hard to navigate and once that was fixed – things began to work better.
  • This approach is usually more cost effective. Doing this gradually allows us to assess more carefully what needs to change. It allows us to recycle some content, while creating required additions.
  • Smaller Initial Outlay of Cash. Because this approach is done over a longer time period, you will not have to outlay as much cash upfront.

Finally, Rejuvenation involves keeping your existing Website, while upgrading graphics and content. This approach starts by freshening up the look of your existing site. Then we move on to laser targeting the the most important content changes that may be needed. This approach has the following advantages:

  • It is usually the Fastest. Often this can be accomplished in a few weeks.
  • It is usually the cheapest. Since time = money, it is usually the cheapest re-design that is available.