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Gone are the days when basic information on a landing page will convert leads into sales. Your website – your number one salesperson – is often the first encounter a potential customer will have with your business. It must reflect YOU and solve your customers’ problems easily.
Does your website reflect your brand? Solve your customers’ problems easily? Is it performing as it should and generating revenue? If not, it’s time to use your website to its fullest potential through a redesign. Not sure if you can afford it? Chances are, you can’t afford not to! Keep reading to learn how to embark on a website redesign and the costs involved.
How to Plan & Potential Costs
In many ways, websites have become nearly as important as brick and mortar stores. For online-only companies, they are the store. This makes your website the most important tool in your business arsenal. It is your content marketing platform, your lead generator and sales converter, your brand and persona, and for some, your eCommerce store.
So, why do websites vary so much in style, special effects, user experience (UX/UI), and most importantly – price? Like storefronts and architecture, website design and redesign vary dramatically in look, feel, and cost.
Small businesses taking the do-it-yourself route can expect to pay anywhere from $300 to $3,000 — and countless hours/costs in time and effort — just to build a basic site.
Those opting to work with large marketing and digital firms can expect to pay $20,000 to $65,000+ depending on their needs, website complexity, and content. Which, most agree, is simply too much to spend, and stops them from doing anything.
There can be a happy medium when it comes to cost without sacrificing functionality and style. In the following guide, you will learn the 4 simple steps to planning and budgeting for a cost-effective yet fabulous website redesign. Want to get your money’s worth? Let’s get started.
The Cost of Bad Web Design & Why You Need a Redesign
If you already have a website and you’re considering a redesign, before we dive into how to ensure you get the most out of your website, it’s important to look at why you need a redesign in the first place. Or in other words, what do you have to lose by keeping your current site the way it is?
The most obvious answer is revenue. A popular study in 2012 revealed that if the page-load speed for Amazon.com were just one second slower, it could lose $1.6 billion in sales each year. That was eight years ago. A lot has changed since, including Amazon’s annual revenue.
There are other factors besides page-load speed that can inhibit your company’s growth and your customer’s online experience. A study from Stanford shows that at least 75% of website users admit that they judge a company’s credibility based on their web design.
If your design is outdated, slow, too busy or too sparse, it sends a message that your company is the same and you can/will lose potential customers. Fewer conversions, repeat sales, and referrals can add up to a staggering amount of lost revenue, fast.
The good news is, there is a lot to be gained from a redesign. Bing is a great example. Adding blue on its site resulted in an additional $80 million in revenue annually.
1. Decide What You Need from Your Redesign
Before you get started with your web designer, consider the elements that are important to your new site, then brainstorm the key elements you think should be there. Next, ask yourself or your team the following questions to determine what you most need from your redesign.
- Where are customers having trouble with your current site?
- What pages are most visited?
- What is your main goal in the redesign?
If you don’t know the answers to the first two, your designer can help you determine those in your consultation.
2. Schedule a Consultation
Every marketing company, design studio, digital firm, and freelancer will approach your website redesign slightly differently. Yet, there are some key things that every good web designer will provide, including a custom approach to your website.
There is no one-size-fits-all web design or redesign package. Your website is as unique as your business, and your redesign package should adjust to fit your needs.
A preliminary consultation will give you and your web designer an opportunity to discuss goals, talk about what your biggest issues are, learn company culture, and decide on the look and feel you hope to achieve from your redesign.
At this stage, your designer should provide you with some homework and a variety of questions that help her determine how best to move forward with your website.
3. Get a Quote and Scope of Work
Prior to moving forward with your site, your designer will provide a quote and a scope of work, which is a document that outlines what will be accomplished in the web design. This gives you both a way to gauge the progress of the redesign and hold each other accountable for that progress.
4. Ask the Right Questions to Determine Price
The cost of website redesign is determined by many different variables, including the complexity of your site. By asking the right questions, you can better determine the price range your website may fall into.
For example, will your website require an eCommerce store, special apps or plugins, or a custom design that is specific to your company or industry? Do you need help creating a content strategy, SEO support, or custom graphics for your business?
All of these elements impact the price of your website, so clearly communicating what you need or expect upfront will help you and your designer ensure the website redesign is a success. Ask your designer what she recommends for your site. Spend time dreaming and brainstorming, questioning, and building a plan that will get you a website that generates revenue results.
Local Businesses Benefit from Web Redesign
A survey by BrightLocal revealed that consumers prefer local businesses that have a website. They also feel that a well-designed site gives the business more credibility and they are more likely to contact that local business, which impacts revenue.
Whether you're a large, mid-size, or small, local or national business, growth is the goal. More leads, sales, and referrals all come from customer advocacy, which is directly linked to your online presence – your website and the associated digital operations.
Start with a Website & Digital Operations Assessment
For many businesses, a website is as important to revenue as a brick and mortar store. For others, a website is their only source of revenue. To determine if your website could perform better and increase revenue with a redesign, start with a digital operations assessment from Atomic Revenue today.
About the Author
Hanna Landis is the lead Web Developer for Atomic Revenue. She also owns Hanna Landis Designs in Tacoma, Washington. She works with a variety of local and global companies in many industries to establish a web presence that builds revenue, creates trust and credibility, and increases traffic. She understands the importance of industry knowledge when it comes to creating a digital presence that serves clients in the best way possible.
