Many people think web design is updating the website theme and playing with the colors and animations. But, there are many web assets we need to secure before the web design. Even though it seems like setting up the theme and adjusting the categories, many things need to be done before taking that step.
All the content, images, and many additional assets must be secure, so you need to download a backup version you can extract if something goes wrong.
Also, you need to be clear on why you want to redesign the current website and what you will get when the process is done.
If your current site isn’t working for you anymore or you want to improve user experience, then a website redesign may be precisely what you need.
But, before we go any further, we have to determine the right reasons the website needs a complete redesign.
Here are some of them:
- Your current design is older than five years and looks pretty outdated
- You don’t have a mobile version or responsive design
- You are ashamed of your website and use social media to represent the company
- Massive traffic drops and not meeting the lead conversion expectations
- Your website provides a poor and confusing user experience
- Publishing new content becomes more challenging and more complicated than before
- Your competitors have better-looking and highly functional websites
- Images and photos look poor and deformed
- Search engine rankings are very low even when your SEO is on point
- It takes a lot of time to load the homepage
But even when your old version performs poorly, you don’t want to lose all the data and essential assets on it. Make sure you know the most important website assets and learn how to secure them before migrating to another server or completing a new site version.
What do you need to do Before the Website Redesign?
The easiest way to ensure you keep all the website design assets safe and secure is to create a checklist. Include everything you find important on your current website.
When planning a redesign, pay attention to all these details:
- How do you attract traffic right now?
- What are your business objectives?
- Your current navigation structure and sitemap
- How do you index your existing content?
- What do you do to understand the users’ needs?
- How do you nurture the leads?
- Is your website easily accessible from all devices?
- The overall technical performance and usability
That will help you create a valuable checklist containing all the web assets that must be secured.
So, make sure you always know:
- How many pages are on your website
- Which pages attract the most page visits
- Count down the inbound links and their sources
- Check if you have interior linking
- Determine which links are most powerful
- Evaluate your current keyword strategy
- Find out the highest ranking keywords you already use
When all of this is done, you can get to the next step.
What are the Most Important Website Assets?
Whether your website is commercial, corporate, magazine, blog, or any other category, you must pay attention to website design assets and secure them on time.
You can even use a web based management system to ensure all website assets are taken care of.
So, no matter how bad the current situation with the website is, you need to secure long years of work, written content, tools and plugins, and all the other things that make you recognizable among the competition.
It’s time to show the others that you know what needs to be done and move to the next step. That would be securing the website design assets, including:
1. Website’s General Content
This is the most crucial part of your website. It’s the one that attracts the audience and helps you rank on the search engines. Surely you have plenty of quality blog posts, articles, and page content you want to secure for the redesigned version.
You and your team have probably put a lot of effort, skills, and knowledge into creating that content, so it would be sad if you lost it.
That’s why you have to take care of website design assets before you take any action. Content is the heart of your website; if you lose it, there is no way back. So, be careful with this one, and check if everything is secured before moving to the next step.
2. Your Premium Content
If you have plenty of videos, eBooks, white papers, infographics, landing pages with CRAs, and other in-depth types of content, secure it too. This is another crucial web asset you need to take care of before implementing any design change.
All these types of content are marked premium, providing interactive navigation and generating more leads. That’s why it’s important to secure them all instead of uploading them every time you redesign the website.
3. Pay Attention to the 301 Redirects
When you use the 301 code to redirect the visitors, you are telling the search engines that your webpage URL has a new permanent address.
Why is this important?
Probably your links are already shared on social media or used as external links. So, if anyone tries to access that content, you have to redirect them to your new and redesigned website.
Many people have made the same mistake, forgetting to use 301 redirects (or not being aware of them). That’s why older links are showing a 404 error (Page Not Found).
Ensure to create 301 redirects, so you won’t face the issue with broken links or inexisting pages.
This one is directly related to the inbound link strategy. If you use this approach to improve your SEO strategy, 301 redirects will ensure that all the external links are protected and all the internal ones work nicely after the redesign.
4. Your Keyword Strategy
Keyword strategy doesn’t only include the content and article title. All the URLs, page titles, meta titles, and meta tags are a part of the strategy.
Your new web design may affect some of the ranking factors, so make sure you have secured those assets too.
Regarding website design assets, keywords may not seem important, but missing meta titles, tags, and other details can instantly result in a lower ranking. And we are sure you don’t want that, especially when you put in that much work and knowledge while creating the content.
So, pay attention to these details to make sure the redesign won’t harm your ranking.
5. Conversion Tools you Already Use
If you have landing pages and effective CTAs, make sure you transfer them correctly to the new website.
That way, even when the design is completely changed, you can be sure the content is valuable and meaningful for the website visitors.
This is one of the most important website design assets you need to consider securing, so you won’t lose the audience and conversion rates.
6. Ensure the Website Optimization Tools Work Properly
You surely use analytics and optimization tools to track down the website performance, traffic, and conversion rates. When you do a web redesign, you need to secure the data to have continuous access to all the required information in the future.
If you use Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, or some SEO tools directly connected to the website, ensure everything works fine.
Mistakes were made many times, and websites lost valuable data before the redesign. You mustn’t allow that to happen.
What are the Risks of not Securing the Website Assets?
The first thing you need to be aware of is that if you lose the website assets, you lose the whole website. Or we can say you lose your web presence, and all the years and skills invested in creating amazing content and SEO strategy are now worthless.
Do you really want to risk that?
The sad thing is that many have already made this mistake, and establishing a completely new website with all the assets included is such a demanding job. Or we can say it’s a nightmare because you have to redo all the things you considered done before the website redesign.
Return to the checklist we included above, and don’t make any design changes until you are sure every asset is secure.
When it comes to website design, the risks associated with the project are often underestimated. Many people think it’s easy to do, but from the first moment of the redesign until the project is completed, it may take up to six months. The process can last longer if the original site is complex and comes with plenty of tools and website design assets.
Is it Better to do a Complete Redesign or Phase Updates?
In the professional niche, these terms are also known as radical redesign and incremental change (update). Can you estimate which is better for you based on the current site performance?
In general, full redesigns involve a complete overhaul of your existing site and usually cost several thousand dollars. Incremental updates involve minor tweaks to the look and layout of your site.
But, no matter which way you choose, make sure you stick to the checklist and the web assets to ensure they are all secured on time.
It takes a reasonable amount of time and effort to plan and launch a new website redesign, but it’s worth it in the long run.
Hopefully, you will implement the new aspects properly and have a completely redesigned and functional website in about six months on average.
Additional Tips Before Redesigning your Website
We suppose you already know what your competition is doing and how their websites work. Also, you can use some of their tips and methods and implement them in your new redesign strategy.
It’s essential to determine what your current site is missing and include it all in your plan.
So, here are some useful tips for your website design:
Add Functional CTA Buttons
If you don’t have any, make sure you add them to your new design. Even if you think you don’t need them, there is some way to implement a CTA that will work like a charm.
You can encourage the visitors to sign up for your newsletter or offer them something unique, like access to premium content or something similar to that.
Upgrade the SSL Certificates
This is one of the things people miss most often. When you launch your redesigned website, ensure the SSL certificate is enabled.
Use the Right CMS
You can use some pre-ready content management systems, like WordPress, or sometimes, you can go for custom-made solutions. As long as it works for you, every choice is acceptable. As we said, you only have to make sure the website design assets are secure before the process starts.
Know Your Audience
We already said that the content is the website’s heart, but the audience is the blood that runs through the website’s navigational veins.
If you know your audience, you can easily decide how to redesign the website and which actions you need to take to provide nice and neat service to them.
Know Your Goals
When your goals are defined, you can easily conduct the whole process. If you have it all, you will ensure all the website design assets are secured and all the technical details are considered.
During the process, keep up the good work on the current version. Don’t risk losing the audience waiting for the design (which usually takes a few months). You will only have to migrate to the new version when the new website is done.
Final Thoughts
Now you know all the general stages of redesigning your website and the importance of keeping the website assets secure.
So, we suggest getting back to the initial phase and estimating why you need a new website design. That will help you plan the process properly and decide if you need to hire web design companies or work internally with your team.
The website assets will help you continue where you stopped with the older version of the website without suffering any lags, audience drops, or lower SEO rankings.