Are you thinking about redesigning your WordPress website? Are you not sure where or how to begin? Don't worry - we will cover everything you need to know in the blog article. But first, let's cover the main reasons you might want to revamp your website:
Ok, so now you know the reasons why you should redesign a website, and if you do decide you want to revamp your existing WordPress website, let's cover how you can do it.
1. Set up a Staging Site
A staging site replicates your live website, replicating the same plugins, settings, widgets, and so on. The only difference between a live website and a staging site is that the latter is inactive.
There are some benefits to a staging site:
The simplest way to set up a staging site is to use a WordPress plugin. Plugins such as WP Staging make the whole process straightforward. Once you've installed the plugin, the next thing to do would be to 'Start Cloning'. The plugin will then scan your site for relevant information.
Note: You should copy over all of your site's database tables and files. Once you have set up a staging site (a safety net in case things go wrong), the next thing to do would be to delete all unnecessary files.
2. Delete all unnecessary Files
Think of this as a spring clean. When you first launched your WordPress site, it was probably very organized, tidy and not stacked-full of pointless or useless data. However, over time you probably added a lot of files and data from adding new plugins, themes or large files.
This causes your site to be slow and a nightmare to work on. So take the time to review all your files, plugins, themes, etc., and remove anything you do not need. Here's a mini checklist to help you clear as much unwanted data as possible:
3. Delete Database Bloat
Now that you have deleted all unwanted files from your WordPress website, the next thing to do is remove your database bloat. This is the clutter behind-the-scenes!
There are two ways to do this - manually and through a plugin. Cleaning up your database manually is great if you know what you are doing. Be careful because you won't want to accidentally delete essential files. Those who don't want to risk anything going wrong can use a plugin. For example, WP-Optimise removes unneeded data without deleting anything important. It will also make sure your data is lean moving forward.
4. Choose and Update Theme
Now the fun part! Choosing a new design or theme for your new and improved WordPress website! However, before we jump right into redesigning your WordPress website, I want to mention that you should always test your new theme on a staging website before making it live on your active website.
This is in case: anything goes wrong or you hate it. To choose the best WordPress theme for you, make sure you:
Bonus tip: Sometimes it's worth buying the premium themes, especially if they come with tons of features and benefits.
With that being said, here are 4 amazing themes we recommend which have enough design flexibility to accommodate businesses of any type:
Possibly Update to Faster Hosting
Before discovering and enabling a fresh theme, you should assess your current web hosting company to see if you should switch providers. Speed is big factor here as in 2020 Google began using website speed as a ranking factor. While there are technically things that can be done to improve website speed, the most important factor of that is the hosting.
Reasons to change might be:
There are plenty of WordPress hosting providers out there, here are a few:
Consider Rebranding
You’re building a new website, so why not consider giving your whole business a new identity with a complete rebrand?
Rebranding is the process of changing a company's name, logo, tagline, or other marketing materials in order to create a new identity for the company. When done well, rebranding can be an effective way to improve the company's image and build trust with customers.
There are a few reasons to rebrand your business:
Important note: There are several risks involved with rebranding: it may take time and money to do it right; and there is always the risk that customers will not like the new look. Take the time to weigh up the pros and cons of performing a rebrand. Perform in-depth market research through surveys, questionnaires and interviews to understand how your consumers perceive your current identity.
Remember, your brand identity must effectively communicate who you are, what you do, how you help, and what you believe in. All content that's important to include on your website.
5. Review and Update Content on all Pages
Revamping your WordPress website means improving your existing content. Users don't want to return to your website only to find a better-looking design with the same content. Reinvigorate your pages, and add new information, images and content! Use the time to maximize user experience and website purpose when you go live.
My simple approach to this is to generate a list of all pages from analytics and sort them from most traffic to least, and start from the top and work our way down.
Think about:
A more ‘ninja’ approach to content update prioritization is to look for pages that were getting a decent volume of traffic 12 months ago, but have since declined. These pages often present the most valuable opportunity for updates.
Hire a Designer to Design Mockup of Key Pages
While WordPress design tools have gotten better than ever, they don’t turn an amateur (you) into a pro! If you’re looking for a professional design, it is best to hire the right people – the professionals.
Make a list of your key pages that really influence your web traffic and hire a designer to do a mock up of these pages. There are many sites that can help you connect with the right people for the job, including:
A mock up is simply a visual design, so once that it is complete, you’ll either need to code it yourself, or hire a developer to take the PSD or AI design files and make it a functioning page on your WordPress website. Keep in mind designers and coders are two different people with different skill sets.
Conclusion
A website takes a lot of time, energy, and labor to create. There are a number of points to worry about and factors to consider.
Now you’re ready to revamp your WordPress website! It doesn't have to be painful with the help of this useful tutorial on how to finish a WordPress website revamp. You can't go wrong if you use the tips from the list above! (Related: How to Manage a Website Redesign Project (Without Losing Traffic))