Website Redesign Checklist

Phase 1: Before you start

• Write down why you’re redesigning. Good reasons: the site doesn’t bring enquiries, doesn’t work on phones, is hard to update, is slow, or no longer describes what you do. “It looks dated” is valid but rarely enough on its own.
• Set measurable goals, such as more enquiries from service pages or online bookings replacing phone bookings.
• Record a baseline: monthly visits, enquiries and sales from the current site, and its top pages in Google Search Console. You’ll need these to judge the new site.
• List every page on the current site, with its traffic and whether it brings enquiries. Pages that perform should be kept or improved, not dropped by accident.
• Collect the logins you’ll need: domain, hosting, email, current website, analytics, Search Console, Google Business Profile.

Read: how to redesign your website without losing Google rankings.

Phase 2: Planning

• Write a brief covering goals, audience, pages, content, features, budget, timeline and approvals.
• Decide the page structure: usually home, one page per main service, about, proof (reviews or examples), contact, and legal pages.
• Map every old URL to its new equivalent, or to the closest relevant page.
• Decide which features you need: forms, booking, payments, shop, integrations. Each one adds cost and upkeep.
• Agree who writes the words and provides photos, and by when.
• Agree who will look after the site after launch.

Read: how to write a website brief and how much a small business website costs.

Phase 3: Design and content

• Start each service page from the customer’s questions: is this what I need, what do I get, what does it cost, can I trust you, how do I start?
• Put a clear headline and next step on the first screen of every important page.
• Show prices, starting prices or ranges where you can.
• Use real photos and real reviews. Never invent testimonials, logos or results.
• Keep forms short, with labels and a note on what happens next.
• Design for phones first, then larger screens.
• Check colour contrast and text size, and aim for WCAG 2.2 level AA accessibility.
• Write unique page titles and meta descriptions for every page.

Read: how to design a service page that gets enquiries.

Phase 4: Build and test before launch

Launch early in the week, not on a Friday, so problems can be fixed while people are around.

Phase 5: After launch

First day

• Re-test forms, phone links and checkout or booking on the live site.
• Submit the new sitemap in Google Search Console.
• Check that the old domain and old URLs redirect correctly.

First month

• Watch Search Console for crawl errors, pages not indexed and drops in impressions.
• Compare enquiries with your baseline. Some movement in the first weeks is normal; a sharp, lasting drop needs investigating.
• Fix broken links and missing redirects as they appear.
• Update your Google Business Profile, social profiles and directory listings with any changed URLs.

Ongoing

• Keep software updated, backups running and forms tested.
• Review content and prices quarterly.

Read: the website maintenance checklist.

The mistakes that hurt most

• Changing URLs without redirects, losing years of search visibility.
• Dropping pages that brought in enquiries because they didn’t fit the new design.
• Launching with the staging site’s noindex setting still on.
• Forgetting to reinstall tracking, so nobody can tell whether the new site works.
• Designing around placeholder text, then struggling to fit real content.
• Judging the new site on looks rather than enquiries.