During my talks at the recent eduWeb Digital Summit in Chicago a common theme was website redesign. I am always amazed at the number of campuses in the process of redesigning their sites. At eduWeb over half the people I talked with were in redesign mode. Many lamented that the last redesign hadn’t yet been fully implemented and they were already starting on the next redesign. This madness has to stop. Redesign projects are often a waste of time and money, and often done for the wrong reason. (Yes, I am a firm believer in the idea of realign instead of redesign.)
If you are interested in my approach to web redesign, come join me for a webinar I am teaching for the Canadian Marketing Association on September 17 – Website Redesign Done Right – The First Time.
Description
Redesigning your website can be a daunting proposition. It is a huge investment in time and money and something that you will live with for years to come. While there is a tremendous amount of work involved, the reward is a new site that will engage your audience and meet your business objectives – if done correctly.
A properly executed redesign project first begins with understanding when and why to redesign your site. Answering both the “when” and “why” of redesign offers the perfect opportunity to examine your web strategy’s role within your overall organizational strategy, and how to incorporate both to build a sustainable site. This webinar will walk you through the entire web redesign process, from research and planning to launch and post-launch analysis.
Secondly, redesign requires understanding and differentiating user goals vs. business goals. We will discuss user-centered design as well as how to involve users in all phases of the redesign process, including how iterative testing throughout the project will save time and resources. You will learn:
- The full redesign process from start to finish
- How to keep your project on time and on track
- How to utilize the experiences with your current site to inform decisions about the new site
- How to plan for post-launch
- The common mistakes with a website redesign project and how to avoid them
Finally, I would love to hear your suggestions on best practices for web redesign. Please share your thoughts in the comments section below. Thanks and I hope to see you during the webinar.