Is your WordPress web site underperforming? Dropping visitors, low conversion charges, poor cellular expertise, or gradual loading occasions are clear indicators it’s time for a redesign. However tackling a redesign will be daunting, as you would possibly fear about dropping search engine optimisation rankings.

At WPBeginner, we’ve redesigned our web site a number of occasions, studying what works and what doesn’t by way of trial and error. Alongside the best way, we’ve developed methods to make the method smoother and simpler.

On this information, we are going to stroll you thru each step of redesigning your WordPress web site, from figuring out if you really want a redesign to picking the most effective redesign technique.

When Ought to You Redesign Your WordPress Web site?

You is perhaps tempted to revamp your WordPress web site merely since you’re feeling uninterested in its present look. Nonetheless, a redesign will be time-consuming, so it’s necessary to think about a number of components earlier than diving in.

Primarily, you’ll want to ensure that redesigning your web site is definitely a worthwhile enterprise.

As an illustration, in case your current WordPress web site is dropping visitors, it is perhaps time for a redesign. A drop in visitors usually signifies that your web site now not meets person expectations.

Additionally, first impressions matter on-line. In case your web site seems old style, it could not replicate properly in your model or enterprise.

A poor person expertise, like guests struggling to search out necessary info, is one other clear signal {that a} WordPress web site redesign is required. We as soon as addressed this in a earlier redesign by bettering content material discoverability with useful sidebar hyperlinks and mega menus.

Velocity is one other necessary issue in case you are contemplating a redesign of your WordPress web site. Possibly you’ve tried all the pieces to optimize your web site efficiency, however it’s nonetheless less than par. This could possibly be an indication that your present WordPress web site design is simply too heavy and you’ll want to make it extra light-weight.

The identical goes for mobile-friendliness. Maybe you’ve tried numerous responsive design ideas, however your web site nonetheless doesn’t work properly on cellular units. This could possibly be as a result of your present theme is just too previous, and you’ll want to change to a extra mobile-friendly theme.

In case your web site now not precisely represents your model or choices, think about a redesign. We not too long ago revamped the WPBeginner homepage to raised replicate our experience and authority within the WordPress house.

Final however definitely not least, in case your web site isn’t turning guests into prospects or subscribers as successfully because it ought to, then a redesign might assist enhance your backside line and strengthen your on-line presence.

For those who examine some or all of those bins, don’t fear. The subsequent part will stroll you thru our go-to WordPress web site redesign guidelines. We’ll cowl what you’ll want to do earlier than, throughout, and after the design course of.

Be at liberty to make use of the fast hyperlinks under to navigate by way of the steps:

1. Acquire Web site Efficiency Information

You is perhaps pondering, ‘I already know I’m dropping visitors and conversions, so why do I would like to gather web site efficiency information earlier than I redesign WordPress?’

Nicely, it’s necessary to substantiate these points with exhausting information. Plus, while you redesign your WordPress web site, you’ll wish to know in case your efforts are paying off.

By gathering efficiency information out of your present web site, you create benchmarks to check in opposition to after the redesign. This manner, you may measure whether or not your new design really interprets to raised outcomes.

To make this course of simpler, we suggest utilizing the MonsterInsights plugin for Google Analytics. We have now used the software extensively to assist enhance the efficiency of our web sites. We even wrote a full MonsterInsights overview.

This plugin permits you to join your WordPress web site with Google Analytics, supplying you with entry to very important efficiency metrics proper in your WordPress dashboard.

For a WordPress web site redesign, we propose checking and utilizing these advertising and marketing information factors as benchmarks:

• Total visitors – The entire variety of guests to your web site. It might provide help to perceive your web site’s attain and whether or not the redesign improves general visibility.
• Bounce charge – The proportion of holiday makers who go away after viewing just one web page. It might inform you whether or not your new design higher engages customers and improves your web site velocity.
• Conversion charge – The proportion of holiday makers who full a desired motion (like making a purchase order or signing up). You possibly can decide if the redesign improves your web site’s effectiveness in reaching its targets.
• High performing pages – Which pages guests view most frequently, serving to you defend fashionable content material through the redesign and perceive what your viewers likes.
• High visitors sources – The place your guests are coming from (serps, social media, and so forth.), serving to you design your new web site to raised cater to those channels and keep or enhance visitors circulation.
• Common session length – How lengthy guests sometimes keep in your web site as a way to see if the redesign makes your content material extra beneficial to customers.
• Web page views per session – What number of pages a customer sometimes views. It might point out whether or not your new design improves navigation and encourages customers to discover extra content material.
• Cell vs desktop visitors break up – The proportion of holiday makers utilizing cellular units versus desktop computer systems. You should use this info to information your redesign efforts and cater to essentially the most widely-used units.

You possibly can study extra in our article on crucial metrics it’s essential to monitor in your WordPress web site.

With MonsterInsights, you can even use the ‘Conversations AI’ function to get fast solutions about your information.

For instance, you can ask, ‘What was my conversion charge within the final month?’ This function makes it simple to entry the knowledge you want with out diving deep into complicated analytics stories.

2. Run a WordPress Web site Audit

Earlier than you begin to redesign WordPress, you’ll want to perceive the actions and components that led to the efficiency metrics you collected within the earlier step. This manner, you can also make knowledgeable selections about what to vary and what to maintain.

To realize these insights, you’ll want to conduct an internet site audit, which is a sequence of actions you do to grasp the person expertise in your current web site.

We suggest asking in your customers’ opinions straight as a way to perceive their wants, preferences, and ache factors straight from the supply.

The UserFeedback plugin is a wonderful software for this, permitting you so as to add surveys to your web site and shortly acquire customer opinions. We use the plugin on our personal web sites, and you may study extra in our full UserFeedback overview.

You possibly can try our complete information to study extra about gathering web site design suggestions in WordPress. We’ve additionally compiled a listing of person expertise suggestions inquiries to ask your web site guests.

Additionally, you will wish to consider your person journey. Guests sometimes observe predictable steps earlier than making a purchase order or submitting a type, and there could also be obstacles of their journey.

For those who’re utilizing MonsterInsights, the Person Journey addon may also help monitor buyer journeys on fashionable WordPress eCommerce platforms like WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and MemberPress.

As an illustration, in WooCommerce, you may view a person’s complete journey, together with all interactions, occasions, and durations.

For extra particulars, see our guides enabling buyer monitoring in WooCommerce and monitoring the shopper journey utilizing MemberPress.

For web sites targeted on lead era, utilizing WPForms alongside the Person Journey addon is a good resolution. It exhibits the referral supply that introduced customers to your web site and the trail they took earlier than submitting a type.

This info helps you perceive which content material engages customers most successfully. Study extra in our full information on monitoring person journey on WordPress lead varieties.

Heatmap instruments are one other important a part of your web site growth audit. They visually signify how guests navigate your pages, offering insights that uncooked information alone can’t provide.

We personally suggest Microsoft Clarity, which we use throughout lots of our model web sites. It’s a free software that gives heatmaps, scroll monitoring, and click on monitoring.

To get began with Readability, try our information on putting in Microsoft Readability analytics in WordPress.

3. Determine to Preserve Your Website Reside or Put It in Upkeep Mode

One of the vital necessary selections to make while you redesign WordPress is whether or not to work in your dwell web site or put it in upkeep mode. This selection can considerably impression your person expertise and search engine rankings through the redesign course of.

Listed below are some questions you may ask your self that will help you make the suitable determination:

• How intensive is your redesign? For instance, are you simply altering the homepage or redoing the entire web site?
• How lengthy will the redesign take? Is it a fast replace you are able to do in just a few days, or a giant change that wants weeks?
• Can your web site be offline for some time? Take into consideration if your enterprise can deal with being down for a while.
• What number of guests does your web site get? A high traffic web site will undergo extra from downtime than a smaller, private weblog.
• Will you modify how your web site is ready up? Are you simply updating the way it seems, or are you shifting issues round and altering internet addresses?
• Does your web site run necessary elements of your enterprise? As an illustration, do you’ve a web-based retailer that should keep open, or is your web site primarily for info?

Basically, we suggest conserving your web site dwell through the redesign, particularly if the method will take some time and/or if your enterprise operations will probably be considerably impacted by downtime. It’s additionally a very good choice when you don’t need your web site’s search engine optimisation to get impacted.

On this case, you’ll have to arrange a staging web site or native growth surroundings. This lets you experiment together with your redesign with out affecting your dwell web site.

A staging web site is basically a replica of your dwell web site the place you may safely make adjustments. Nowadays, many internet hosting suppliers provide one-click staging options, together with SiteGround (the place we host WPBeginner).

For extra info, try our information on methods to create a staging surroundings for WordPress.

Alternatively, you would possibly think about a neighborhood growth web site. This feature entails creating a replica of your web site in your private pc, providing much more privateness and quicker growth occasions.

We suggest utilizing the Local WP software for this function, which lots of our crew members use to check new options. You possibly can study extra about this in our article on methods to set up WordPress domestically on Home windows and Mac.

In case your redesign is comparatively fast and received’t disrupt important enterprise capabilities, placing your web site in upkeep mode for a brief interval is perhaps acceptable. That being mentioned, you ought to be conscious of the dangers.

Placing your web site in upkeep mode can impression your search engine optimisation and should require you to arrange some redirects. This isn’t a giant drawback for small, private web sites, however it may be difficult for larger websites with a lot of guests.

Our most well-liked technique is to make use of the SeedProd web page builder. Moreover turning on upkeep mode in your WordPress web site, it allows you to make a nice-looking web page to inform guests about your upcoming adjustments and even generate leads by making a waitlist touchdown web page.

What’s extra, it could possibly inform serps your web site is simply briefly down by sending a particular sign referred to as the 503 standing, which is what Google suggests doing.

If you’re on this choice, you might wish to try our full SeedProd overview.

4. Select a WordPress Redesign Technique

On the subject of redesigning your WordPress web site, you’ve 3 primary choices: customizing your current theme, selecting a brand new theme and customizing it, or hiring an expert WordPress design service.

Let’s discover every technique’s professionals and cons that will help you determine which is greatest in your redesign course of.

Possibility 1: Customise Current Theme

Greatest for: Website house owners who’re usually pleased with their present design however wish to refresh its look or add new options.

Execs of customizing your current WordPress theme:

• Aware of the present setup
• Probably faster, simpler, and extra reasonably priced
• Maintains consistency for normal guests

Cons of customizing your current WordPress theme:

•  Restricted by current theme construction

If you wish to stick together with your present theme however wish to get extra customization choices, then we suggest utilizing plugins like CSS Hero and WPCode.

CSS Hero is a visible CSS editor plugin that permits you to customise your WordPress theme’s CSS visually. Meaning you don’t want to the touch any code to change the theme, however any adjustments you make will have an effect on its CSS.

You possibly can study extra in regards to the plugin in our CSS Hero overview.

However, WPCode is a code snippet plugin that permits you to add customized code snippets to your theme with out coping with the theme recordsdata straight. Each time there’s an error within the code, the plugin will disable it, and your theme received’t get affected.

The very best half is it could possibly protect your code adjustments even when your theme will get an replace, so that you received’t lose your customizations.

You possibly can learn our WPCode overview for extra particulars.

For those who want some inspiration on what you are able to do to customise your present web site, listed here are some articles you may try:

Possibility 2: Select a New Theme and Customise It

Greatest for: These on the lookout for a big design change with out the price of a totally customized resolution. Or individuals who wish to make the most of new theme options.

Execs of utilizing a brand new WordPress theme:

• Contemporary begin with fashionable design choices
• Entry to new options and layouts
• Potential for improved web site efficiency

Cons of utilizing a brand new WordPress theme:

• Potential studying curve with a brand new theme
• Cautious setup is required to keep away from compatibility points

When deciding on a brand new theme, ensure that to choose one that’s quick, responsive, suitable together with your present plugins, and often supported. You must also take into consideration its worth for cash and customization choices as a way to edit your WordPress web site precisely the way you need it.

For those who’re contemplating a premium theme, you may learn our information on free vs premium WordPress themes that will help you make your determination. Additionally, ensure that to observe our information on correctly altering a WordPress theme to keep away from widespread errors.

For a extra versatile resolution, we suggest SeedProd, a drag-and-drop web page builder with dozens of theme kits and templates. That is additionally what we use to design customized touchdown pages for ourselves and our manufacturers.

The truth is, our associates at OptinMonster used SeedProd to revamp their touchdown web page and elevated their conversions by 340%.

With this drag-and-drop web page builder, you’re going to get a theme and a versatile software to customise it, so you can also make a singular design with none technical expertise. Plus, you’ll get entry to AI instruments to generate content material and customized photographs in your pages.

You possibly can study extra about SeedProd in these guides:

Alternatively, you may browse our checklist of the preferred WordPress themes.

Possibility 3: Rent a Customized WordPress Web site Design Service

Greatest for: Enterprise house owners or bloggers who desire a distinctive, skilled design tailor-made to their particular wants and don’t have the time or expertise to create it themselves.

Execs of hiring an expert WordPress design service:

• Distinctive, skilled WordPress theme design
• WordPress theme that’s tailor-made to your particular wants
• No want for private design or coding expertise

Cons of hiring an expert WordPress design service:

For those who’re bored with cookie-cutter designs, then this is a wonderful choice for you. In fact, the problem is discovering the suitable WordPress designers to work with. We have now a listing of prime WordPress businesses if you’d like some hand-picked suggestions.

That being mentioned, you might wish to try our WPBeginner Professional Companies.

For designing a customized WordPress web site, we provide:

• A devoted undertaking supervisor to supervise the redesign course of
• A number of WordPress web site design revisions
• Coaching so that you can discover ways to handle your new web site
• Full WooCommerce setup for on-line shops
• Search engine and efficiency optimization

Rebuilding an current web site begins at $599, which is able to get you a responsive web site design of as much as 5 pages, 2 rounds of revisions, and analytics setup.

Consider it as an funding in your on-line presence that may result in improved person expertise, higher search engine rankings, and, in the end, elevated conversions and income for your enterprise.

For those who’re unsure, you may ebook a free session with our crew right now.

5. Again Up Your WordPress Web site

Let’s say you’re already redesigning your web site. Earlier than you make it dwell, you’ll want to do one step that you shouldn’t skip: again up your present WordPress web site.

Right here’s why backing up is so necessary:

• Safety in opposition to errors – If one thing goes flawed through the transition, you may simply restore your web site.
• Safety in opposition to backlash – If customers react negatively to the brand new design, you may shortly revert to the previous one.
• Preserving necessary information – It ensures you don’t lose any beneficial content material or settings through the redesign.
• Peace of thoughts – Figuring out you’ve a backup permits you to launch your web site with confidence.

We suggest utilizing a backup plugin like Duplicator for this job. Duplicator makes it simple to create and handle backups straight in your web site.

As soon as created, you may retailer the backup file in your pc. Or, for added safety, add it to cloud storage companies like Dropbox.

Restoring your web site with Duplicator can be easy – you may merely drag and drop the backup file. The plugin additionally permits you to set a restoration level, enabling you to shortly restore your web site to a previous date if wanted.

6. Launch Your Website and Run One other Audit

At this stage, you’re able to publish your newly redesigned web site and present it to your viewers.

For those who’re placing your web site on upkeep mode with SeedProd, then you may simply deactivate that mode so that everybody can entry your web site. You possibly can consult with our information on WordPress upkeep mode for extra particulars.

For those who’ve been creating your web site domestically, then you may learn our information on methods to transfer WordPress from a neighborhood server to a dwell web site.

In the meantime, you probably have been utilizing a staging web site in your WordPress internet hosting, then you may merely use its deploy function to make your web site dwell. For instance, with Bluehost, you need to use the Bluehost WordPress plugin to deploy all of your adjustments in just a few clicks.

You possibly can study extra about it in our information on WordPress staging environments.

As soon as your web site is dwell, you may’t loosen up simply but. You should ensure that all the pieces works proper.

One factor you’ll want to take note of is your search engine optimisation settings. For those who determine to restructure your internet pages, then you will want to arrange redirects and replace your inside hyperlinks to replicate any URL adjustments. In any other case, serps received’t be capable of crawl your web site correctly.

This course of can take a very long time, so we suggest utilizing the All in One SEO (AIOSEO) plugin for this. It’s additionally what we use for WPBeginner to verify our web site is at all times optimized for serps. For extra particulars, try our full All in One search engine optimisation overview.

You should use AIOSEO to simply discover damaged hyperlinks in your complete web site content material. If it does, you may shortly substitute the present URL with a brand new one in order that customers don’t find yourself seeing an error web page.

AIOSEO additionally allows you to arrange 301 redirections simply. This will probably be helpful in case your redesign entails restructuring your web site hierarchy.

You possibly can learn our newbie’s information to creating 301 redirects in WordPress for extra info.

Apart from that, we additionally suggest doing an search engine optimisation audit to examine for lacking search engine optimisation titles, meta descriptions, canonical hyperlink tags, SSL certificates, velocity points, and extra. These are necessary parts that may make or break your visibility on serps.

Take a look at our WordPress search engine optimisation audit guidelines for a step-by-step information.

Lastly, do the identical checks we talked about in step 2 once we mentioned to run an internet site audit. Use heatmaps and have a look at your Google Analytics information to verify nobody is having hassle together with your new web site.

7. Repeatedly Keep Your WordPress Website

The job of an internet site proprietor isn’t ending. Even after you launch your web site, you continue to have to do some routine upkeep duties to be sure that your web site doesn’t change into gradual, susceptible to assaults, or begin displaying errors.

Don’t be intimidated, although. We have now a information that breaks down crucial WordPress upkeep duties you need to do, from altering your passwords and updating your plugins to reviewing your safety logs.

However when you discover all this too exhausting and you’ve got some funds to spare, then we suggest hiring our WordPress upkeep consultants at WPBeginner Professional Companies. You’ll get:

• 24/7 WordPress upkeep and help
• Round-the-clock uptime monitoring
• Constant WordPress core, theme, and plugin updates
• Routine cloud backups and malware elimination
• On-demand emergency help

Our upkeep companies begin from $57.50 per 30 days. Whereas this prices some cash, you may consider it as just like getting a WordPress safety plugin, however this one is an actual individual sustaining your web site.

We are able to spot and remedy complicated points that automated instruments would possibly miss and make selections based mostly in your particular wants and web site targets. If you wish to study extra, be happy to ebook a free session with us right now.

Keep in mind, common upkeep is essential to conserving your newly redesigned WordPress web site working easily and securely. Whether or not you select to do it your self or rent consultants, ensure you have a plan in place to maintain your web site in prime form.

We hope this text has helped you discover ways to redesign your WordPress web site. You might also wish to try our article on issues it’s essential to do earlier than beginning a WordPress design enterprise and our professional picks of the most effective WordPress theme builder plugins.

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