When it comes to website redesign budgets, they can be all over the board. According to HubSpot’s The Science of Website Redesign, the average cost of a website redesign is just over $38,000.
If you’re going to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a website redesign, you should know what’s included. It’s also helpful if you plan to be more frugal with your website redesign to know what you can cut and what you have to include.
Here are six things you definitely want to include in your budget to make your redesign process as successful as possible.
1. Content Planning (“Information Architecture”) and Creation
When you have an established set of wants and needs for what should be on your site, you need to prioritize and organize them. This boils down to good old information architecture. What do you need to keep or improve? What do you take away or add to the website in this new iteration?
Based on the needs of your target audiences, you may need to create new content to accommodate new targets or service offerings. You definitely want some wiggle room here as far as your budget is concerned.
The more detailed planning that can be done will save time and money in the long run. Remember that it’s easier to fix problems here than at any other point in the redesign process.
2. UX/Design
Another must-have in your budget should be the UX (or “user experience”) and design. The most common reason for a redesign is because your website looks outdated. Although the look of your site can impact the effectiveness, the more important thing to remember is to keep things clean and well organized.
The real reason you “mock up” a website is to show how it will be organized and how your customer should experience it. The “look” might not need to change as much as you think. A few small changes can make a big impact. Removing distractions from your website can improve “stickiness,” so remember that when it comes to design, less is more.
3. More Than One Design
No, this isn't a suggestion to have your designer whip up two separate designs you can pick from…
If you haven't changed your site in a few years, chances are it's not built to be mobile-friendly. Some of our clients have as much as 45% of their visitors on mobile devices, so it’s not wise to redesign without considering a customer’s experience on a smartphone.
Be sure to keep in mind that your customers are using multiple devices, not just at a desk. Your new site should definitely be responsive and/or adaptive for a great experience on any device.
4. Content Management System (CMS)
One challenge many companies face is that the sales or marketing teams don't have access to edit their own websites.
If you don't want to have to sit in your IT team's queue, you'll need a content management system, or CMS for short. A website redesign is a great opportunity to evaluate and install the right content management system for your company.
Because content management systems can allow you to change, test and optimize your website with no code knowledge, it's not something that you want to cut out of your budget.
5. Ongoing Marketing
After you've taken the time to update your website with a fresh look and great, useful content… what else could you need? The fact of the matter is that fresh content won't stay fresh long.
If you let your website sit static and unchanged for months, your website traffic will tail off, even if it's highly optimized for search engines.
Don't forget to allocate budget for ongoing additions, content and online marketing. You'll want the website to be an informational tool, not just a billboard. You'll need to constantly provide potential customers with relevant, timely information and not regurgitate your company press releases. For more information on what goes into an online marketing plan, click here.
6. Maintenance
Not every website redesign process is incident-free.
Costly issues may pop up along the way that you never would think about:
- Expanded hosting capabilities needed to accommodate new site features
- Licensing for software
- Testing for new mobile devices
- Content management system updates and upgrades
- Landing page testing and page improvements
- Incremental redesigns/tweaks to your most important pages
Your website should never be "finished." Leave yourself some extra funds to improve your website over time.
Proper budgeting will ensure that your either your in-house team or your outsourced web design firm will have the money needed to do the job right.
