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 How to Use This Resource
Whether you’re working with an agency or redesigning inhouse, this Excel
thoroughly plan and track the progress of your website redesign.

To help make the many moving pieces of a website redesign a little easier
segmented the process into seven stages.

Use the tabs below to navigate to each stage, and be sure to thoroughly co
before moving on. (While stages 1 and 2 primarily involve benchmarking, t
answering important questions before you begin your website redesign, th
tracking your redesign while it's in progress.)

Stage 1 - Strategy
Stage 2 - Plan
Stage 3 - Design
Stage 4 - Build
Stage 5 - Optimize
Stage 6 - Launch
Stage 7 - Analyze
his Resource
ing inhouse, this Excel document will help you
ite redesign.

edesign a little easier to digest, we've

e sure to thoroughly complete stages 1 and 2

volve benchmarking, taking inventory, and
ur website redesign, the latter stages are for

trategy

ptimize
WEBSITE REDESIGN STAGE 1: STRATE
A) Benchmark Your Current Metrics.
Number of visits/visitors/unique visitors (monthly average)
Bounce rate (monthly average)
Time on site (monthly average)
Top performing keywords (in terms of rank, traffic and lead generation)
Number of inbound linking domains
Total number of new leads/form submissions (per month)
Total amount of sales generated (per month)
Total number of total pages indexed
Total number of pages that receive traffic

B) Determine Your Goal(s).

Why are you doing the redesign?

C) Define Your Brand.

What is your business's message/unique value proposition?

 Is it (message and/or branding) changing or staying the same?

If it is changing, what about it needs to change?

D) Define Your Buyer Persona.

Do you currently have a clearly defined target audience?

Is this audience changing as part of this redesign?

Does your branding and content currently align with that audience?

E) Analyze the Competition

Are there competitor sites that you really like? If so, which ones?

What are the top 3 most competitive keywords for your industry?
Who are your top-ranked competitors?
STRATEGY
Your Data  Before you begin planning your redesign, docum
x metrics using the fields to the left.

x If you don’t have access to this information, you'

x Analytics or HubSpot’s marketing analytics
site performance.
x

x TIP: Keep note of which tools you used to determ

you’ll want to use the same exact tools when col
x
otherwise you’ll be comparing apples to oranges
x

Your Answer  Be really clear about why you’re doing the redes
measureable results. Then communicate your go
x or agency.

Your Answer  Before you begin crafting your content, be clear

messaging so that it’s consistent across your ent
x
A new visitor should immediately understand wh
them, and why they should stay on your website
 them, and why they should stay on your website
competitors.
x

Your Answer  Your website is not just about you. When

speak to them in their language by designing con
x
Buyer personas are fictional representations of y
real data about customer demographics and onli
educated speculation about their personal histor
x
Click here to learn more about creating buyer pe

Your Answer  While we don’t recommend obsessing over your

how you compare. Take a look at competitor we
x and don’t like about them. This is not meant to c
you can do better.

TIP: Run competitor websites through our

x of their strengths and weaknesses.
x
nning your redesign, document your current performance
ds to the left.

ess to this information, you'll want to add a tool like Google

s marketing analytics for better tracking and visibility into

ch tools you used to determine these benchmarks. Ideally

same exact tools when collecting post-design metrics –
omparing apples to oranges!

why you’re doing the redesign in the first place and tie it to
Then communicate your goals with your team, designer,

ting your content, be clear about your branding and

consistent across your entire website.

mmediately understand what you do, how it relates to

hould stay on your website and not flee to your
 hould stay on your website and not flee to your

st about you. When a visitor asks, “what’s in it for me?”,

r language by designing content around buyer personas.

ctional representations of your ideal customers, based on

mer demographics and online behavior, along with
about their personal histories, motivations, and concerns.

ore about creating buyer personas for your business.

mmend obsessing over your competitors, it helps to know

ke a look at competitor websites, and note what you like
hem. This is not meant to copy them, but to uncover what

websites through our Marketing Grader so you are aware

weaknesses.
WEBSITE REDESIGN STAGE 2: PLAN
A) Questions to Consider

What do I currently like and dislike about my website?

What is missing from the current website?

How does my current site compare to your goals?

What's the first impression I want to give my target audience?

Does my site currently convey a feeling of trustworthyness and authority?

Will this be a whole new website or are there small changes that can be made?

Will the domain name change at all?

 What platform do I want my new website to be on?

What is a realistic timeline for this redesign? (Define a target date.)

What is our budget for this project?

Can we do this work in-house or do we need to hire someone?

B) Platform Considerations

What platform(s) are you evaluating?

Does the platform have a good reputation? (Look at ratings and reviews.)

Does the platform have good deliverability (e.g. site speed & uptime)?

Is the platform SEO-friendly (e.g. well-structured URLs)?

C) Taking Inventory of Your Existing Assets

What is your most shared or viewed content?

What are your most trafficked pages?

What are your most ranked pages?

Do you have any duplicate content? (If so, make a note of it here.)

D) Site Architecture
Plan the new site architecture/structure.
Define which pages will be part of your main/secondary navigation.
Put together a draft outline/sitemap of the new website to be designed and built.

E) Hosting, Security, & CDNs

Determine if you need hosting services (no for HubSpot, but yes for other platforms
Determine if you need a separate CDN (no for HubSpot, but yes for other platforms

F) Planning Out Your URL Mapping / 301 Redirects

Which of the following will apply to your website redesign?
The site structure is changing (which means the URLs will probably change too).
Site structure is not changing, but you want to update URLs for SEO/user-friendlin
 Some site pages will be merged.

Action item:
Map out your URLs/redirects in a spreadsheet.

G) Define Your Content Plan

Outline which content stays.
Outline which content goes.
Outline which content needs to be rewritten.
Identify what new calls-to-action need to be added.
PLAN
Your Answer  As you start planning your
yourself some of the
x Write your answers in the s

x
 x

Your Answer  Do your research before de

CMS (content managemen
x website.

While
CMS
x features "Smart Content" f
site's content to different t

TIP: You may want to track

 Your Answer  TIP: You may want to track
left
x
You can use a tool like scre
spider/ or xenus
crawl all of the pages of yo
x exportable inventory.

Progress (TBD, in progress, or complete?)  Due Date

x mm/dd/yy

x mm/dd/yy

x mm/dd/yy

Progress (TBD, in progress, or complete?)  Due Date

x mm/dd/yy

x mm/dd/yy

Your Answer  TIP: Planning

simple
and then noting what the c
yes / no will be. (Someone technica
301s later.)
yes / no
 yes / no

Progress (TBD, in progress, or complete?)  Due Date

x mm/dd/yy

Progress (TBD, in progress, or complete?)  Due Date

x mm/dd/yy

x mm/dd/yy

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x mm/dd/yy
As you start planning your website redesign, ask
yourself some of the questions listed to the left.
Write your answers in the spaces provided.
Do your research before deciding on a platform or
CMS (content management system) for your new
website.

While you're at it, be sure to check out HubSpot's

CMS, which is mobile-optimized out of the box and
features "Smart Content" for personalizing your
site's content to different types of visitors.

TIP: You may want to track each of the items to the

TIP: You may want to track each of the items to the
left in a separate spreadsheet.

You can use a tool like screamingfrog.co.uk/seo-

spider/ or xenus-link-sleuth.en.softonic.com to
crawl all of the pages of your site and create an
exportable inventory.

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TIP: Planning out your URL mapping can be as

simple as listing out your old URLs in a spreadsheet
and then noting what the corresponding new URLs
will be. (Someone technical will need to apply the
301s later.)
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WEBSITE REDESIGN STAGE 3: DESIGN
A) Layout
Review & sign-off on wireframes of the new layout (usually no more than 2-3 revisio

B) Mockups
Review design prototypes/mock-ups (usually no more than 2-3 revisions).

C) Colors
Finalize color scheme to match branding (optional).

D) Visuals
Hand over all visual assets (optional).

-------------------- Reso

Blog post: "The 7 Elements of Modern

Web Design"
DESIGN
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--------- Resources --------------------

See what designers are creating on HubSpot.

 Owner (who's responsible for this?)

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on HubSpot.
WEBSITE REDESIGN STAGE 4: BUILD
A) Platform
Finalize the new platform (the one you chose in Stage 2).

B) Content
Finalize all web content, written and visual.

C) Staging
Make sure that your staging/development site is set up as no-index.

D) Review
Continue to play with the site during this stage, and review overall flow and usabilit

-------------------- Reso

Blog post: "4 Important Factors That Will

Affect the Cost of a Website Redesign"
BUILD
Progress (TBD, in progress, or complete?)  Due Date
x mm/dd/yy

Progress (TBD, in progress, or complete?)  Due Date

x mm/dd/yy

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x mm/dd/yy

Progress (TBD, in progress, or complete?)  Due Date

x mm/dd/yy

--------- Resources --------------------

t Will Learn How to Build a Smarter Website with the

HubSpot CMS
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ebsite with the

WEBSITE REDESIGN STAGE 5: OPTIMI
A) The Basics
Make sure the new site is multi-browser compatible. (Use browsershots.org)
Make sure you have custom/user-friendly 404 pages.
Run your site through a broken link checker.
Set up and add sitemap.xml and robots.txt files.
Check for common errors like grammar and misspellings.

B) Shareability
Make sure users can easily subscribe to content (e.g. blog, email)
Make sure users can easily share pages, posts, photos, etc.

C) Analytics
Get your analytics tool(s) up and running on your site.

D) Keywords
Are you making clear and meaningful use of keywords throughout your site?
Do your keywords align with the interests of your buyer personas/target audiences?
Do your calls-to-action/offers align with the topics covered in your site's pages?

E) Redirects
Make sure all old pages redirect to appropriate new pages.
F) Navigation
Is there a clear content hierarchy and organization?
Is the site structure intuitive and user friendly?

G) Design & Layout

Perform an HMTL validation test via a CSS validator (like validator.w3.org).
Is the site structure intuitive and user-friendly?

H) Mobile
Is your site optimized for mobile viewing? (Check with https://marketing.grader.com

I) Performance
Do your pages load quickly? (Run a test with a tool like http://www.yottaa.com/)

J) Prepare for Launch.

Get sign-off from key management.
Determine and set launch date.
OPTIMIZE
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WEBSITE REDESIGN STAGE 6: LAUNCH
A) Be Prepared.
On the day of the launch, be prepared for things to go wrong. (All hands on deck.)

B) Announce the Launch:

via email
via social media
via PR
via blog(s)
other?

C) Create an Ongoing Content Strategy.

This is a great time to start (or revamp) your business's blog.

--------------------

Blog post: "Setting Up Your Blog? Use

This Checklist to Start Off on the Right
LAUNCH
Progress (TBD, in progress, or complete?)  Due Date
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--------- Resources --------------------

Learn How to Schedule All of Your Social Media

Messages in Advance Using Social Inbox
 Owner (who's responsible for this?)

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r Social Media
ocial Inbox
WEBSITE REDESIGN STAGE 7: ANALYZ
A) One-Week In: Index Check
How many pages are indexed?
Are all of your important pages indexed?

B) One-Week In: Post-Launch Checklist

Confirm that your Robots.tx file(s) is/are set up properly.
Resubmit your .XML sitemaps(s) via (Google and Bing) webmaster tools.
Add a public HTML sitemap (if you haven't already).
Make sure your analytics tool(s) is/are working properly.

C) Benchmark Your Metrics 1, 3, and 6 Months After Launch

Number of visits/visitors/unique visitors (monthly average)
Bounce rate (monthly average)
Time on site (monthly average)
Top-performing keywords (in terms of rank, traffic and lead generation)
Number of inbound linking domains
Total number of new leads/form submissions (per month)
Total amount of sales generated (per month)
Total number of pages indexed.
Total number of pages that receive traffic.
ANALYZE
Your Data 

yes/no

Progress (TBD, in progress, or complete?)  Due Date

x mm/dd/yy

x mm/dd/yy

x mm/dd/yy

x mm/dd/yy

Your Data 

x
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