I have been asked many times to redesign a web site for a customer and am always happy to do that. There are many things that you need to take into consideration that most web designers do not do. The first thing is why should your site be redesigned? Is it to gain popularity on the search engines and rank higher or to update the look? If you are already ranked high but want to be even higher then there are many things to decide. A redesign should be done one page at a time keeping most things original but brought into compliance with current web standards. Also the Americans with Disabilities Act is a consideration.
One of the first things I would say is do not change your domain name unless it is absolutely necessary. The date of the domain name does play a big part in the search engines and you would have to start all over again building a reputation with the search engines. If you have no choice but to change domain names if you can keep the old one for a year and redirect the traffic from there to the new site will help you rebuild your traffic in a hurry.
The existing structure of your site is very important, especially your navigation and page names. These should not be changed unless it is to optimize your site and then again only one page at a time. All of this is assuming that you are rated somewhere in the top 20. If your site is a monster and completely unorganized then the same procedure takes place. Working from the inner pages slowly change the structure of the site until every page is in the right place and easy to navigate then make a change to the index page because you will have the rest of the site to support that change.
Right about now I am asking myself is this just a redesign or a complete web site demolition. We will be working with your marketing department and looking at all options. Can we put something on your site that will reduce the work load of your employees? What directions can we go to save you money? How do we display your products and information to your customers in the proper way? Is there a database that your customers can access and get complete information on their order or do we rely on the telephone? Do we make a question and answer section where people do not have to call? Do we put an online message center with a live operator to help customers with problems? The list can go on but this is the time to make those decisions so we will know how to proceed with your redesign.
Once we hit this point your new website is almost finished and ready for the internet. Then we work out a maintenance plan to tweak your site as needed and to set up a linking program to build your sites popularity. After all you have a great new site and you want people to see it. With the way we do things we can have you in the top 10 in many different keywords in no time.
It is not as easy as it sounds but working as a team the task is not a mountain to climb. We have found ways to make this easy for everyone and to help you achieve your goals of being one of the top web sites on the internet.