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# The Website Redesign Process: Three Crucial Steps for Success
Ask any seasoned website pro, AI chatbot, or search engine, “What is the website redesign process?” you will get a task list with a lot of agreement on what steps to take.
The good news is that a website redesign process is agreed upon across many channels of authority, so you can trust that it is well-established and proven.
**The bad news is that there are three initial, vital steps that are usually overlooked.**
This omission can often inflate budgets and prolong timelines.
When shepx is asked to partner with a brand on a website redesign, we always start with three foundational steps:
* » Does your brand need a website redesign or a website refresh?
* » Protect the equity: How will we preserve URLs?
* » Does this website’s hosting follow the new best practices?
Let’s cover each of these steps in detail.
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## Does your brand need a website redesign or a website refresh?
What do Coke®, Gap®, and Tropicana® have in common?
They went with a redesign when they just needed a refresh.
What’s the difference between a redesign and a refresh?
A redesign is when we start from a blank page. Every part of the experience is open to change.
A refresh maintains the core equity of the experience but uses strategic change to give it a refreshed feeling—just enough new without being new.
Sprite® recently launched a refresh. Tide® frequently refreshes itself.
Yet brands like the aforementioned Coke®, Gap®, and Tropicana® mistakenly thought they needed to reinvent themselves when their business goals could have been accomplished with a refresh.
This applies to web redesign: Often, a brand does not need a start-from-scratch redesign but rather a refresh to its website.
Any web designer can start from scratch because it’s essentially creating a new website. It doesn’t require strategy, tactics, or an eye for equity.
A website refresh requires a higher level of expertise and strategy yet often results in a stronger brand with a better return on investment.
### Protect the equity: How will we preserve URLs?
a url is also known as a web address or link. you found this article thanks to the url: shepx.us/website-redesign-process
Existing URLs are worth real money, and we need to preserve them.
A massive mistake that often occurs with website redesign is not paying attention to every website’s myriad URLs.
Every image on a web page has a URL. the navigation bar is primarily many URLs. Your brand’s website has many URLs, and they tell search engines and AI chatbots where your content is located.
When those URLs change, it is like starting over from scratch to a search engine. You lose 100% of the SEO a webpage has when its URL is changed.
**Unfortunately, many website redesign projects do not factor this in.**
The process does not preserve the URLs; therefore, the equity your website has from its URLs is tossed aside.
Consider this: If you restructure your brand’s website and URLs but want to regain the SEO equity the former pages had on your new pages, you can use many available tools to calculate the cost of running search engine marketing campaigns to regain the lost equity.
URLs are real, tangible, and financial equity.
Preserve them in your website redesign or refresh project.
### Does this website’s hosting follow the new best practices?
Website hosting is part of the brand’s content and user experience strategy.
Website redesign needs to rethink how updates to the new website.
The days of making changes to your live website should be in the past. There is a new standard for creating and publishing updates, and it looks like this:
* »  Your brand has two websites: Stage and Live.
  »  Stage is where you make updates, write and create new pages, post new videos, etc.
  »  Live is what the public, search engines, and AI tools see.
  »  Therefore, your brand’s Stage website is always the most current since it has all the work in progress.
  »  When the Stage website reaches a point where it is ready for Live, you copy it to the Live environment.
This method allows your website content strategy more room to explore, is not dependent on developers as gatekeepers, and will enable you to make mistakes without disrupting live website experiences or traffic.
All best-in-class website hosting platforms use this approach, but many website hosts still use the old method of having one website for everything.
It might be time to change website hosting companies that allow your brand’s website hosting to be part of your strategy.
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These three steps will make the standard steps of a website redesign more impactful and increase the likelihood of faster, fuller ROI.
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® Brand Shepherd llc •  shepx is part of the  herd of brands.
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#### experience better
#### case study for
# jm burns steel supply
#### objective
The brand specializes in sourcing carbon based coil and sheet stock, and process all material at ISO certified processors prior to delivery.
#### customer persona
## buyers
Steel suppy is a business of relationships and jm burns steel supply wanted the website to give buyers a sense of the competency and personality they will be working with.
#### our role
* ux & ui design
* customer personas
* website development
#### timing
* DESIGN: 4 weeks
* DEVELOPMENT: 3 weeks
#### specs
* mobile, laptop, and tablet design
* built on wordpress
* speed and security optimization
“Dan and his team were great to work with. They were patient, insightful, and very creative in helping to achieve a more modern, and user friendly website that reaches a further base then the last web site. I highly recommend Dan!”
JUSTIN ROBBINS – CEO, JM BURNS STEEL SUPPLY
# diversified steel trading
Showcase a woman-owned steel trading business that has carved out a reputation of quality service.
Steel trading is a business of relationships and DST wanted the website to give buyers a sense of the competency and personality they will be working with.
## credential agencies
As a woman-owned business, DST wanted the website to showcase the credentials awarded and by doing so, show new credentialing agencies of the brand’s trustworthy nature.
“jane, the owner, has created a brand that is a force to be reckoned with in a heavily male-dominated industry. crafting her brand’s website was a true honor to see come to life.”
dan crask – shepx
# benanova
the website needed to be the handshake between academic scientific innovation and the capitalism marketplace.
## investors
As a startup, BENANOVA needs investors. Investors want a website that showcases the brand’s expertise and reason to invest.
## Buyers/procurement
Benanova’s offerings are very niche and it was important that their solutions be attractive to the niche buyers who are looking for what they create.
### ux and ui design customer personas website development
### design: 4 weeks development: 3 weeks
### mobile, desktop, and tablet design wordpress optimized for speed and security
“building the benanova brand was rewarding because we were entrusted to first craft their visual brand identity and then apply it to a robust website.”
# half day cafe
To eat at the half-day Cafe is a vibe unto itself. The goal was to give website visitors an experience consistent with what they’ll get during their meal.
## locals
The people of Cincinnati live and support their vast number of independent restaurants like Half Day Cafe.
## visitors
Those visiting Cincinnati either know in advance or find out quickly of the great food scene. Discovering new independent restaurants is a priority for them.
* DESIGN: 2 weeks
* DEVELOPMENT: 4 weeks
“we have had the great honor of building, growing, and protecting the half day cafe website since 2008. the honor is double because their food is incredible!”
DANIEL CRASK – SHEPX
# berkshire advisor resource
create a website that insurance professionals in need of specific data via forms can access quickly and easily.
## insurance professional
berkshire advisor resource is a specific insurance professionals’ go-to resource for help, so long as all of the information is provided efficiently. this puts a lot of emphasis on how customers interact with the website.
## data specialist
the data the insurance professionals provide has to be accessible in a way that is not a time-drain on the overall process so that the specialists can get the data in the right hands.
## berkshire staff
berkshire staff need a website that is a living, breathing tool between their customers and the valuable information they rely on. everything hinges on how well the website can collect and provide data.
“They key to success with the Berkshire website was in the design of the forms. We did a deep dive into their forms and redesigned their flow for the most efficiency for everyone.”
# simple fix handyman
Resonate with homeowners who do not enjoy the required maintenance for their home.
## home owner
homes require on-going maintenance to prevent costly repairs, yet many homeowners are either uninterested or unaware of every point of maintenance a home needs. simple fix handyman is a handyman service designed to make home maintenance easy and affordable for home owners.
## property owner
property owners are all too familiar with the many needs for maintenance that their properties require. simple fix handyman is a service for property owners to outsource those needs so property owners have one less thing to take care of.
* DESIGN: 3 weeks
“I have never had anything less than an extraordinary experience. shepx are phenomenal. I will never work with anyone else when it comes to building a website!”
Adam Markesbery –  Simple fix handyman
# propsera it
create a website that sums up the it services prospera provides while also making access to support easy.
## SMB
This customer is an SMB that is big enough to require dedicated IT but doesn’t want to have an in-house team. They want an IT team on-call to take care of what they need and on the lookout for what is coming.
## Business owner
Business owners who see the need and value of a prospera’s quality are people who have tried to manage IT themselves but found out it is very challenging. They need to see expertise in a short period of time.
“prospera went from an underperforming website with a lot of pages to a single-page website that surpassed expectations because we took time to understand what prospera’s customers would find most valuable from their website.”
# emilie d’agostino
A website experience for a top tier copywriter, without blasting the reader with verboseness.
## Brand manager
Emilie works with a lot of brand managers and so we learned from her experience that they are usually short on time. They want a copywriter who can get to the point and do so with absolute clarity.
Business owners who see the need and value of a copywriter of Emilie’s quality are people who have tried to write concise content but found out it is very challenging. They need to see expertise in a short period of time
* DEVELOPMENT: 6 weeks
“Knowledgeable, outgoing and strategic, Brand Shepherd is always up to date on technology and important business-building trends.”
EMILIE D’AGOSTINO
# premier title group
create a website that evokes the true in-person brand experience for this one-of-a-kind title agency.
## home buyers and sellers
the knoxville, tennessee real estate market is hot and premier title group goes to great lengths to ensure home buyers and sellers feel right at home.
## knoxville realtors®
a hot real estate market is keeps its heat in large part to the realtors® who create the best deals for everyone.
## banks and lenders
ultimately, all parties involved need lenders who know what they’re doing and premier title group set out to attract partnerships with knoxville’s best lenders.
* DESIGN: 6 weeks
“ptg’s website was such a breath of fresh air because they truly wanted to disrupt what real estate title agencies typically feel like and do so with warmth and authentic joy. this is how a brand stands out in a hot market.”
DAN CRASK – SHEPX