Ultimate Beginner’s Guide to Redesigning Your WordPress Website for Maximum Impact

At CanadaCreate, we have experienced multiple website redesigns and gained valuable insights throughout the process.

Each update has taught us what truly works and what doesn’t when refreshing a WordPress site.

We frequently hear from business owners who feel uncertain. They recognize the need for a site update but are concerned about potential issues. We understand: altering a functioning website can seem quite daunting.

That’s why we developed this comprehensive guide to WordPress redesigns. We will share our proven strategies to transform your WordPress website without jeopardizing your business.

You will discover how to safeguard your SEO, secure your content, and avoid the common pitfalls that many redesigns encounter.

When Is the Right Time to Redesign Your WordPress Website? 🧐

You should consider redesigning your WordPress website when it fails to align with your business objectives, appears outdated, or provides a poor user experience. Typical indicators include slow loading speeds, low conversion rates, unattractive design, or challenges in implementing new features.

You may feel inclined to redesign your WordPress website simply because you are tired of its current appearance. However, since a redesign can be a lengthy process, it’s crucial to evaluate several factors before proceeding.

Primarily, you need to be completely certain that a redesign is necessary for your website.

If your current WordPress website is experiencing a decline in traffic, it may be time to consider a redesign. A decrease in visitors often suggests that your site no longer aligns with user expectations.

First impressions are crucial in the online world. An outdated website design can negatively impact how your brand or business is perceived.

A frustrating user experience, such as visitors having difficulty locating essential information, is a strong indicator that your WordPress website needs a redesign. In a previous project, we enhanced content visibility by adding useful sidebar links and mega menus.

Website speed is a critical consideration when contemplating a redesign of your WordPress site.

For instance, you may have attempted various methods to improve your site’s loading speed, yet it still performs poorly or fails core web vitals assessments. This could indicate that your current WordPress theme is overly complex, necessitating a shift to a more streamlined design.

The same principle applies to mobile-friendliness. You might have implemented several responsive design strategies, but if your site continues to underperform on mobile devices, it may be due to an outdated theme that requires transitioning to a more mobile-optimized option.

If your website no longer reflects your brand or services accurately, it may be time for a redesign. We recently updated the CanadaCreate homepage to better showcase our expertise and authority in the WordPress community.

If your site isn’t effectively converting visitors into customers or subscribers, a redesign could enhance your profitability and strengthen your online presence.

If you identify with any of these concerns, don’t worry. The following section will guide you through our essential WordPress website redesign checklist, covering everything you need to do before, during, and after the redesign process.

Use the quick links below to easily navigate through the steps:

1. Gather Website Performance Metrics

You may be wondering, ‘I already know my traffic and conversions are down, so why should I gather website performance metrics before redesigning my WordPress site?’

It’s crucial to validate these concerns with concrete data. Additionally, when you redesign your WordPress website, you’ll want to assess whether your changes are effective.

By gathering performance metrics from your existing website, you establish benchmarks to compare against after the redesign. This enables you to determine if your new design leads to improved outcomes.

To simplify this process, we recommend using the MonsterInsights plugin for Google Analytics. We have extensively utilized this tool to enhance the performance of our websites and even wrote a comprehensive review of MonsterInsights.

This plugin connects your WordPress site with Google Analytics, providing you with essential performance metrics directly in your WordPress dashboard.

For a successful WordPress website redesign, we recommend monitoring and utilizing these marketing data points as benchmarks:

• Total Traffic – The overall number of visitors to your site. This metric helps you gauge your website’s reach and whether the redesign enhances its visibility.
• Bounce RateThe bounce rate indicates the percentage of visitors who leave your site after viewing only one page. This metric helps you assess whether your redesigned site engages users more effectively and enhances site speed.
• Conversion RateThe conversion rate represents the percentage of visitors who complete a desired action, such as making a purchase or signing up for a newsletter. This metric allows you to evaluate if the redesign enhances your site’s ability to achieve its objectives.
• Top Performing PagesThese are the pages that visitors access most frequently, enabling you to safeguard popular content during the redesign process and gain insights into your audience’s preferences.
• Top Traffic SourcesThis metric identifies where your visitors originate from, such as search engines or social media platforms. Understanding these sources helps you tailor your new design to better serve these channels and maintain or boost traffic levels.
• Average Session DurationThis metric measures how long visitors typically remain on your site, allowing you to determine if the redesign enhances the perceived value of your content for users.
• Page Views Per SessionThis metric indicates the average number of pages a visitor views during a session. It can reveal whether your redesigned site improves navigation and encourages users to explore additional content.
• Mobile vs Desktop Traffic SplitThis refers to the percentage of visitors accessing your site via mobile devices compared to desktop computers. Understanding this ratio can help you tailor your redesign to prioritize the most commonly used devices.

Discover more in our article detailing the essential metrics you should monitor on your WordPress site.

With MonsterInsights, you can utilize the ‘Conversations AI’ feature to quickly get answers about your website data.

For instance, you might ask, ‘What was my conversion rate last month?’ This feature simplifies access to crucial information without the need for in-depth analysis of complex reports.

2. Conduct an Audit of Your WordPress Website

Before initiating your WordPress redesign, it’s vital to comprehend the actions and factors that influenced the performance metrics you gathered earlier. This knowledge will empower you to make informed choices about what to modify and what to retain.

To obtain these insights, you should perform a website audit, which involves a series of steps aimed at evaluating the user experience on your current site.

We suggest directly soliciting feedback from your users to better understand their needs, preferences, and challenges.

The UserFeedback plugin is a fantastic tool that enables you to add surveys to your website and efficiently gather visitor opinions. We utilize this plugin on our own sites, and you can discover more in our detailed UserFeedback review.

Explore our in-depth guide to learn how to effectively gather feedback on your website design in WordPress. We have also curated a list of user experience feedback questions to ask your website visitors.

It’s important to assess your user’s journey. For instance, a visitor may read a blog post, navigate to your services page, and then attempt to reach your contact page to get in touch. If there’s a broken link or a confusing button along that route, they might abandon the process, resulting in a lost potential customer.

If you are using MonsterInsights, the User Journey addon can assist in tracking customer journeys on popular WordPress eCommerce platforms such as WooCommerce, Easy Digital Downloads, and MemberPress.

For example, in WooCommerce, you can track a user’s entire journey, including all interactions, timestamps, and durations.

For further information, check out our guides on enabling customer tracking in WooCommerce and monitoring the customer journey with MemberPress.

For websites that prioritize lead generation, utilizing WPForms with the User Journey addon is an excellent choice. It reveals the source that directed users to your site and the steps they took before filling out a form.

This data helps you identify which content resonates most with users. Discover more in our comprehensive guide on tracking user journeys with WordPress lead forms.

Heatmap tools are a crucial component of your website development audit. They visually illustrate how visitors interact with your pages, offering insights that raw data alone cannot provide.

UserFeedback now features a robust built-in heatmap tool that displays precisely where visitors click, scroll, and move their mouse on your pages.

Since it is directly integrated with WordPress, you can access all your heatmap data right from your dashboard, alongside your user feedback results.

For those seeking a free analytics solution, we recommend Microsoft Clarity. It provides detailed heatmaps, scroll tracking, and click tracking without any cost.

We have successfully implemented it on various brand websites, making it an ideal choice for beginners in heatmap analytics. To learn how to set up Microsoft Clarity analytics on your WordPress site, refer to our installation guide.

3. Choose Between Keeping Your Site Live or Activating Maintenance Mode

A crucial decision during your WordPress redesign is whether to maintain your live site or switch it to maintenance mode. This choice can greatly affect user experience and search engine rankings throughout the redesign.

Consider these questions to guide your decision-making:

• What is the scope of your redesign? Are you merely updating the homepage or completely overhauling the entire site?
• How long do you anticipate the redesign will take? Is it a quick update that can be completed in a few days, or a significant overhaul that may require weeks?
• Can your site afford to be offline for a period? Assess whether your business can manage some downtime.
• What is your site’s traffic volume? A high-traffic website will experience more negative effects from downtime compared to a smaller, personal blog.
• Are you planning to modify your website’s structure? Will you be updating its appearance, rearranging elements, or changing URLs?
• Is your website crucial for your business operations? For example, do you operate an online store that must remain accessible, or is your site primarily informational?

Generally, we advise keeping your website active during the redesign process, especially if it will take some time or if your business could be adversely affected by downtime. This approach also helps protect your site’s SEO performance.

In this scenario, you should create a WordPress staging site or a local development environment. This setup allows you to test your redesign without impacting your live website.

A staging site is a duplicate of your live website where you can make changes safely. Many hosting providers now offer one-click staging options, such as SiteGround, which hosts CanadaCreate.

For additional details, refer to our guide on how to set up a staging environment for WordPress.

Alternatively, you can create a local development site. This method involves duplicating your website on your personal computer, providing greater privacy and quicker development times.

We recommend using the Local WP tool, which many of our team members utilize to test new features. You can find detailed instructions in our article on how to install WordPress locally on both Windows and Mac.

If your redesign is quick and won’t interfere with essential business operations, putting your site in maintenance mode for a brief period might be acceptable. However, you should be aware of the potential risks involved.

Enabling maintenance mode can affect your SEO and may require you to implement some redirects. While this isn’t a significant issue for small personal websites, it can be more complicated for larger sites with high traffic.

Our preferred approach is to use the SeedProd page builder. In addition to activating maintenance mode for your WordPress site, it allows you to create an attractive page to inform visitors about upcoming changes and even capture leads by setting up a waitlist landing page.

Additionally, it can notify search engines that your site is temporarily down by sending a special signal known as the 503 status, which is recommended by Google.

If you’re interested in this option, be sure to check out our comprehensive SeedProd review.

4. Select a Method for Redesigning Your WordPress Site

When redesigning your WordPress website, you have three primary options: modifying your existing theme, selecting a new theme and customizing it, or enlisting the help of a WordPress design expert.

Let’s examine the advantages and disadvantages of each method to assist you in determining the best approach for your redesign.

Option 1: Modify Existing Theme

Ideal for:Website owners who are generally satisfied with their current design but wish to update its appearance or incorporate new features.

Advantagesof modifying your existing WordPress theme:

• Familiarity with the current setup
• Potentially quicker, easier, and more cost-effective
• Maintains consistency for returning visitors

Disadvantages of modifying your existing WordPress theme:

• Limited by the existing theme’s structure

If you prefer to keep your current theme but desire more customization options, we recommend using plugins such as CSS Hero and WPCode.

CSS Hero is a visual CSS editor plugin that allows you to customize your WordPress theme’s CSS without needing to write any code. Any adjustments you make will impact the theme’s CSS.

You can find more information about the plugin in our CSS Hero review.

WPCode is a powerful code snippet plugin that allows you to easily add custom code snippets to your WordPress theme without modifying the theme files directly. If there’s an error in the code, the plugin will automatically disable it, ensuring your theme remains unaffected.

One of the best features is its ability to retain your code changes even when your theme updates, so you won’t lose your customizations.

For more information, check out our detailed WPCode review.

If you’re looking for inspiration on how to enhance your current website, consider exploring these articles:

• How to Style Individual Categories in WordPress
• How to Style Each WordPress Post Uniquely
• How to Add Custom Styles to WordPress Widgets
• How to Customize Colors on Your WordPress Site

Option 2: Select a New Theme and Personalize It

Ideal for:Individuals seeking a major design overhaul without incurring high website redesign costs, or those wanting to leverage new theme features.

Advantages of using a new WordPress theme:

• A fresh start with contemporary design options
• Access to new features and layouts
• Potential for enhanced website performance

Disadvantages of using a new WordPress theme:

• There may be a learning curve when adapting to a new theme.
• Careful configuration is essential to prevent compatibility problems.

When choosing a new theme, ensure it is fast, responsive, compatible with your existing plugins, and receives regular updates. Consider its cost-effectiveness and customization features to tailor your WordPress site to your specific needs.

If you’re thinking about a premium theme, check out our guide comparing free and premium WordPress themes to aid your choice. Additionally, follow our instructions on how to properly switch a WordPress theme to avoid common mistakes.

For a more versatile option, we suggest SeedProd, a drag-and-drop page builder that offers numerous theme kits and templates. This is the same tool we use to create custom landing pages for ourselves and our brands.

Our partners at OptinMonster utilized SeedProd to revamp their landing page, resulting in a 340% increase in conversions.

With this drag-and-drop page builder, you will receive a theme along with a flexible tool for customization, allowing you to create a unique design without any technical expertise. Additionally, you’ll have access to AI tools for generating content and custom images for your pages.

Discover more about SeedProd in these helpful guides:

• SeedProd Review: Is It the Best WordPress Page Builder for Your Needs?
• Step-by-Step Guide to Creating a Custom WordPress Theme Without Coding
• How to Add an Engaging Animated Background to Your WordPress Site
• How to Incorporate Rotating Testimonials into Your WordPress Website

Alternatively, explore our curated list of the most popular WordPress themes.

Option 3: Hire a Professional Custom WordPress Website Design Service

Ideal for:Business owners or bloggers seeking a distinctive, professional design customized to their specific requirements, especially if they lack the time or skills to create it themselves.

Advantages of Hiring a Professional WordPress Design Service:

• Custom, professional WordPress theme design
• WordPress theme specifically tailored to your unique needs
• No requirement for personal design or coding expertise

Disadvantages of Hiring a Professional WordPress Design Service:

• Higher expenses (check out our article on the costs of a custom WordPress theme)
• Reliance on the designer’s schedule

If you’re looking to break free from generic designs, this option is perfect for you. However, the challenge lies in finding the right WordPress designers to collaborate with. We provide a list of top WordPress agencies for your consideration.

Consider exploring Seahawk Media’s professional website redesign services.

For creating a custom WordPress site, they provide the following options:

• Custom Website Redesign – Personalized solutions designed to meet your specific business objectives and reflect your brand identity.
• Multiple Design Prototypes – Select from a range of visually stunning prototypes crafted by our award-winning design team.
• SEO & Performance Optimization – Enhanced site structure, content optimization, and speed improvements to boost search rankings and enhance user experience.
• Conversion & Usability Analysis – Designs aimed at converting visitors into customers, backed by data-driven enhancements.
• Ongoing Maintenance & Updates – Ongoing support to ensure your website remains secure, current, and effective.

Consider this an investment in your online presence that can enhance user experience, improve search engine rankings, and ultimately drive higher conversions and revenue for your business.

If you’re uncertain, schedule a free consultation with the Seahawk Media team today.

5. Back Up Your WordPress Website

If you’re in the process of redesigning your website, one crucial step you must not overlook is backing up your current WordPress site before going live.

Here’s why creating a backup is essential:

• Error Protection – In case anything goes wrong during the redesign, you can easily restore your website.
• User Feedback Protection – If your audience responds negatively to the new design, you can swiftly revert to the previous version.
• Data Preservation – This ensures that you don’t lose any important content or settings throughout the redesign process.
• Peace of Mind – Having a backup gives you the confidence to launch your new site without worries.

We suggest using a backup plugin like Duplicator for this purpose. Duplicator simplifies the process of creating and managing backups directly on your website.

A backup file is a comprehensive copy of your website, encompassing all your posts, pages, images, plugins, themes, and settings. Consider it your ultimate safety net.

Once the backup is created, you can save the file on your computer. For extra security, consider uploading it to cloud storage services like Dropbox.

Restoring your website using the Duplicator plugin is easy; just drag and drop the backup file. This plugin also lets you create a recovery point, so you can quickly revert your site to a previous version if necessary.

6. Launch Your Website and Conduct Another Audit

At this point, you are ready to publish your newly redesigned website and present it to your audience.

If you have activated maintenance mode on your website using SeedProd, simply deactivate it to allow everyone to access your site. For more information, check out our guide on WordPress maintenance mode.

If you have been developing your website locally, refer to our guide on how to transfer WordPress from a local server to a live environment.

If you have been using a staging site provided by your WordPress hosting, you can easily deploy your site live using its deployment feature. For instance, with Bluehost, you can use the Bluehost WordPress plugin to deploy all your changes with just a few clicks.

For more details, visit our guide on WordPress staging environments.

Once your site is live, there’s still work to do. Ensure that everything is functioning correctly.

It’s essential to focus on your SEO settings when redesigning your website. If you change the structure of your web pages, be sure to set up redirects and update your internal links to match any new URLs. Failing to do so may prevent search engines from properly crawling your site.

Manually identifying and redirecting every changed URL can be a time-consuming task.

That’s why we suggest using a plugin like All in One SEO (AIOSEO), which offers automated tools to streamline this process.

We utilize AIOSEO at CanadaCreate to ensure our site remains optimized for search engines. For more insights into our experience, check out our comprehensive review of All in One SEO.

AIOSEO allows you to quickly identify broken links throughout your website. The plugin provides a straightforward list of all broken links, making it easy to update them in one central location. This helps you avoid frustrating 404 error pages for your visitors.

AIOSEO also simplifies the process of setting up 301 redirects, which is particularly useful if your redesign includes changes to your website’s hierarchy.

For more details, you can refer to our beginner’s guide on creating 301 redirects in WordPress.

In addition, we suggest conducting an SEO audit to identify any missing SEO titles, meta descriptions, canonical link tags, SSL certificates, speed issues, and more. These factors are crucial for enhancing your visibility on search engines.

Explore our comprehensive WordPress SEO audit checklist for a detailed, step-by-step guide.

Finally, go through this ultimate checklist to ensure everything is functioning as intended:

• Test all forms:Complete and submit every contact form, signup form, and checkout process to confirm they operate correctly.
• Check for broken links:Utilize a tool to scan your site one last time for any broken links you may have overlooked.
• Verify analytics tracking:Ensure that your Google Analytics tracking code is properly installed and recording visits on the new site.
• Review on mobile devices:Thoroughly evaluate your site on various smartphones and tablets to identify any design issues.
• Run a speed test:Assess your new site’s performance using a speed testing tool to guarantee it loads quickly for visitors.

7. Regularly Maintain Your WordPress Site

As a website owner, your responsibilities are ongoing. After launching your site, it’s essential to perform regular maintenance tasks, such as keeping your plugins up to date and backing up your files frequently.

These maintenance efforts ensure that your website remains fast, secure from attacks, and free of errors.

Don’t worry if this seems overwhelming. We provide a comprehensive guide outlining the key WordPress maintenance tasks you should perform, including updating your passwords, refreshing your plugins, and checking your security logs.

If you find these tasks too challenging and have a budget available, we suggest hiring the WordPress maintenance professionals at Seahawk Media Services.

With their services, you will receive:

• 24/7 WordPress maintenance and support
• Continuous uptime monitoring around the clock
• Regular updates for WordPress core, themes, and plugins
• Scheduled cloud backups and malware removal services
• Emergency support available on demand

The team at Seahawk can identify and resolve complex issues that automated tools may overlook, tailoring solutions to meet your unique needs and website redesign objectives.

Consistent maintenance is essential for ensuring your redesigned WordPress site operates effectively and securely. Whether you opt for a DIY approach or hire professionals, it’s important to have a strategy for keeping your site in excellent condition.

Common Questions About Redesigning a WordPress Website

Here are some frequently asked questions we receive from users regarding the WordPress redesign process.

What is the cost of redesigning a WordPress website?

The cost of redesigning a WordPress site can vary significantly. A simple update with a new premium theme might only cost between $50 and $200.

If you choose to hire a freelancer or agency for a custom design, the price can range from several hundred to several thousand dollars, depending on the complexity of the project.

Will I lose my content during the website redesign?

No, your content will remain intact. All your posts, pages, and media files are stored in your WordPress database, which is separate from your theme files.

Activating a new theme only changes the way your existing content is presented. However, we always recommend creating a complete backup before implementing significant changes, just to be cautious.

How long does a website redesign typically take?

The duration of the redesign process largely depends on the project’s complexity. A simple theme change with minor tweaks could be completed in just a few days.

In contrast, a full redesign involving a custom layout, new features, and migrating content may take several weeks or even months to finish.

Should I opt for a website redesign or create a new one from the ground up?

For most established websites, a redesign is typically the preferred option. This strategy allows you to retain your valuable content, maintain SEO rankings, and keep your existing audience.

Starting anew is generally advisable only for a comprehensive rebranding or if the current site has severe technical problems that are challenging to resolve.

We hope this guide has provided you with valuable insights on redesigning your WordPress website. You might also find our article on essential steps before launching a WordPress design business and our recommendations for the top WordPress theme builder plugins helpful.

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