Writing the specifications for a website redesign

  A website redesign requires written specifications to succeed. The document will serve in particular as a reference for the goals to reach, the aesthetic and technical constraints, the features and everything that concerns the site. The website redesign team will then present you with a plan, which will be studied according to your needs.

Why write specifications for a website redesign?

Specifications are a document that brings together, in its first part, all the information about you needed to identify the website. Next, you will need to specify the nature of the project, stating that it is a redesign, before defining whether it is a showcase site, a blog or an e-commerce platform. Finally, you will need to explain the reason for your online presence and present the company's visual identity. The main purpose of writing specifications for the redesign is to have a precise manual to guide all the stakeholders and contributors of the project. In this way, they will be clear about the goals and the work to be done in terms of development, site structure, technical aspects, design, graphics and other elements, following certain steps. In most cases, site owners call on an agency specialising in website creation or on service providers. You can find specification templates online.

Writing the website redesign roadmap

Writing the roadmap for the redesign, which is part of the specifications, aims to frame your project properly. It will take the form of a chronological schedule, often shown as a chart. If your project is fairly complex, the roadmap will help share out the participants' tasks and define the main priorities. It will be divided into 5 essential steps, which are as follows:

Starting the project

This means formulating a main goal and developing a strategy based on the budget and the expectations of the company or the customers. The stakeholders of the website redesign will also be presented at this stage.

Understanding usage and listening to your users

This means exploiting the data and content already present in search engines such as Google and carrying out field observation to understand users' needs. It will also be more effective for the site's future rankings, whether through SEO (organic search) or not.

Establishing a solution concept

A website redesign should bring out new creative ideas. The point is to identify a gap or a problem and provide the solution. You will, however, need to identify real problems linked to users' concerns, and put forward relevant ideas in the site's content in order to boost its pages effectively and gain more traffic.

Designing a solution prototype and testing it

The prototype design step consists in drawing up a usage scenario and imagining whether or not the solution presented by the agencies could work, before collecting feedback on the work and tests and then assessing which ideas to keep or improve.

Deploying the solution

In this last part, you will need to put the solution online and check that it works properly. Then carry out a satisfaction survey in order to improve the content of the redesign even further after evaluation. Before undertaking a website redesign project, it is essential to call on professionals such as agencies and service providers who have been working in the sector for years. It requires an in-depth study to meet Google's requirements and increase the visibility of the brand or the company.

To estimate the budget from the specifications, see the cost and quote of a website redesign.