by It would never occur to you to build your house or consider an extension without first drawing the plans, would it? Well, apply this to your website redesign: write your specifications! Plan of your house = Specifications for the redesign of your site.
Do you want to offer a facelift to your website or add new features to it in order to maintain your online presence and remain competitive in your field or to meet Google’s criteria? Start with the very first step: writing the specifications for the redesign of your website.
Contents
The presentation of your company
This section must include the presentation of your company, its activities and its objectives.
Ideally, you present the context of the project, your approach, your target and your motivations. All this information will be useful to the various stakeholders (project manager, developer, graphic designer, SEO Company, etc.) as well as for yourself!
👉 Do not forget to mention, if applicable, the previous similar projects of your company.
Analysis of the existing
Before jumping headlong into the redesign, it is important to do an analysis of the existing one.
Here you write down the analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of your website and the evaluation of the competition and current market trends. These elements will serve as a basis and help to better understand the context of the project.
The objectives of the overhaul
Why do you want to redesign your website?
It can be for:
- improve the user experience,
- increase the number of visitors to your site,
- generate more leads,
- Or to strengthen the presence of your company on social networks.
It can also be:
- move from a showcase site to an e-commerce site,
- add a blog,
- Change CMS or even host…
Never mind! The reasons can be multiple; the important thing is to ask yourself all these questions in order to target the reason for this overhaul.
Functionalities
For a successful redesign, don’t leave any gray areas when it comes to functionality.
Your specifications must precisely describe the features that will be added or improved during the redesign of the website. It could be:
A new home page, a more efficient contact form,
Of the Woo Commerce brick,
Or also from an internal search engine, etc.
Ergonomics and design
The ergonomics and design of the website are generally reviewed as part of a website redesign, as these elements greatly contribute to improving the user experience.
This is all the more important if you are pursuing loyalty, margin image, browsing time and conversion objectives. Thus, it is important to precisely describe the expected result:
- Does your site have to be adapted to all screens (responsive design)?
- Does it have to respect accessibility rules (WCAG)?
- On which browsers must it be accessible?
Similarly, reserve a section to describe the colors, typography, graphics and images to be used. Moreover, some take advantage of the redesign of their site to revisit their visual identity; in this specific case, it will be imperative to review your logo before starting the redesign of your site.
The tree structures
Should you review the organization of the pages of your site and/or create new ones? If yes how much? What pages do you want to appear in the main menu? If possible, produce a diagram that shows the tree structure of your new website.
Contents
Do you want to improve the content already present on your website? Do you need more quality content to enrich your site?
Mention all this in your specifications. Often, companies request a redesign of their site assuming that their service provider will be able to retouch some content. But this is a serious mistake.
Your specifications must specify who will be in charge of writing the content (internally or externally), the types of content that will be produced (blog articles, product sheets, customer testimonials, etc.) and the production deadlines.
Natural referencing (SEO)
If the redesign of your website is aimed at natural referencing objectives, you must mention it in your specifications.
This section must specify the keywords that will be used, the Meta tags that will be optimized, the internal and external links to be created, etc. SEO for Banks is a job that pays off over time. So, remember to ask for a follow-up and improvement of the natural referencing of your site in your specifications.
The schedule and deadlines
A website redesign project requires careful planning.
It is therefore important to agree on a schedule from the start in order to limit the risk of delays. It will also save you from wasting time with contractors who may not be able to get the job done on time. This is to specify the different stages of the project, the completion deadlines and the delivery dates.
The schedule can be broken down into several deadlines:
- Receipt of quotes
- Validation of an estimate and attribution of the project
- Reception of models
- Feature Validation
- Receipt and posting
Budget
Redesigning your website can represent a significant cost for your business.
It is advisable to define a precise budget as soon as the specifications are drawn up so as not to waste time with agencies for whom your investment provisions would not be suitable. In addition, you will be well prepared to meet expenses without having to put pressure on yourself.
The specifications must specify the budget allocated to the project as well as the margin of tolerance for any additional costs.
In conclusion
You will understand: the specifications of the redesign of your website are an essential step.
Far from being a waste of time, drafting this document is a strategic investment to guarantee the success of the project while limiting misunderstandings between the client and the service provider. If you encounter difficulties with certain gray areas, do not hesitate to ask for our help. We will be more than happy to give you a hand with the production of your specifications, whether for the creation or the redesign of your website.
