What should I check on my website before redesigning it?

Thinking about a new website?

Before you start choosing colours, layouts and shiny new features, it's worth asking a more important question:

What's actually wrong with the website you have now?

A redesign shouldn't simply make your website look different. It should make it work better.

1. Is your message clear?

Can someone visiting for the first time quickly understand:

What do you do? Who do you help? And why should they choose you?

If the answer is no, a new design won't necessarily fix the problem. The messaging needs attention too.

2. What's working already?

Look at your existing website data.

Which pages get the most visitors?

Where do people leave?

Which pages generate enquiries?

You don't want to throw away something that's already working simply because you're starting again.

3. Where are you losing potential customers?

Try looking at your website as someone who knows nothing about your business.

Is the navigation confusing?

Is important information difficult to find?

Are there too many choices?

Is your main call to action obvious?

Small obstacles can make a big difference.

4. Is your website attracting the right people?

If your website gets traffic but very few relevant enquiries, the problem might not be the design.

Your SEO, content and messaging may be attracting the wrong audience.

A redesign is a good opportunity to fix that — but first you need to understand what's happening.

5. What do your customers actually want?

Look at the questions customers ask you.

What problems do they have?

What information do they need before buying?

What concerns do they have about choosing you?

Your new website should answer those questions rather than simply becoming a prettier version of the old one.

6. What shouldn't you change?

This is often overlooked.

Your existing website may have:

• Good Google rankings

• Valuable content

• Strong backlinks

• Pages that generate enquiries

• Established URLs

A redesign can accidentally damage these if they're not considered during the process.

Don't redesign blindly

A new website can be a great investment.

But “our website looks old” isn't always a good enough reason to start again.

Before redesigning, find out what's working, what's failing and where the biggest opportunities are.

That way, your new website has a purpose beyond simply looking better.

At Orange Hippo, our 60-minute Website Audit looks at your website from the perspective of a potential customer and identifies what we'd keep, what we'd change and where we see opportunities to improve.

Don't redesign your website just because it looks old. Redesign it because you know what needs to work better.