The Stages of a Website Redesign Project

A website redesign runs in a fairly predictable order: an audit of the old site, a new sitemap and wireframes, visual design, content, development, testing, redirects, launch and a period of close watching afterwards. Most delays do not come from the designers or developers but from decisions and material that the business itself has to supply. Knowing what each stage asks of you makes it far easier to keep the project moving.

Stage one: discovery and an honest audit

Before anything new is drawn, the existing site gets taken apart on paper. The aim is to learn what currently works, what visitors ignore and what simply no longer reflects the business. A useful audit covers:

• every page that exists today, including old landing pages nobody remembers creating;
• which pages bring in enquiries, calls or orders, and which ones get visits but no action;
• forms, downloads and integrations such as booking tools or newsletter sign-ups;
• content that is out of date, duplicated or written for a service you no longer offer.

Your part: explain who your customers are, what you want the site to achieve and what annoys you about the current one. Give the team access to the old site, its hosting and any analytics you have. Projects slip here when access details are lost or when nobody inside the company can say who the site is for.

Stage two: sitemap and wireframes

The sitemap is the list of pages and how they are grouped. Wireframes are plain grey sketches of each key page showing where headings, text, buttons and forms will sit, without colours or photos. This is the cheapest moment to change your mind, because moving a box on a sketch costs almost nothing compared with moving it in finished code.

Your part: read the wireframes as if you were a customer arriving for the first time. Can you find the price list, the contact form or the service you came for? Ask the team to show how a visitor gets from the homepage to an enquiry in as few steps as possible.

Stage three: visual design

Now the sketches get colour, typefaces, imagery and the details that make the site recognisably yours. Usually one or two key pages are designed first and the rest follow the same rules. When reviewing, judge the design against the goals set in stage one rather than personal taste alone.

Studios differ in how they present this step. Reading how an agency describes its own process, for instance a Web Design Auckland studio walking through its design rounds, is a good way to see what a structured review looks like before you hire anyone for your own project.

Stage four: content writing and migration

This is where most redesigns stall. New layouts need new words, and often new photos, and those usually have to come from the business. Old pages also need a decision: rewrite, merge, move across as they are, or retire.

Old page	Typical decision	Who acts
Service page that still brings enquiries	Keep the address, refresh the text	Owner supplies facts, writer edits
Two near-identical pages	Merge into one	Writer, with owner approval
Discontinued product	Retire and redirect	Developer
Blog articles still read today	Move across unchanged or lightly updated	Developer, writer checks

Your part: name one person who signs off on text, and set internal deadlines for supplying material. If you plan to show customer stories, keep them accurate and get permission first. Content that turns up late pushes every following stage back.

Stage five: development

Developers turn the approved designs into working pages, connect forms to the right inboxes, set up the content editing area and add any integrations. Ask for a staging version, a private copy of the new site, so you can click through it while it grows. Changes requested here should be written down in one shared list rather than scattered across emails and phone calls.

Stage six: testing

Testing is more than checking that pages load. A thorough round covers:

1. every form, sent with real test details, to confirm the message actually arrives;
2. phones and tablets as well as desktop screens, in more than one browser;
3. loading speed on an ordinary mobile connection;
4. spelling, phone numbers, opening hours and addresses;
5. basic accessibility, such as readable contrast, image descriptions and keyboard navigation;
6. cookie notices and privacy wording, checked against the rules that apply to your business and country.

Your part: test as a customer would, not as the person who briefed the project.

Stage seven: redirects from old addresses

Every old page address that changes needs a permanent redirect to its closest new equivalent. Without them, bookmarks, links from other websites and printed material all lead to error pages, and visitors who arrive that way rarely try again. The audit list from stage one becomes the redirect map: each old address in one column, its new home in the other.

What if an old page has no obvious match?

Send it to the most relevant section or category page rather than the homepage. A visitor looking for a retired service is better served by a page listing the current alternatives.

Stage eight: launch

Launch day should be dull. Pick a quiet day of the week, avoid your busiest season and make sure the developer is available afterwards. Keep a copy of the old site and its settings in case anything has to be rolled back.

Stage nine: the first weeks after launch

New sites always reveal a few surprises once real visitors arrive. Check the redirects again, watch for error pages, confirm that enquiries keep arriving and compare traffic with the weeks before. If enquiries now land in a new place, make sure they still reach whoever handles your customer records and follow-ups. It is also a good moment to plan how the site will support wider marketing activity over the coming months.

Where do redesigns most often slip?

Three spots come up again and again: late or unapproved content, feedback from too many people with no single decision-maker, and redirects left until the last minute. Agreeing on who decides, collecting material early and treating the redirect map as part of the build rather than an afterthought keeps most redesigns on track.