---
title: "Before You Redesign Your Website: 7 Checks | Fernando Kylas"
description: "A redesign is expensive and often fixes the wrong thing. Seven checks to run first, so the new site solves the problems the old one actually has."
url: https://fkweb.dev/en/insights/before-you-redesign/
lang: en-GB
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  en: https://fkweb.dev/en/insights/before-you-redesign/
  fr: https://fkweb.dev/fr/articles/avant-de-refaire-votre-site/
  nl: https://fkweb.dev/nl/inzichten/voordat-u-uw-website-herontwerpt/
  de: https://fkweb.dev/de/wissen/bevor-sie-ihre-website-neu-gestalten/
  x-default: https://fkweb.dev/en/insights/before-you-redesign/
---

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3.  Before you redesign your website, check these seven things

# Before you redesign your website, check these seven things

A redesign is expensive and often fixes the wrong thing. Seven checks to run first, so the new site solves the problems the old one actually has.

By [Fernando Kylas](https://fkweb.dev/en/about/)22 September 20263 min read

Most redesigns start with a feeling: the site looks dated, a competitor launched something new, or someone in the team is tired of it. Those are fair reasons to look again. They are not good reasons to start from scratch.

The real problem is rarely the website itself. Before you commission a new design, run these seven checks. Some of them will tell you a redesign is overdue. Others will show you a cheaper fix.

## 1\. Find out what currently works

Open your analytics and Search Console and list the pages that bring in visitors and enquiries. These pages are earning their place. A redesign that changes their URLs, removes their content or buries them in a new menu can undo years of search ranking in a few weeks.

Write the list down. Whatever the new site looks like, these pages need a clear home in it.

## 2\. Watch where people give up

Analytics show you where visitors leave. A free tool such as Microsoft Clarity shows you how: the form field they abandon, the button they tap three times, the menu they never open. Twenty minutes of recordings often tell you more than a month of opinions.

If people leave at one step, fixing that step may be worth more than a new homepage.

## 3\. Test the site on a mid-range phone

Most of your visitors are probably on a phone, and not the latest one. Load your site on an ordinary Android handset over mobile data. Count the seconds before you can read and tap. If it is slow, a heavier, prettier design will make it slower. Speed problems usually come from images, plugins and hosting, and they can be fixed without a redesign.

## 4\. Read your own pages out loud

Read your homepage and main service page aloud, as if to a customer. Can someone tell what you do, who it is for and what to do next within ten seconds? If the words are vague, a new layout will present vague words more beautifully. Clear copy often does more for enquiries than a new look.

## 5\. Check who owns what

Make a list of your domain, hosting, website admin, email and analytics accounts. Who has the login? Whose name and card are they in? A surprising number of businesses discover during a redesign that their domain is registered to a former developer. Sort ownership out first, because every later step depends on it.

## 6\. Look at how the site is run

Who updates the site, how often and how long does it take them? If simple changes need a developer, the problem may be the content management set-up rather than the design. A new site built the same way will have the same problem in a year.

## 7\. Decide what success means

Pick two or three measures you can check after launch: enquiries per month, calls from the site, bookings, time spent updating it. Without them, nobody can say whether the redesign worked, and the next one will start with the same vague feeling.

## What these checks usually show

In my experience the answer is often a mix. Some pages need to be rewritten, some need to be faster, one or two journeys need fixing, and the visual design is due an update. That can still be a redesign, but it is a focused one, built on evidence instead of taste.

If you want a second pair of eyes, a [UX audit](https://fkweb.dev/en/services/ux-audit/) works through these checks screen by screen and gives you a ranked list of fixes. If the evidence does point to a new site, my [web design](https://fkweb.dev/en/services/web-design/) service starts from what you learnt here.

Either way, keep the list from the first check. It is the most valuable page in your redesign brief.

## Related services

-   [Web design](https://fkweb.dev/en/services/web-design/)
-   [UX audit](https://fkweb.dev/en/services/ux-audit/)

[All insights](https://fkweb.dev/en/insights/)

Next step

## Have a project in mind? Let us talk it through.

Tell me what exists today and what needs to change. I reply within 2 business days, in English or French.

[Start a project](https://fkweb.dev/en/contact/)Or email me directly

[thatsme@fernandokylas.com](mailto:thatsme@fernandokylas.com)