Website Relaunch

After the Internet took off, most websites were just digital business cards. Opening times, contact information and some information about the company itself. Nowadays, a website not only needs to look good, but it also needs to generate traffic and convert visitors into customers. In some cases, the ever-increasing standards require an urgent website relaunch in order to remain competitive.

One evening all animals, small and big, meet for an assembly. What needs to be done?

A relaunch describes the revision or improvement of a product that has already been launched on the market. With a website relaunch we mean the revision and optimization of an existing website. The new website should respond to the needs of the target group and pursue the company's goals.

But how? The animals of the forest also ask themselves this question and turn to the handsome prince. He definitely knows advice.

And the Prince has a good idea: start with a project plan! Ready, steady, go! 

1. Project Structure: Complete hierarchical representation of all tasks
2. Schedule: Documentation of the planned factual and chronological sequence
3. Cost Plan: What costs, when, for which services?
4. Resource Plan: Determine resource needs for the project

Then the animals invite themselves some proven experts: the Elfs, the Dwarfs, the Giants and the Magicians. Plus a few regualr Drive employees.

• Low conversion rate
• Loading times are too high 
• Bad usability 
• Outdated design 
• No responsive web design 
• New Corporate Identity (CI)

The type of relaunch can differ depending on the goals and wishes. Is it enough to inspire visitors with a new look? Or do completely new ideas have to be developed? In the case of a partial relaunch, the design can be modernized or the content adjusted, while the complete relaunch includes a revision of strategy, design, content and technology. A detailed analysis by our experts provides clarity.

The animals of the forest opt for a complete relaunch.

The Giants present a concept which is more rough, raw and hard. 

The Elfs show something of extreme beauty. But very elaborate to maintain.

The Magicians tend to remain more vague and nebulous.

The object the Dwarfs present is by far the smallest. But veeeeery expensive.

That doesn't sound ideal... Didn't they stick to the project plan?

The Normal Ones from Drive suddenly show a very nice and well-structured website!

But how did the Normal Ones proceed?

Briefing

The briefing defines the primary goals between us and the customer. The relaunch will only be successful if what has been agreed on is clear, understandable and equivalent for the parties involved. In the first phase, for example, the following questions are clarified:

• Can existing content be taken over?
• Is new footage needed?
• Is there a logo or does a new one need to be created?
• Which Content Management System (CMS) is the right one? At Drive, we specialize in Typo3 and WordPress, among other ones. So we offer many different possibilities.

Of course, this is only a part of the questions you have to deal with at the beginning.

Design Process

Consultations on the Corporate Design take place in the second phase. If a revision is desired, colors, fonts and other style elements are now specified. With the help of a wireframe, the structure of the new website is approached hand in hand. The customer thus gets a first feeling for the new layout including header, stages, buttons, sidebars and footer.

Implementation

During development, the project is often implemented on a so-called development server. It serves as a test environment and is password protected. The page is therefore not accessible to visitors and is not indexed. Ideas can be visualized and wishes can be adjusted in order to ultimately satisfy your expectations.

Moving

The fourth step is the biggest hurdle - moving from a development server to the live server. One of the most important steps in this phase is the redirect. Only rarely the complete URL structure is retained. Therefore, all links from the old domain must be redirected to the new domain with a 301 redirect. A previously created forwarding plan helps to avoid losing any traffic. If possible, visitors should not end up on an error page, as this causes the Google Quality Score to deteriorate.

After the Relaunch is before the Relaunch

With such large projects, it is unlikely that all stumbling blocks will have been eliminated before the relaunch. Therefore, sufficient time should be planned for the correction of errors that occur later. 404 error codes or other crawling errors must also be kept in mind and fixed as quickly as possible. You have to keep a cool head in order to fix the errors in a structured way and not produce new ones.

Let us help you

Wondering if a Relaunch is required? Or do you need expert knowledge and help with the implementation? Arrange a (virtual) meeting with DRIVE, your media agency from Hanover! We provide you with competent answers, assistance, checklists, concepts or all-round support for a successful Website Relaunch, Content Relaunch or Design Relaunch. Please send us an email to pole-position[at]drive.eu. We are looking forward to hear from you and your ideas!