You likely found this article because you've recognized that your current website doesn't cut it anymore. Reasons for redesigning your website are unique to each situation. The most common reasons are to boost engagement, improve lead generation, increase conversions, improve your user experience, expand functionality, rebrand or simply refresh a dated site look and feel.

Whatever your why, stakeholder expectations must be clear. Website redesigns require significant resources, time, energy, and investment. Success will depend upon your organization’s ability to define an actionable strategy with specific objectives.
Read on as we guide you through the essential steps of preparing for a website redesign and outline a project checklist to keep your organization on track.

Who are we helping and how?
Before diving into a website overhaul, first ask who we are serving and, how can better meet their needs.
Define your user groups. Who is using your site? What information are they seeking? Each user groups will take a unique user journey as they navigate through your site. Effective user groups are well-defined with clear parameters such as:

• Demographics: age, gender, race/ethnicity, income, education, marital status, etc.
  
• Psychographics: Lifestyle, interests, personality, values, attitudes, beliefs, opinions, etc.
  
• Behavioral: Attitude, avidity, expertise, intensity, loyalty, etc.

Take a critical look at your site. Then identify specific pain points for each group. What’s working for them? What’s working against them? This may include:

• User-experience issues such as confusing or cluttered navigation, missing information, off-brand content or design inconsistencies
• Technical issues like slow loading times, broken links or redirects, unresponsiveness, etc.
• Content issues such as missing or outdated information, off-brand content, irrelevant content, poor graphics, unlicensed content, etc.

Utilize your website analytics to better understand how users flow to and through your site. Leverage surveys, focus groups or simple interviews to learn what’s most important for your users.

If your website is not SEO friendly, you are missing out on significant traffic, leads, and revenue for your business. Think about it, what good is a website that's essentially hidden from your customers?

In this article, we'll take a closer look at what it means to have an SEO-friendly website and provide you with tips on how to optimize your website for search engines.

First, understand that SEO is a process rather than a destination. It must be continually refined and updated.  Search Engine Optimization (SEO) refers to the process of optimizing your website's content, structure, and links to increase your rankings on search engine results pages (SERPs). Essentially, the higher your website ranks, the more likely people are to see it when they search for relevant keywords in Google or other search engines. This can lead to more traffic, increased brand visibility, and ultimately, more conversions.

There are three core SEO elements: on-page, technical and off-page.

On-page refers to the content that makes up your website - both (1) what people see and read to learn about your business so they can take action and buy, and (2) what search engines read to learn about your business so that they can return relevant results to people searching. One of the main components of SEO is keyword research. This involves identifying the search terms that potential customers are using to find businesses like yours. There are various tools available for keyword research, including Google AdWords Keyword Planner, Moz Keyword Explorer, and SEMrush. Once you've identified your keywords, you'll want to incorporate them into your website's content, meta descriptions, and other on-page elements.

Technical SEO plays an important role in your website's rankings. This involves optimizing your website's structure and code to make it easier for search engines to crawl and index your content. Factors such as site speed, mobile friendliness, and structured data can all impact your rankings. Working with a professional web developer or SEO agency can help you ensure that your website is optimized from a technical standpoint.

Off-Page SEO refers to everything you do outside your website to improve your ranking on search engine results pages, such as link building, social media marketing, and guest blogging. Off-page SEO is an essential part of optimizing your website. Without a good off-page SEO strategy, your website may struggle to rank well on search engine results pages. Remember, Off-page SEO is not a one-time thing; it’s an ongoing process that requires continuous effort. If you want your website to rank well, you need to build quality links, engage with your audience on social media, guest post on other websites, submit your website to web directories, and save your website pages on social bookmarking websites.This involves posting content on third party sites and getting other websites to link back to your website, which signals to search engines that your content is valuable and authoritative. You can build links through guest posting, outreach campaigns, and other methods. It's important to note that not all links are created equal, and quality over quantity is key. Getting a few high-quality links from authoritative websites can be much more beneficial than getting numerous low-quality links.

When done well, these three components contribute to build search engines understanding of your EXPERTISE, AUTHORITY and TRUSTWORTHINESS. In search vernacular this is referred to as E-A-T which is the fuel that drives search engine effectiveness and your websites ability to generate high seach engine results page rankings.

But what exactly is E-A-T, and how does it impact your website's visibility?

E-A-T is a concept that emerged from Google's Quality Rater Guidelines, which are used to train human evaluators on how to assess the quality of search results. Expertise refers to the knowledge and skills of the content creator, authority relates to the creator's credibility, and trustworthiness is about the overall credibility of the website.

Why E-A-T is Important
When search engines crawl your website and finds high-quality pages with excellent E-A-T, it views your content as trustworthy and authoritative. As a result, your pages are more likely to rank higher in search results than pages with lower E-A-T. Poor E-A-T, on the other hand, can result in lower search engine rankings and less visibility for your brand.

E-A-T is tough to quantify. Search engines do not provide a guide to building E-A-T ranking factors but, we know that there are a few factors that drive E-A-T. Some of these factors include the quality of your content, the expertise and credibility of the author, the reputation of your website, and the quality of your website's user experience.

Effective SEO generates strong E-A-T by feeding search engines high-quality content that's informative and helpful to your target audience, ensuring that you're publishing content that's written by experts in your industry, establishing your brand as a credible authority in your niche delivering top-nothc user experiences with intuitive navigation, fast loading speeds, and a mobile-friendly design.

So how do business owners move forward?

1. The first step to improve your website's SEO is to evaluate its structure. An SEO-friendly website should have a clear and organized structure that makes it easy for search engines to crawl and index. This means having a logical hierarchy of pages, a clear navigation menu, and a URL structure that is easy to read and understand.
2. Once you have a clear and organized website structure, it's time to focus on your content. High-quality content is the backbone of SEO, providing value to both your readers and search engines. To optimize your content for search engines, you need to ensure that it includes relevant keywords and is structured using header tags. Additionally, strive to make your content engaging and informative, as this will encourage users to spend more time on your site.
3. Link building is one of the most effective ways to improve your website's SEO. High-quality backlinks from reputable sources can help establish your website's authority and credibility in your industry. This, in turn, can improve your website's ranking on search engine results pages (SERPs). To invest in link building, reach out to other websites and ask if they would be interested in linking to your content.
   
4. Mobile optimization has become increasingly important for SEO in recent years. With more people using mobile devices than ever before, Google has placed increased importance on responsive design. Ensure that your website is optimized for mobile devices by using a responsive design and ensuring that your content is easily accessible on smaller screens.
5. Social media can be an effective tool for SEO, allowing you to connect with your audience and build backlinks to your site. Incorporate social sharing buttons on your website and encourage users to share your content. Additionally, use social media platforms like Twitter and LinkedIn to share your content with your audience.
   

Having an SEO-friendly website is essential if you want to establish your brand and grow your business online. By following the tips outlined in this article, you can optimize your website for search engines and improve your visibility on SERPs. Remember, SEO is a long-term process, and it requires consistent effort and attention. Stay dedicated to these efforts, and you'll see positive results over time.

The more you understand SEO the more likely it is that you'll seek professional SEO help. Here are 12 questions to ask before hiring an SEO provider.

Let's raise a toast to the innovator's driving web design as we check out check out 4 examples of fresh ideas that we expect you'll see a lot more of soon.

Fresh, Fun & Optimistic Designs
With simple navigational flow this trend brings a little happiness with strong use of fun colors, faces, shapes. It's most effective with portfolio sites or e-commerce sites targeting youthful, energetic users.

Bold & Experimental Typography
San Serif rules no more with this trend taking foot. But, how long will it last? Big bold fonts seem to be popping up everywhere - even stodgy business sites - and they look amazing. Remember to keep your team tightly focused on impact across all platforms when employing bold typography. Will the design and US flow seamlessly?

Websites That 'Just Get Them'
Personalization is one of the strongest design tools. Designers are challenged with creating engaging user experiences without being creepy. It's a tough balance but when you pull it off, users simply ooze brand positivity.

Three-Dimensional Design Elements
Full, three-dimensional site designs are fading quickly because, while they score high on the first impression 'cool' factor, they simply lack everyday usability. We love how 3D design is evolving as more flat overall aesthetics are populated with 3D elements that shine creating a 'wow' factor with simple navigation for fantastic user experiences.