Often times companies make the decision to jump headfirst into an expensive site redesign without critically analyzing what they could do with their current site first. Don’t fall prey to that costly trap. Take these 7 easy steps before diving in, to get the most out of your site.

There are key tools you can use to maximize the existing presence of a current site that often achieve, in less time and with fewer resources, the same result an expensive overhaul and redesign would result in.

Make sure you know exactly what you are getting into when you tackle a site redesign and ensure you are going into a redesign for the right reasons. You need to recognize and establish that website redesign is a continuous process, and just as much about functionality as it is design. The first thing you will need to do is set you redesign goals.

Misguided reasons for redesigning your website are driven by the thought that the freshness and “wow factor” of a new website will increase excitement over your brand. The main motivations behind website renovations should be to improve the performance of your website. A beautiful website, although intriguing and aesthetically pleasing, is secondary to a functional traffic and lead generating website.

Website assets such as content, inbound links, keyword rankings, and conversion tools are critical to a strong web presence. To preserve your web presence, you must keep track these assets to insure that they are all transferred in the redesign process.

Ensure your assets are in order, make a checklist of the following items:

• Determine how many pages you have.
• Figure out which pages are most popular/powerful.
• Determine how many inbound links you have.
• Establish where these links are coming from.
• Look up what interior pages have inbound links.
• Figure out which inbound links are most popular/powerful.
• Determine what keywords you rank for before the move.
• Figure out keywords are most effective.

And that is just the beginning of the process that should be undergone before investing in a web developer and engaging in a lengthy overhaul process of your current site. To read the 7 steps you should take to improve your site without incurring expense, download our free white paper by clicking the button below.