Your website will eventually start showing its age.
Stale website design and low usability are major credibility killers.
Much like a home, a website requires regular upkeep to look and operate at its best. We never know who might come knocking at our door. (Hopefully, it's someone bringing Samoas® or Tagalongs®!)
Perhaps the website only needs a fresh coat of paint or maybe you're just ready for a change. The key is not to wait it out so long that the structural foundation no longer serves your needs, or worse, crumbles completely.
A question that seems to come up a lot among small business owners is, “Should I build my own website?” If you're here, you may be thinking the same thing, but...
Just because you can do something, doesn't always mean you should.
Investing in a website or website updates can be intimidating, and it can be tempting to try and save a few bucks by doing it yourself. Some DIY updates totally make sense. And in reality, you can also build your own website, but that doesn't mean you should.
However, if you already know you want to hire a pro to do the work for you, the next step is to determine what work needs to be done with your website, what's involved, and why.
How to determine if it's a revamp, reskin, or redesign:
How to determine if it's a revamp, reskin, or redesign:
More Details
Revamp
$
- What is it?
Some front-end and back-end tweaks. - What’s involved?
Site structure remains the same, the brand remains the same. - What might the updates look like?
Perhaps there are new additions of colors, fonts, a new button/form/cta, some updated copy, backend optimizations (for performance or updating some old code), and new pages that serve a new purpose. - What’s the high-level structure look like?
The site structure and visual design remain 95% the same so it feels familiar to users. - Why the difference in investment?
- Less resources & discovery
- Client provides/knows what they want/need
- Typically less revisions involved
- Length of time to complete?
2-5 weeks - Resources needed?
1-2 persons on the project
Revamp
- Desired more visual balance
- The client provided an updated copy
- Wanted to make it more appealing to the target audience
- Built with a page builder on top of the current theme
- 2 people worked on the project
How's the process work?
- Determine what needs to be fixed or updated and why.
- Assess investment, time, and resources needed.
- Determine one-off tasks and additional tools (ie. plugins or subscriptions) needed for any ‘fixes’.
- Wireframe provided for any visual design that requires updated structure.
- Collaborative revisions on wireframe.
- Fixes made on a staging environment and static design concept provided.
- Collaborative revisions on visual design.
- Approval, and coding of visual design on staging environment.
- Final looks / approval.
- Updates moved to Live/Production environment.
Reskin/Refresh
$$
- What is it?
Front-end visual design only. Or, a 1:1 copy of the site from one CMS to another. - What’s involved?
Serves strictly as front-end visual design. This means nothing changes structurally and the design lives atop of the current CMS. OR, a client wants to switch to another CMS but keep design 95% the same. - What might the updates look like?
Site fonts and colors are updated. The homepage and other pages are updated visually. Some secondary pages may remain the same if they serve the visual design well as-is. Rows, columns, and modules may be rearranged, added, or removed based on the current needs of the website. However, any functionality typically remains the same. Back-end does not change. - What’s the high-level structure look like?
The site structure remains 100% the same. The visual design is updated 100% for a new look. - Why the difference in investment?
- Everything in Revamp, plus...
- More resources & discovery
- Client needs assistance in figuring out what they want/need
- More collaborative revisions
- Additional detail added to the process such as creative brief
- Typically includes additional static design visuals
- Length of time to complete?
1-2 months - Resources needed?
2-3 persons on the project
Reskin / Refresh
- The client wanted to move from Wix to WordPress
- Uses a standard base theme based on a front-end page builder
- Some additional modules needed to accommodate content provided by the client
- 3 people worked on the project
How's the process work?
- Determine what needs to be updated visually and why.
- Assess investment, time, and resources needed.
- Determine visual preferences (likes and dislikes.)
- Creative brief created.
- Wireframes provided for any visual designs.
- Collaborative revisions on wireframes.
- Static design concepts provided. (ie homepage, secondary pages, header/footer)
- Collaborative revisions on visual designs.
- Approval, and coding of visual design on the staging environment.
- Final looks/approval.
- Updates moved to Live/Production environment.
Rebuild/Redesign
$$$+
- What is it?
Front-end and back-end are rebuilt from the ground up. - What’s involved?
Complete overhaul of the website. - What might the updates look like?
This can include but is not limited to visual design, coding, branding, experience, site structure, page structure, performance, copy, and functionality. - What’s the high-level structure look like?
The site structure and visual design are closely evaluated, and strategically designed 100% through a more detailed process. - Why the difference in investment?
- Everything in Reskin/Refresh, plus...
- Client needs assistance, guidance even, in figuring out what they want/need
- Typically includes additional static design visuals and demonstration of functionality via the prototype
- Length of time to complete?
3-6 months - Resources needed?
3+ persons on the project
Redesign / Rebuild
- The client wanted an entirely new website with custom animations, imagery, and copy.
- Custom functionality added to header, interactive images, and buttons.
- Custom Sitemap, wireframes, prototype, concepts, illustrations, icons, and code required
- All content custom-written in collaboration with the client
- 5 people worked on the project
How's the process work?
- Determine what needs to be updated visually and functionality-wise and why.
- Assess investment, time, and resources needed.
- Determine one-off tasks and additional tools (ie. plugins or subscriptions) needed for any ‘fixes’.
- Determine visual preferences and experiences (likes and dislikes.)
- Creative brief created.
- Wireframes or a functional prototype provided.
- Collaborative revisions on wireframes or prototypes.
- Static design concepts provided. (ie homepage, secondary pages, header/footer, or demonstration of certain functionality)
- Collaborative revisions on visual designs.
- Approval, and coding of visual and back-end design on the staging environment.
- Final looks/approval.
- Updates moved to Live/Production environment.
