Many website redesigns focus entirely on how the site looks and not enough on why it exists and what it needs to do. The result is a project that produces an attractive new website that still doesn't rank on Google, doesn't convert visitors, or doesn't serve the actual needs of the business. Answering these questions before your redesign starts ensures the investment is strategic, not just cosmetic.
Business Goals Questions
What are we trying to accomplish with this redesign?
"Make the site look better" is not a business goal. "Increase leads from organic search by 30%" or "improve our conversion rate from website visitors to phone calls" are goals. Everything in the redesign — architecture, content, design, and technical decisions — should be evaluated against the actual business goals.
What's currently working on the existing site?
Before redesigning, audit your current site with Google Analytics and Search Console. If certain pages are generating traffic and leads, those pages need to be preserved and improved — not lost in a redesign that restructures everything.
Who are our ideal customers and what are they looking for?
Your website's content and design should be optimized for the specific customers you want — their concerns, their language, their level of technical knowledge. A redesign is the perfect moment to realign your website with your actual customer profile.
SEO and Technical Questions
How will we preserve our existing rankings?
Any redesign that changes URLs needs a complete 301 redirect map — every old URL pointing to the appropriate new URL. Neglecting this causes previously ranked pages to disappear from Google, resulting in traffic and lead drops after launch.
What platform are we building on and why?
Platform choice affects everything: speed, SEO capabilities, maintenance complexity, and what's possible with the site over the next 5 years. This decision should be made deliberately, not defaulted to whatever the designer is most comfortable with.
How will we know if the redesign succeeded?
Set measurable goals before starting: organic traffic, lead volume, conversion rate, rankings for specific keywords. After launch, measure against these baselines. A redesign without success metrics can't be evaluated.
Content and UX Questions
Who writes the content?
Website copy is often the most underestimated component of a redesign. If the new design uses the same generic, poorly written content as the old site, the lead generation results will be the same regardless of how much better it looks. Budget for professional copywriting or plan for the internal effort required.
What's the primary action we want visitors to take?
Every page should have a clear primary call to action. Defining this for each page type (homepage, service pages, about page) before design begins ensures the visual hierarchy serves the conversion goal.
Redesign With a Strategy That Drives Results
Contact Linear Web Solutions for a discovery process that starts with your business goals and builds every design decision toward them.
