Rebranding a Website the Right Way

June 30, 2014In Framework4 Minutes

If you think that your web design is less than stellar and is missing that “supercool” factor that makes it impactful, you need to think about website rebranding. This is especially the case if you think that your website is lacking an identity or some kind of presentation and message that your audience really resonates with. But in order to rebrand properly, you have to make sure that the elements that are working remain in place and the ones that are not working are replaced. Here are a few tips to help you through the process.

Tip #1: In Most Cases, Keep Your Brand Name

Choosing a new brand name can leave your existing customers confused. You may think that your old brand name may not be as impactful but it probably has significant value if you are well known in the industry. On the other hand, if your brand has been dying for some time and the name is prehistoric as to what is currently happening in the market, it’s probably a good idea to come up with a new name and reposition the company.

person rebranding with color swatches

Tip #2: Make Sure You’re SEO Ready

Website rebranding is fine but you have to remember that you can hurt your search rankings if done incorrectly. Do a complete audit to understand the structure of your website and prepare 301 redirects if necessary. Study the factors that are making your current website rank well and try to carry it over to your new rebranded website. In some cases, you can keep the structure of the website intact and simply change the presentation.

Tip #3: Design For Social Media Too

If you’re website rebranding, you want to do the same for your social media profiles to keep everything consistent. Do more than simply updating the avatar, profile and logo. Really think about what the new brand is all about and incorporate that into all your social media outlets. You want to reveal the rebranded website at the same time as the rebranded social media pages to help make the transition easier to understand for your audience.

Tip #4: Make a Proper Announcement

A rebrand isn’t just about showing people that you’ve changed your web design. You want to send out social media posts, create a press release, make a blog post, and send out email announcements to tell people about your change and what the change means to you as a company and to them as customers/fans. This will also help people get on board with your new change and give you the feedback you need to make the right adjustments.

Tip #5: Optimize Your Website for the Best User Experience Possible

Your redesigned website will reflect your new brand. The one way to give off a bad impression is to make the website hard to understand and difficult to use. That’s why you want to make sure that your UI design and UX design is optimized as much as possible. A good experience will get the conversation flowing, spread word of mouth, and get people using your website. Remember, the point is not to get your rebranding perfect right out of the gate. Your purpose is to make an impact with your new image, make your website usable, and adapt to the necessary changes from the reaction you get.

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