The Website Redesign Process: What Houston Business Owners Need to Know

A Midtown architecture firm had launched three website redesigns in five years. Each time, they’d been excited about the new design, frustrated by the process, and disappointed with the results. By the time they called us, they were skeptical that redesigns could actually work.

Their problem wasn’t bad designers. It was a broken process—jumping into design without strategy, making decisions by committee without clear authority, and launching without a plan for ongoing optimization.

A website redesign done right can transform your business. Done wrong, it becomes an expensive exercise in frustration. Here’s how to do it right.

Phase 1: Discovery and Strategy (Weeks 1-3)

Most failed redesigns skip this phase entirely. They jump straight from “we need a new website” to “what should it look like?” But design decisions without strategy are just expensive guessing.

What Discovery Should Cover

Business objectives. What specifically should your new website accomplish? “Look more modern” isn’t an objective. “Increase contact form submissions by 50%” is.

User research. Who visits your site? What do they need? What frustrates them about your current site? This might include reviewing analytics, conducting user interviews, or analyzing competitor sites.

Content audit. What content exists? What’s valuable and should be kept? What’s outdated or missing? What content performs well in search?

Technical assessment. What’s the current tech stack? What integrations are needed? Are there SEO elements to preserve?

Competitive analysis. How do Houston competitors present themselves online? What are they doing well? Where are the opportunities?

The Strategy Document

Discovery should produce a clear strategy document outlining:

Specific goals with measurable targets
Target audiences and their key needs
Site structure and navigation approach
Content strategy and priorities
Technical requirements and constraints
Success metrics and how they’ll be tracked

This document guides every subsequent decision. When stakeholders disagree about a design choice, the strategy provides the answer: which option better serves our stated objectives?

Phase 2: Information Architecture and Content (Weeks 3-5)

Before any visual design, you need to know what you’re designing for.

Site Structure

Sitemap development. What pages will exist? How are they organized? What’s the hierarchy?

A common mistake: recreating your old site’s structure without questioning it. Maybe that structure made sense in 2018. Does it still make sense now?

Navigation design. How will users move through the site? Primary navigation, secondary navigation, footer links, internal linking strategy.

User flow mapping. For key conversions (contact form submission, purchase, appointment booking), what’s the path? Remove friction at every step.

Content Planning

Content inventory. What content needs to be created, updated, or migrated?

Content assignments. Who writes what? What’s the deadline? Many redesigns stall because no one owns content creation.

SEO preservation. If pages currently rank well in Google, you need a plan to preserve that ranking through the redesign. This means mapping old URLs to new ones and implementing proper redirects.

Phase 3: Design (Weeks 4-8)

Now—finally—visual design begins. But notice: we’re several weeks in before any design work happens. That’s intentional.

Design Process

Style exploration. Mood boards, style tiles, or design directions that establish visual feel before detailed layouts. This prevents investing hours in a layout that’s aesthetically wrong.

Homepage concept. The homepage sets the visual direction for everything else. You’ll typically see 1-3 approaches.

Key page templates. After homepage approval, design moves to other unique layouts—services page, about page, blog layout, contact page.

Component library. Buttons, forms, cards, and other reusable elements get designed as a system, ensuring consistency across the site.

Design Review and Feedback

Effective design feedback follows rules:

Consolidate feedback. Gather all stakeholder input into one document before submitting. Contradictory feedback (“make it bolder” and “make it subtler”) gets resolved internally first.

Be specific. “I don’t like it” isn’t actionable. “The red color feels aggressive for our wellness brand” gives the designer something to work with.

Reference objectives. “This doesn’t help visitors understand our services” is better than “I think we need more photos.”

Trust the process. You hired professionals. Give feedback on business and brand alignment; let designers solve the design problems.

Most projects include 2-3 rounds of design revision. If you’re on round 6, something went wrong earlier in the process.

Phase 4: Development (Weeks 7-12)

Approved designs become a functioning website.

Development Activities

Front-end development. Turning designs into code that browsers render.

CMS implementation. Building the content management system so you can update the site without developer help.

Functionality building. Contact forms, search, dynamic elements, integrations with external systems.

Content integration. Placing all text, images, and media into the designed layouts.

Responsive development. Ensuring everything works beautifully on phones, tablets, and various screen sizes.

The Staging Environment

Development happens on a staging site—a private version where you can review progress. Check it regularly, but remember:

Content might be placeholder during early development
Functionality gets added incrementally
Don’t panic if something’s missing halfway through

Your Role During Development

Provide content. If you’re responsible for text and images, delays on your end delay the project.

Test thoroughly. When invited to review, actually test. Fill out forms. Click every link. View on your phone. Report issues clearly.

Make decisions promptly. Questions will arise. Quick answers keep things moving.

Phase 5: Testing and Launch (Weeks 11-14)

Pre-Launch Testing

Functional testing. Every form, button, link, and interactive element works correctly.

Browser testing. Site works on Chrome, Safari, Firefox, Edge—both desktop and mobile.

Performance testing. Site loads quickly. Speed affects both user experience and Google rankings.

Content review. Final proofread. Every page has correct, current information.

SEO verification. Meta titles, descriptions, redirects, sitemap, robots.txt all configured properly.

Analytics setup. Google Analytics, conversion tracking, and any other measurement tools are working.

Launch Day

A quality agency manages launch carefully:

DNS changes pointed to new hosting
SSL certificate verified
Redirects from old URLs active
Monitoring for any issues
Quick fixes for anything that slips through

Post-Launch Period

Launch isn’t the end—it’s the beginning.

Immediate monitoring. First 48 hours are critical. Watch for errors, broken functionality, or performance issues.

Google reindexing. Submit the new sitemap. Monitor Search Console for crawl errors. Watch for ranking changes.

User feedback. Early visitors find things your testing missed. Be responsive to issues.

Performance optimization. Real-world performance data might reveal opportunities for improvement.

Realistic Timelines

For a Houston small business website (10-25 pages):

Phase	Duration
Discovery & Strategy	2-3 weeks
Information Architecture & Content	2-3 weeks
Design	3-4 weeks
Development	4-6 weeks
Testing & Launch	1-2 weeks
Total	12-18 weeks

Complex sites with more pages, e-commerce, or custom functionality take longer. Simple sites might be faster. But quality websites aren’t built in 2-3 weeks regardless of what some agencies promise.

Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them

Scope Creep

“While we’re at it, let’s also add…” This is how projects double in cost and timeline.

Solution: Lock scope before design begins. New ideas get added to a “phase 2” list for after launch.

Decision by Committee

When everyone has equal input, decisions become compromises that satisfy no one.

Solution: One person has final authority. Gather input from stakeholders, but one decision-maker decides.

Content Delays

Design and development finish, but the site can’t launch because content isn’t ready.

Solution: Content creation begins during design phase, not after. Assign deadlines and accountability.

Losing SEO Rankings

New site launches, and organic traffic plummets because redirects weren’t implemented or pages were restructured without preserving SEO value.

Solution: Document current rankings. Plan URL structure carefully. Implement 301 redirects for every changed URL.

No Post-Launch Plan

Site launches, everyone moves on, and the site slowly becomes outdated again.

Solution: Plan for ongoing maintenance, content updates, and continuous improvement from the start.

Measuring Success

How do you know if your redesign worked?

Compare to baseline. Document metrics before redesign: traffic, conversion rates, page speed, bounce rates.

Track against objectives. Remember those goals from discovery? Measure them. Did contact form submissions increase 50%?

Allow time. Some metrics improve immediately. SEO impacts might take 3-6 months to fully manifest. Don’t judge success too early.

Continuous improvement. A redesign isn’t one-and-done. The best-performing websites constantly test and optimize.

Making the Investment Count

A website redesign is a significant investment—typically $10,000-50,000 for a quality Houston small business site. To maximize that investment:

Do the strategy work. Skipping discovery saves a few weeks but costs years in subpar results.

Commit resources. Someone on your team needs to own this project. It won’t manage itself.

Think long-term. Build for where your business is going, not just where it is today.

Plan for maintenance. Budget ongoing resources to keep the site current and optimized.

Ready to Start Your Redesign?

If your current website is holding your Houston business back, contact us for an honest assessment. We’ll review your situation, discuss objectives, and give you a realistic picture of what a successful redesign would involve.

Learn more about our web development approach, or explore how SEO and digital marketing can maximize your redesign’s impact.

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