Restyling a website: how and when to do it
Published by Incomedia in Web design · Monday 07 Apr 2025 · 10:00
You fear your website isn’t attracting your customers anymore?
Because on second thought, it's not quite as beautiful as the one you saw the other day, and you liked so much. Most of all, you could emphasize the forms a little more to get more subscriptions, and maybe replace product photos to increase sales.
Basically, some things could be updated after all. Maybe now’s the time to think about it.
What does restyling a website mean
A website restyling is an update that can involve graphic, technical, or content changes aimed at improving the appearance, performance, and overall effectiveness of a website. It doesn't necessarily mean starting from scratch, but rather optimizing it to better meet user needs and the brand's objectives.
It can include all or just some of these actions:
- Renewal of the graphic layout;
- Content review;
- Update of the navigation structure;
- Introduction of new features;
- Adaptation to the latest best practices in usability and SEO.
In short, it’s like refreshing your website’s look to bring it up to date, improving its disability, effectiveness, and performance.
When to restyle your website
When should you redesign your website? There’s no straightforward answer to this question, but usually you should consider doing it every 3–5 years, to keep up with digital trends, technological changes, and users’ expectations.
There are some clear signs that indicate the need for a redesign, including:
- Outdated design or one that no longer aligns with the brand's visual identity;
- Usability or navigation issues that confuse the user;
- Lack of a mobile-friendly version (non-responsive website);
- Slow page loading times or issues with Google indexing;
- Difficulty in managing or updating content due to outdated technology.
In other words, if your website shows even just a few of these symptoms... it might be time to give it a nice refresh.
How to understand if it’s time to restyle your website
Do you like quizzes? Then think about your website and try answering these questions. Don’t worry: it won’t take much of your time, and in return, you might discover something very interesting.
- Look at your Homepage as if it were the first time: do you still like it?
- Carefully read all texts on your pages: is the reported information still relevant and up-to-date?
- Think about what users could be looking for on your website: can you find it quickly and easily?
- browse on your website using a smartphone: does everything work smoothly?
- think about the goals you want to achieve with your website: selling, collecting leads, getting known…Is your website effective?
If you replied “Yes” to all the above questions while being objective and honest, congratulations! Your website is in perfect shape. Keep it updated, it will bring you great satisfaction.
However, if you replied “No”, or your “Yes” was strained and half-hearted for most of these questions, that means the time has come: your website needs to be restyled.
8 Practical and Useful Tips for a Complete Website Restyle
I know. Just hearing “I need to re-do my website” strikes fear in the hearts of many. Excuses pile up, it takes too long or costs too much, or I’d rather believe that my site can keep working the way it is, but if I don’t improve myself, I’ll just miss out on things.
Restyling a website doesn’t have to be as hard as you imagine: as usual, all you need is a plan and the right tools. So here are 8 tips to make sure restyling your website doesn't turn into a disaster in terms of time, money, and results.
1. Analyze the competition
It’s not a matter of copying them, but rather of understanding what they're doing, how they're doing it, and what you can do differently, possibly adding value for users.
Search engines have strict rules, and users are creatures of habit: understanding which of your competitors are ranked highly by Google and by users and seeing how their websites are set up will give you lots of interesting insights to reflect on, which you might add to your own site.
2. Analyze your target audience
In the end, your site needs to please your users, not you. If you know what they value, but especially what their problems are and which ones you could solve, you’ve hit the jackpot!
This information can reveal what you should communicate and how: your message is much more convincing if you tell your users about the advantages you offer, rather than just describing your products/services.
3. Evaluate the potential of your old website
Don't get ahead of yourself: we're not saying you should toss or change everything about your old website. If there are pages that work because they receive a lot of traffic or because they convert - meaning they lead users to do what you want them to do: sign up, purchase, etc. - think carefully about whether it’s worth changing them. Maybe all they need is a touch-up to align them with the new design.
Tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console can help you: as to the former, if you set it up correctly, parameters like the number of visits, bounce rates, and targets can help you tell the difference between the pages you should keep and those you can delete. As to the latter, you can use it to analyze website indexing and ranking.
4. Work on the structure
A good structure is essential for your website’s success: firstly, because it impacts user experience; secondly, because it has a positive influence on how search engines rank you.
But be careful: an effective structure isn't something you can improvise. It must stem from a clear definition of your business objectives. Whether you want to increase sales, collect leads, or simply boost brand awareness, every element of your website should be designed to guide users toward that goal.
Remember, if you structure your pages correctly, users will find the information they need without getting lost, and you'll be able to lead them through strategic paths—right up to the CTAs (Call to Action, meaning buttons or links) that encourage conversions.
5. Develop your new design
Sure, it's your website…but you’re not the only one who needs to like it: above all, your users should like it. And careful: a nice-looking but ineffective website is just like an empty box. You need to find the right balance between design and usability, focusing on the user experience (UX) and the effectiveness of a good interface (UI)
Good UX planning helps you build a smooth, user-friendly experience for your website visitors, while the UI defines the way each element is presented visually. You need to work on both aspects to ensure an appealing outcome that also helps the user carry out precise actions: reading, clicking, getting in touch, and buying.
With that in mind, here are some hints to keep in mind when developing your site’s design:
- Introducing yourself
When landing on your page, users should immediately understand who you are, what you do, for whom, and why. You only have a few seconds to grab users’ attention before they escape to other sites. Carefully select the graphic model - for instance, if you have an online shop, make sure to choose a template that includes e-commerce. - Top of the page
That’s what users see immediately as soon as they land on your page. Make it appealing to convince people to keep reading the page. Here, more than anywhere else, the titles and high-quality images are important. - Images
Choosing the right colors and images is very important when you restyle a website. They’re among the first things people notice, and they affect their perception of your business. You need high-quality images that are consistent with your brand, which can tell a story or evoke emotions. - Font
Often underestimated, the choice of font is actually very important for user experience: poorly readable texts can drive away even the most motivated reader. Go for fonts, sizes, and colorways that are easy to read. You can be daring with some text, but overall, you should stay true to the golden rule of readability. - CTA
As mentioned above, CTAs are crucial for conversions. If you build your pages right, the CTAs will be what guides your visitors’ attention. People should immediately recognize them, understand what they’re asking them to do, and hopefully click on them to do so. Avoid general labels: “Find out more” is not as clear and effective as “Ask for a quotation now”.
6. Write the content
Your old content probably can't be carried over untouched: some things are bound to have changed over the years.
Restyling the site is a good opportunity to update the content. If you can, don't limit yourself to updating information: re-work the quality of the text too. Good web copy should satisfy both readers and Google, meaning it should be correct, fluid, and persuasive, but also well-structured and optimized for SEO rules. Read our guide for more insights about web content.
7. Restyling a responsive website
Do I still need to explain how important it is for a website to display correctly and be easy to navigate on both desktops and smartphones? I doubt it, after all we all expect them to do so now.
If your site isn't responsive yet, it’s the right time to think about it. Like good texts and beautiful images, both people and search engines alike appreciate mobile-friendly pages. So why not make them happy?
8. Set up 301 Redirects
Update some pages, eliminate those that don't work, add pages with new content: that’s how restyling works.
But the pages you remove can't just disappear: these pages have earned a certain value in time for search engines, and you absolutely don't want to lose this value. The solution is to use 301 Redirects.
301 Redirect is the command that you give your website’s host server, so that anybody who types in the address of an old page is automatically redirected to a new page, ideally one that’s relevant to the same topic. This means you can avoid generating 404 Errors (Page not found), Google is happy, and you don't lose organic traffic.
Thant being said, there are some cases in which redirecting isn’t the best solution: if a page is really old and has no value, or if it never got a good ranking, you can keep it with a status code 404 or, even better, use the 410 (Gone) code, which tells search engines that that resource has been definitely and intentionally removed.
Why update a website H2
A website can’t remain as it is forever: it must evolve to keep up with changes affecting the identity and the goals of the brand it represents, as well as with the needs and expectations of the audience it serves. Don't just focus on how much it costs to create a website, but on the benefits it brings. Restyling your website isn’t a challenge to overcome, but rather an opportunity to pause, reflect, take stock, and restart with renewed momentum.
What are you waiting for? Restyle your website with WebSite X5 and get back on top of search engine rankings!