Website Redesign Checklist: 40 Things to Do Before Hiring a Developer

Why Website Redesigns Fail (And How to Avoid It)

Research consistently shows that 70% of digital projects fail to meet their original objectives. For website redesigns specifically, the most common failure modes are vague requirements, mid-project scope changes, poor content preparation, and misaligned expectations between the business and the developer. None of these are developer failures — they're planning failures.

The businesses that get the best results from website redesigns are the ones who arrive at the first developer meeting with clear goals, documented requirements, and organized assets. This checklist gives you exactly what you need to do that — before you talk to a single agency or freelancer.

Phase 1 — Discovery Checklist (Before You Talk to Anyone)

1. Define your primary goal — lead generation, e-commerce sales, brand awareness, or something else. One primary goal per redesign.
2. Audit your current website — document what's working and what isn't based on data, not opinion
3. Pull your analytics — gather at least 6 months of Google Analytics data on traffic, bounce rate, conversions, and top pages
4. Run a competitor website analysis — review at least 5 direct competitors' websites and document their strengths and weaknesses
5. Document your functional requirements — list every feature and functionality you need (forms, booking, chat, members area, etc.)
6. Define your target audience — create detailed personas with demographics, pain points, and buying behavior
7. Set a realistic budget range — research market rates before entering conversations so you can evaluate proposals objectively
8. Set a firm launch deadline — work backward from a meaningful date (product launch, trade show, fiscal year start)
9. List your must-have pages — create a sitemap draft with every page you need in the new site
10. Identify your content gaps — list pages that need new content, pages that need updating, and pages that should be removed

Phase 2 — Content and Brand Checklist

1. Gather all existing brand assets — logos (all formats and color variants), brand guidelines, color palette, and typography files
2. Inventory your existing content — catalog every page, blog post, case study, and resource on your current site
3. Identify content that needs rewriting — be honest about pages that are outdated, off-brand, or poorly written
4. Commission professional photography if needed — stock photos are a credibility downgrade; real team and product photos convert better
5. Plan your blog and content strategy — decide how frequently you'll publish and what topics you'll cover post-launch
6. Prepare your service or product descriptions — write clear, benefit-focused descriptions for each offering before handing off to developers
7. Gather testimonials and case studies — collect 5–10 strong client testimonials with full names and photos
8. Draft your brand messaging — a one-sentence value proposition, your mission statement, and your key differentiators

Phase 3 — Technical Requirements Checklist

1. Decide on your platform — WordPress, Next.js, Shopify, Webflow, or other. Research this before developer conversations, not after.
2. Define your hosting requirements — do you need managed hosting, a specific server location, or particular uptime guarantees?
3. List all required integrations — CRM, email marketing platform, payment processor, booking system, live chat, analytics
4. Document your current URL structure — if you're changing URLs, you'll need 301 redirects to preserve SEO equity
5. Define your SEO requirements — title tags, meta descriptions, structured data, sitemap, robots.txt, canonical tags
6. Specify performance requirements — target PageSpeed scores, maximum load times, Core Web Vitals targets
7. Determine multilingual or multi-region needs — if you serve multiple countries or language markets
8. Identify accessibility requirements — WCAG 2.1 AA compliance may be legally required depending on your industry and region

Phase 4 — Developer Evaluation Checklist

1. Review at least 3 agencies or freelancers — compare proposals, portfolios, and communication style
2. Verify portfolio claims — ask for traffic or conversion data on featured work, not just screenshots
3. Check references — actually call or email 2–3 past clients before signing
4. Evaluate technical expertise — ask specifically about performance optimization, SEO, and the platform you've chosen
5. Assess communication and process — request a sample project timeline and communication plan
6. Confirm post-launch support — what happens if something breaks after launch? Is maintenance included?
7. Compare pricing structures — fixed price vs. hourly vs. retainer. Understand exactly what's included
8. Check contracts and IP ownership — confirm that you own the code, design, and all content after final payment

Phase 5 — Contract and Scope Checklist

1. Define the scope in writing — every feature, page, and deliverable should be explicitly listed in the contract
2. Establish a change order process — agree upfront on how scope changes are priced and approved
3. Set payment milestones — typical structure: 30–50% upfront, milestones at design approval and development, remainder at launch
4. Agree on revision rounds — clarify how many rounds of design and copy revisions are included before additional fees apply
5. Define launch criteria — specify what 'done' looks like with measurable acceptance criteria
6. Plan the handoff — confirm what training, documentation, and ongoing support is included after launch

Common Website Redesign Mistakes to Avoid

• Starting development before content is finalized — developers build around placeholder content, then the real content doesn't fit
• Redesigning based on personal taste rather than user data — your opinion of what looks good is less important than what converts
• Ignoring existing SEO rankings — a redesign without proper URL redirects can wipe out years of search engine authority
• Changing everything at once — redesigning while also rebranding and restructuring your service offering creates unmanageable scope
• Not having a clear decision-maker — redesigns stall when multiple stakeholders have equal veto power and conflicting opinions
• Skipping user testing — launch the new design to a small segment first, gather data, then roll out fully
• Cutting QA time to hit the launch date — bugs found after launch cost far more to fix than bugs caught during testing

Frequently Asked Questions