How to Jumpstart Your Web Redesign Process

INTRODUCTION:

If that website redesign, refresh or re-think has languished on your to do list for longer than 3 months, you're officially a procrastinator. So, how do you counteract the forces of inertia? Well, with the right mindset, the right tools and the right partner, a website redesign is not only easy, it's downright empowering. Why? Because it's easier than ever to get noticed online.

What, you say, have we lost our minds? No, hear us out. With Google's official retirement of publicly viewable pagerank, yet another stumbling block in the great fight against REAL content and REAL utility has been removed. While the notion of pagerank is at the epicenter of the original Google thesis, its sordid history has left it with a muddied legacy. Link spam was birthed as site owners and agencies began placing as many high PR ranked pages links as possible to try and outrank competitors. Ironically, once the most coveted emblem of perceived utility, the pageRank, is now relegated to a footnote (albeit an important one) in SEO history.

With shady link sellers and folks looking for a quick boost in ranking authority pushed further underground, content - good, useful, original content is more important than ever. And, if you have something original to offer to your soon to be, or ever-growing legion of sycophants, you are better positioned now, in 2016, than you ever have been before, to make a web redesign have lasting impact.

So, while your online directory listing and keyword stuffing competitors are still trying to "beat the system," here are Screaming Garlic's top 3 most important reasons to get that web redesign rfp moved from your draft folder to sent mail, right NOW!!

1. Original content on ANY subject at all still has an audience. Yes it's true that Apple iPhone reviews have a larger audience than does say, soap carving of small woodland creatures. No matter. Get to writing. Don't stress about creating the next viral whatever. Micro-content is in, William Faulkner novels are not, so don't try to write one.

2. Stay on topic and don't stray from your writing style. If it sounds a little awkward because of a keyword or key phrase, sprinkled here and there, it will sound downright goofy to your reader. Keywords are still important, but focus on quality and the ranking will take care of itself. Don't patronize. Be natural and be expert.

3. Your best content and highest trafficked pages will still be found. And, with the proper site structure, they'll be even easier to find. Use data from your existing site and let it guide the information hierarchy for your new site. If your post on the 10 best places to meet a celebrity in Arkansas makes up 20% of your traffic, don't bury it again. Bring it up to the main page and use it as a way to get readers interested in even BETTER content.

• Great content CAN be optimized
• Compelling topics for blog posts that get read
• Writing blog posts people will share

CONCLUSION:

Finally, make sure you have a strategy in place to create the right balance between smart, organic keyword research as a way to be found AND creating compelling, authentic and can't-miss-read kind of content as a way to shared and valued.