Free with account
Website Redesign
Most redesigns fail before a single pixel is placed — because they start with design instead of strategy. By the end of this course you'll know how to audit your current site, plan the new one page by page, write the content that drives the layout, and launch without losing your search traffic.
No prerequisites — take before hiring a designer. Next: Start a Website — Fluent Collective Courses
A redesign is not a makeover — it's a business decision. In six modules you'll learn to audit what's working, build a Keep List the redesign must protect, plan your sitemap before anyone opens a design tool, write the content first, shield your rankings through launch, and measure the new site for ninety days. Strategy before pixels. Always.
What you’ll learn
- Decide whether you need a redesign or just targeted fixes — and defend the decision with data
- Run a full pre-redesign audit and build a Keep List of everything the new site must protect
- Plan your sitemap and write page-level content briefs before a single pixel is placed
- Build a Ranking Shield — redirect maps, SEO preservation, and a launch checklist that protects your traffic
Is this for me?
Who is this course for?
Anyone whose website feels outdated, underperforming, or misaligned with their business — and anyone about to hire a designer. If you're going to spend real money on a redesign, this course makes sure you spend it on strategy, not just a new coat of paint.
Do I need technical skills?
No. This course is about planning, auditing, and decision-making — the strategic work that happens before anyone writes code. You'll learn enough to brief a designer or developer properly and to judge whether their work is actually good.
How is this different from the Start a Website course?
Start a Website covers building from scratch. This course covers the redesign — when a site already exists, has traffic and history worth protecting, and needs to evolve without breaking what works. The audit, the Keep List, and the Ranking Shield are redesign-specific.
Module 0
Module 0: Start here
When a redesign is the right call — and when it isn't. The three questions every redesign must answer, and how to tell a strategic problem from a cosmetic itch.
Module 1
Module 1: The Audit
Before you change anything, measure everything. The analytics deep-dive, the visitor's-eye review, and the Keep List — the inventory of what's working that the redesign must not break.
Module 2
Module 2: Strategy First
Goals before layouts. One job per page, a sitemap planned from real visitor behavior, and wireframes sketched on paper before anyone touches a design tool.
Module 3
Module 3: Content Before Design
Write the words before you place the pixels. The page brief, the homepage copy, and the proof-gathering that makes design serve the message instead of decorating around placeholder text.
Module 4
Module 4: Protect Your SEO
Redesigns kill traffic when nobody plans the migration. The Ranking Shield: redirect maps, what to preserve, the pre-launch QA, and the launch-day sequence.
Module 5
Module 5: After Launch
Launch day is the starting line, not the finish. The first 72 hours of monitoring, the 30/60/90 tune-up, and the quarterly review habit that keeps the site improving.
Choose your track
Not everyone needs the same path. Pick the one that fits where you are.
Explorer track
Modules 0–2: decide if you need a redesign, run the audit, and build your Keep List and sitemap. You'll know exactly what your site needs before you spend a dollar or brief a designer.
Builder track
All modules in order, one per week. Audit, strategy, content, SEO protection, launch, and the 90-day tune-up. By the end you'll have a complete redesign plan — or a new site live with its traffic intact.
Operator track
Modules 0, 1, 4, and 5 first — the decision, the audit, the SEO protection, and the measurement plan. If you're managing a designer or an agency, these are the modules that keep the project honest.
Your build brief
Everything you write in the build brief prompts across this course's modules collects here. Download it as a designed PDF — and we keep a copy too, so when you're ready for us to build it for you, we already know exactly what you want.
Your answers save automatically as you type — on this device and to your signup email.
Teardown: one weak redesign brief, one strong redesign brief
The weak brief: "Our website looks old. We want a modern redesign — cleaner, more professional, mobile-friendly. Budget flexible, timeline ASAP." This brief says nothing a designer can act on. There's no goal, no audience, no definition of success. Any designer who takes it will deliver their own taste in a pretty wrapper — and the client will judge it on whether they "like" it, which is how redesigns end up as expensive arguments about shades of blue.
The strong brief: "Our site gets 4,000 visits a month but only 0.4% contact us. Our Keep List shows the pricing page and two service pages drive 70% of leads — those pages must not lose traffic. Goal: raise contact rate to 1.5% in six months. Audience: operations managers at 20–200 person companies. Sitemap is attached: 9 pages, each with one job. Content briefs for the top 5 pages are written. Launch must preserve all rankings for our 12 money keywords — redirect map attached." This brief is a plan, not a wish. The designer knows exactly what success looks like, what can't break, and what the words are before placing a single pixel.
What most people would get wrong: they'd start the redesign by looking at other websites for inspiration. Inspiration is fine — but it's step ten, not step one. Steps one through nine are the audit, the Keep List, the goals, the sitemap, and the content. A redesign that starts with "I like how this site looks" is decorating, not strategizing.
The lesson: the quality of your redesign is decided by the quality of your brief. Strategy before pixels, content before design, and a Ranking Shield that protects what you've already earned. That's the whole course in one paragraph.
Want this done for you?
Rather do it with us? Our Full Website ($5,000) — strategy, copy, design, and build done for you.
See done-for-you services