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Exploring your options for a content management system (CMS) and stuck between Wix vs WordPress? Here’s everything you need to know to pick which is the best fit for your business.

WordPress Features At A Glance

WordPress is an open-source content management system that’s used by 43% of businesses and individuals on the web. It’s a popular choice as it allows people to create and manage their websites without needing extensive coding knowledge.

That said, if you have coding experience or access to a developer, it’s also a powerful tool as there is a lot of customization you can do with it. (More on that to come.) 

WordPress features include:

  • Themes to choose from with a variety of artistic styles
  • Security features like DDoS, WAF, 2FA, and more
  • Flexible hosting options
  • Simple-to-use interfaces for publishing content and creating new pages
  • Custom content types
  • Access to a huge WordPress plugin ecosystem to support a variety of tasks (eCommerce, SEO, security, spam filtering, etc.)
  • An active developer community with lots of rich resources

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Wix Features At A Glance

Wix is another content management system that’s become popular over the years. Its original founders were frustrated with how difficult building a site was in the mid-2000s. So they had the idea to create a platform that’d make it easy to create a website without coding or design skills.

Wix features include:

  • Access to 800+ designed templates for various subject matters
  • A simple drag-and-drop editor for content
  • Starter SEO tools to optimize your site
  • eCommerce functionality
  • Code development platform
  • An app market for third-party integrations
  • Options for automation, custom forms, and a built-in CRM

Wix vs WordPress: Which Is Better?

Ease Of Everyday Use: WordPress

The WordPress user experience is top-quality, if you have access to developer support to set up your site. However, if built with the Gutenberg editor, it’s easy for anyone to make site changes without requiring code. There are also 60K+ plugins to choose from to boost the functionality of your website. Plus, you’ve got endless options of free and paid themes to pick from.

Ease Of Everyday Use: Wix

When it comes to the WIX user experience, it’s designed with a beginner in mind. The drag-and-drop interface lets you customize elements intuitively. It also offers plenty of pre-designed templates to choose from. 

Winner: Both*

Wix is the perfect solution if you’re a small business or just need to have a presence online. It doesn’t require extensive coding knowledge, and it’s easy to get started on. But if you’ve got plans to scale your business over time, it’s not a long-term solution.

WordPress is ideal if you want a CMS that can grow and evolve alongside your business. It offers a lot more customization, better performance for digital marketing, and robust eCommerce capabilities. And if your developer sets it up using Gutenberg in the back end, editing your site can be as easy as using Wix.

Customization: WordPress

With this CMS, what you want is what you can get. WordPress, with the help of a knowledgeable dev team, can deliver a site that’s unique to you. Plus, you can shop around your hosting and work with a partner that best fits your needs and budget.

Customization: Wix

Wix offers some opportunities to tailor a site to fit your brand. Once you pick your theme, you will be able to make some key design adjustments to it. However, there are a lot more limitations in place, so you won’t be able to modify it as much as a WordPress site.

Winner For Customization: WordPress

Like the idea of a custom site where you’re in control? Our developers can build the site you want and make it easy for you to manage, no coding needed.

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Pricing: WordPress

WordPress has fewer upfront costs and ongoing hosting and domain fees to consider. If you need advanced functionality like custom domains, extra space, or eCommerce capabilities, you can choose from plans ranging from $4 to $45+ a month.

Pricing: Wix

Wix offers straightforward plan pricing so you can pick what fits your needs and budget. Because of this, it will have higher costs up front.

Winner For Pricing: WordPress

SEO And Internet Marketing: WordPress

SEO and ongoing content generation are key in helping increase your site’s visibility online. WordPress has all the tools you need now and tomorrow to be successful and keep up with internet marketing trends.

SEO And Internet Marketing: Wix

Wix offers some tools to help you cover some SEO basics that will help your site’s performance in search. But you won’t be able to implement more critical technical SEO tactics, which could ultimately hinder your potential online.

Winner For SEO: WordPress

Security And Site Maintenance: WordPress

With WordPress, you’re ultimately accountable to keep up with security. However, you have more control in doing so, which is a benefit if you have the right resources in place to manage your site.

Security And Site Maintenance: Wix

Wix assumes a lot of the responsibility in keeping your site safe. They automatically make updates and changes, but the tradeoff is that it’s out of your hands. You’re relying on them keeping everything up to date and patching vulnerabilities.

Winner For Security: Both*

Both approach security differently, so there isn’t a clear winner. It’s all about which approach better serves you and the resources you have in house.

 If you have the know-how to manage your site, WordPress will give you better control. But if you don’t have the resources in-house, then Wix will ensure you stay safe without requiring more work from your team.

Final Verdict: Is Wix or WordPress Better for Your Business?

The main difference between Wix and WordPress for businesses lies in their ease of use, customization, pricing, and SEO capabilities.

  • Ease of Use: Wix is user-friendly with drag-and-drop functionality, ideal for beginners. WordPress, especially with the Gutenberg editor, allows more customization but may require developer support for setup.
  • Customization: WordPress offers extensive customization options with over 60,000 plugins and flexible hosting. Wix limits template customization and requires hosting within its ecosystem.
  • Pricing: WordPress has flexible pricing, allowing users to choose hosting options, while Wix has all-inclusive plans with less flexibility.
  • SEO and Marketing: WordPress provides powerful SEO tools and control over technical SEO, suitable for long-term growth. Wix has basic SEO tools but limits technical SEO features.

Overall Verdict: WordPress is the better long-term choice for scalability, customization, and SEO, while Wix is a quick, accessible option for small business needs and beginners

Still on the fence about Wix vs WordPress? We’re here to help you learn more and find the CMS that’s right for you.

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We all know that a bad website leaves a bad impression. In this day and age, the quality of your site is a reflection of your brand, and the last thing you want to do is drive people away. So let’s take it back to the beginning and answer the question: which content management system is best for your business? Today we’re going to analyze Duda vs WordPress. 

Basic WordPress Features 

Back in the day, WordPress was known for blogging, but it can do so much more. Used by over 40% of websites, WordPress is an open-source content management system (CMS), meaning that anyone can access and edit the source code. It gets regular updates and is constantly improving as developers collaborate to customize the experience. 

WordPress can support any type of website, from eCommerce to portfolios. However, you are responsible for finding a hosting provider. One of the biggest perks is the WordPress plugin ecosystem. Because it’s open source, there are thousands of plugins made by outside developers that can integrate with WordPress and add new functionality to your site. 

Basic Duda Features

Duda is a software-as-a-service (SaaS) platform that allows you to build a website in your own browser. It uses basic drag-and-drop content and design techniques to create each page, with no coding required. This may be a good option if you have zero experience in web development. 

Unlike WordPress, Duda is not open source, meaning the source code is not publicly available. Some of the most useful Duda features include basic SEO tools, blogging capabilities, a widget builder, and designed templates. Any Duda site also includes hosting with Amazon Web Services. 

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Duda vs WordPress: Which Is Better?

Ease Of Use: WordPress  

One of the biggest ways Duda and WordPress differ is their editors. While neither requires coding, they each have a unique user experience. 

Modern WordPress sites use the Gutenberg block editor to create pages and posts. Each block represents a different element, such as text, images, galleries, buttons, or even custom HTML. 

This gives you complete control over how your content is structured. WordPress also integrates with page builders like Elementor, and its editor can be expanded with thousands of plugins to add new functionality. 

Ease Of Use: Duda 

Designed for ease of use, the Duda interface allows you to create a website by simply dragging pre-designed elements—such as text, images, and buttons—onto a page. It uses a visual editor, so no coding is required. Customizable templates and a user-friendly interface help you quickly build a site with limited experience, balancing flexibility and simplicity. 

Winner: Duda 

HTML coding on a computer screen

Customization: WordPress 

A good website needs to be fully customized to your brand and that is where WordPress shines. You have complete control over the functionality and design of your site. Plus there are thousands of WordPress themes and plugins. These allow you to adjust the basics like layout and typography, along with more advanced features like eCommerce or membership portals. 

WordPress also lets you add custom code. Overall, this CMS can adapt to any vision, making it a top choice for personalized websites. 

Customization: Duda 

With Duda’s streamlined approach to web design, it’s clear they prioritize ease of use over customization. You can edit pre-designed templates by arranging and resizing elements. You can also adjust key design features like fonts, colors, and layouts, but that’s where the flexibility ends. Overall, Duda offers basic customization options, but it’s not as adaptable as WordPress. 

Winner: WordPress 

Web Design Is Our Specialty. Let Us Help You Customize A Site That Perfectly Matches Your Brand.

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Pricing: WordPress

When deciding between Duda vs WordPress, price is a significant factor. WordPress itself is free, but the total cost of using it varies depending on your specific needs. 

First, you need to purchase hosting from a provider such as WP Engine or InMotion. WordPress hosting fees typically range from $5-$30 a month. Additional costs can include premium themes and plugins. For advanced features like custom domains, more storage, and eCommerce support, you can opt into monthly price plans that range from $4 to $45 a month. 

Pricing: Duda 

Similar to WordPress, Duda offers a tiered pricing structure based on your website needs. The basic plan starts at $25 a month and includes their drag-and-drop editor, hosting SSL certificates, and responsive website templates. If you’re looking for advanced features like team collaboration, client management tools, and custom widget building, pricing can go up to $39, $69, or $199 a month. 

Winner: WordPress 

SEO And Internet Marketing: WordPress

The internet marketing capabilities of Duda vs WordPress differ greatly. With the vast array of WordPress SEO plugins like Yoast and Rank Math, you can access advanced sitemaps, keyword tracking, and in-depth optimization. 

For an eCommerce site, WordPress integrates with WooCommerce and CRM platforms like HubSpot to help advance your marketing efforts. Its open-source nature and the WordPress plugin ecosystem make it a powerhouse for internet marketing, offering more flexibility and advanced features than Duda.

SEO And Internet Marketing: Duda 

Unlike WordPress, Duda marketing integrations are limited. Any Duda site will include built-in SEO tools like customizable meta tags, alt text, and automatic Google Page Speed optimization. It can integrate with Google Analytics and most social media platforms. However, the lack of plugins makes Duda eCommerce marketing more limited. 

Winner: WordPress 

Scalability: WordPress 

When it comes to scalability between Duda vs WordPress, it’s obvious who takes the cake. The WordPress plugin ecosystem gives it a significant advantage. As your business grows, WordPress can easily accommodate complex websites, high traffic, and custom features. You have virtually unlimited options with a WordPress site, making it a strategic choice for someone looking to expand their online presence. 

Scalability: Duda 

As we’ve mentioned previously, Duda’s growth potential is limited. While it supports multi-site management and basic eCommerce features, it lacks the extensive customization and third-party integrations needed for serious growth. In our opinion, Duda is well-suited for smaller businesses managing simple sites, but not for someone looking for long-term growth. 

Winner: WordPress 

a person logs into their laptop, holding their phone

Security And Maintenance: WordPress 

Looking for robust security and maintenance control? WordPress has you covered. However, it will require more active involvement on your end. You can install various security plugins which allows you to implement measures like firewalls, malware scanning, and login protection. Regular updates to the core WordPress software are crucial to maintaining security and functionality.

Security And Maintenance: Duda 

Because they provide a fully managed hosting environment, Duda site maintenance is quite simple. You benefit from automatic backups, security updates, and protection against common vulnerabilities without needing to worry about managing the server. 

Duda’s system includes SSL certification for secure data transmission and built-in security measures to safeguard user information. While Duda simplifies maintenance for you, it also limits control over specific security configurations, which isn’t ideal for everyone. 

Winner: Depends On Your Goals*

*If you have the resources and skills to stay up to date with maintenance, then WordPress offers much more control and security over your site. If you’re looking for something easy and simple, Duda is a good place to start. 

Who Wins The Fight Of Duda vs WordPress? 

The answer is simple: WordPress. 

There is certainly a time and place for Duda. If you’re a beginner with a small site, Duda will feel less overwhelming. However, it will be harder to customize and scale your business with their reduced capabilities. 

For most clients, we would recommend WordPress. You can’t beat its customization options, internet marketing features, advanced security controls, and the ability for unlimited growth. 

Your website should help you expand, not restrict you. If you’re looking for maximum flexibility and scalability (especially for larger and more complex websites) it’s a no-brainer—WordPress is the way to go. 

WordPress can be overwhelming—we get it. That’s why you have us. Reach out to our developers for a website that keeps your customers coming back for more. 

Make Your Website Unforgettable

Planning a website redesign and launch can be overwhelming, especially if you haven’t had the experience of planning one in the past. In this blog, we’ll provide a website launch checklist you can use to get a better understanding of what the journey ahead will look like.

How Long Does A Website Redesign Take?

Every website redesign project is unique and involves many moving parts from start to finish. There’s no telling what obstacles or unforeseen circumstances will emerge during the process. However, typically a website launch timeline will consist of 6 main stages:

  • Planning and discovery (2-10 weeks)
  • Content and SEO (5-15 weeks)
  • UI/UX design (4-12 weeks)
  • Developing and coding (6-15 weeks)
  • Testing and review (2-7 weeks)
  • Official launch (1 day-3 weeks)

Remember, the timing of these stages will vary depending on your goals for the project and the scale of work required to reach them. Another component that will influence your website launch timeline is the number of stakeholders involved in the redesign process. For example, if every service team’s lead needs to review each piece of the project, it will take longer to finalize.

Pre-Website Launch Checklist

A lot of hard work goes into a website before it can be pushed live, and it can’t all be completed by one person. A successful website launch depends on the work of skilled individuals who all have a different role to play.

In the following sections, we’ll break down some of the main steps and roles that should be included in your pre-website launch checklist.

Web development stage of a website redesign project.

Website Relaunch Developers & Web Designers Checklist

The first part of a website relaunch checklist is dedicated to developers and web designers. These individuals will work to ensure the site functions smoothly on the back end as well as the front.

1. Check site speed.

Not only does a faster page load speed provide users with a better experience, but it also is an important Google ranking factor. Faster loading times mean higher rankings for your site in search engine result pages. Therefore, it’s important to check your site’s speed before launching to make sure it’s loading at a quick rate.

2. Create a custom 404 page.

404 error warnings are shown when a server can’t find what was requested by the user. This could be from typing the wrong URL into the search bar or clicking on a dead link. Setting up custom 404 pages for your site ensures visitors are made aware of the error, but don’t have to see the generic warning message.

3. Check your site’s compatibility on different devices and web browsers.

Before launching your site, take the time to see what each page looks like on different devices and when searched in different browsers. Doing this will help you identify and fix areas that could negatively impact user experience like text and buttons being too small or content falling off the page.

4. Validate code and CSS.

Validating code and CSS ensures each page on your site looks and functions the way it should. Before launching, developers can check for things like syntax errors, typos, missing tags, and other issues to confirm the site is compatible with all browsers, accessible for all devices, and complies with web standards.

5. Check that your site serves HTTPS.

Hypertext transfer protocol secure (or HTTPS), is used to keep information sent from a device to a website private. Once it’s set up visitors will know their sensitive information like IP addresses or credit card numbers won’t be accessed by unauthorized individuals.

6. Ensure your site complies with privacy laws.

It’s no secret that visitors are more likely to trust your site when they know you follow privacy laws. There are different privacy laws around the world such as General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) or the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA).

7. Review third-party tools and integrations.

Before launching, review all your third-party tools and remove any integrations that aren’t necessary or fix any that aren’t working properly. Doing this will improve UX, boost site speed, and lead to better search engine rankings.

SEO specialist checking Google Analytics.

Website Relaunch SEO Checklist

Next in our website launch checklist, we’ll introduce SEO specialists. These individuals work to keep your site relevant and showing up in search results for users to see.

1. Check for possible indexation and crawling issues.

Search engines collect data by crawling your site and then store it through a process called indexing. This affects what results appear when a user searches for something online. SEO specialists can identify indexing issues and manage crawler traffic before a site is launched, making it easier for search engines to identify and display your content.

2. Make sure URLs & redirects are search engine friendly.

We talked about 404 errors earlier, and one of the ways these can occur is if a link is broken. Before launching, all old site pages should be redirected to the new ones. Creating permanent redirects (known as 301s) will automatically send users to the new pages if they accidentally visit the old URL.

3. Install Google Analytics.

Analytics software, like Google Analytics, allows you to retrieve valuable insight into what your users are doing on your site. It’s important to set up analytic tools before your site goes live because you’ll want to begin gathering data from the moment you launch. If your old site had analytics set up, verify that they are still working properly with the new site.

4. Use keyword mapping.

Keywords will play an essential role in the performance of your site. Keyword mapping is an SEO strategy that helps assign target keywords to specific pages on your site. With the help of an SEO specialist, these keywords can assist in performing goals, driving traffic, and improving search rankings.

5. Optimize meta tags, titles, descriptions, and content.

As we mentioned above, your site needs keywords to gain visibility. Optimizing meta tags, titles, descriptions, and site content will help search engines index your page efficiently. Each page on your site should have a unique title and description in addition to the keywords SEO specialists provide.

6. Use schema to mark up content.

Schema is what tells search engines what your data means and helps represent it in a more user-friendly way. Using special microdata language, SEO specialists can tell search engines more about the content on your site and control how it appears in search results.

7. Check UX.

User experience (UX) is how a visitor interacts with your site. Having a good UX depends on a variety of factors. You want to make sure your site is easy to navigate and accessible to everyone, regardless of possible impairments or technological limitations. Adding alt text to images, captions to videos, and choosing the typography and font size are only a few of the ways you can improve your site’s UX.

Content marketing specialist editing website content.

Website Relaunch Content Checklist

The last few steps of our website launch checklist belong to content marketing specialists. These individuals take care of all the content that will be seen by users when they visit your site.

1. Make sure content adds value.

The content on your site should be valuable to any user who visits. This means not focusing purely on self-promotion, but also including expert advice, actionable takeaways, and resourceful information. There are many distractions online and offering valuable content is one of the best ways to keep users engaged and coming back to your site.

2. Proofread content.

It may seem obvious, but grammar errors happen more often than we realize, and while everyone makes mistakes, there’s no doubt that these errors will hurt a brand’s credibility. Proofreading content is a way to show visitors that you care about your brand’s image and their user experience.

3. Use proper formatting.

Proper formatting is an essential part of any content specialist’s writing and publishing process. Using SEO content writing techniques like headlines, lists, and high-quality images improves readability and makes your site more visually appealing.

4. Ensure content is factual.

As we mentioned before, your content needs to be valuable to your readers. In the same respect, it needs to be factual. If search engines find your content to be fake or misleading they won’t display it on result pages. Additionally, if a user notices misinformation on your site, they are less likely to return.

5. Keep content style concise.

Your content style will speak to who your brand is and how you should be perceived by others. Keeping the tone and voice in your writing consistent will make you stand out among competitors. Every piece of content, from blogs to videos to downloadable files, should reflect your brand’s message and personality.

Remember, this website launch checklist is only the beginning, many more pieces contribute to a successful site launch, fortunately, you can get help from digital marketing experts to ensure your site turns out exactly how you envisioned.

Interested in a website redesign for your company? Take a look at some of our website projects and see what we can do.

Explore Our Results

If you manage a business, then you’re familiar with the phrase “Cash is King”—the notion that liquid funds are the most important asset of a healthy company. But we also live in an attention economy, where people’s time and focus are their own form of currency.

When we’re all vying for visibility, it can be tempting to view rebranding as a quick and easy way to recapture the awareness we’ve lost to our competitors.

Before you start sketching logos and picking Pantone colors, however, it’s vital to ensure you’re not making changes on a whim that will harm your business in the long run.

Once you’ve established that you are in the right position to rebrand, you can use our comprehensive rebranding checklists to make sure you don’t miss any key steps.

How to Determine if a Rebrand is Right for Your Organization

A new identity has plenty of benefits, but only if you’re doing so for the right reasons.

Necessary Reasons to Rebrand

  • There has been a significant upheaval to your company’s structure, like an acquisition, merger, or division.
  • There have been major changes to your products or service offerings.
  • The market or industry has altered drastically in a way that puts your current brand at a disadvantage in comparison to your competition.
  • Your company is fighting for digital real estate due to another company with a similar name or identity.

Unnecessary Reasons to Rebrand

  • New leadership or management is pushing to rebrand your business.
  • Other players in your industry are rebranding.
  • Your company wants to generate buzz amongst your target audience.
  • Your organization is trying to divert attention from a larger issue like internal turmoil, a public relations crisis, bad positioning, or an outdated product.

Attempting to rebrand during one of these scenarios may hurt your reputation, and many of these issues can be resolved through improved communication, investing in product development, or creating a new targeted campaign.

Types of Rebranding Strategies

After you’ve determined a rebrand is right for your business, the next step is to decide how many aspects of your branding need to change. There are numerous ways to implement a rebrand, from a simple logo tweak to a fresh visual identity and brand standards.

After answering these questions, you can better gauge whether a full or partial rebrand will best suit your goals:

  • Does your situation require a new moniker or just a logo?
  • Do you need a revised visual identity, or can a new logo work with your existing colors and fonts?
  • Are there elements that absolutely must stay, like trademarked messaging or a font you’ve bought the license to? 
  • Are you and your stakeholders open to starting from scratch?

Full Rebrand

Are you ready to start fresh with a new name, logo, and tone of voice? It may be time for your company to completely reinvent itself and drop any association with its prior identity.

Corporations often go through a full rebrand early in their existence—so early that the majority of their current customer base wouldn’t know their original name. You’ve probably never heard of Blue Ribbon Sports or BackRub, but you’ve surely heard of Nike and Google.

Full rebrands may also be necessary later in an organization’s life when its business objectives change. When ABC Family was no longer a fitting name for the content the cable company was producing, they opted for the more modern name Freeform.

Brand Refresh

A visual refresh is a less intensive way to rebrand and can be done more gradually rather than all at once. It involves updating individual aspects of the brand such as colors, fonts, and/or the logo. It works well when your visual identity still fits the company but feels a bit outdated.

MailChimp had a strong brand refresh in 2018, trading its script wordmark for a chunky lowercase name that more prominently features their mascot, Freddie. They also made a splash by choosing bright yellow as their primary color.

In 2019, Dunkin’ kept its rounded font but dropped half its name and the coffee cup icon. They also opted for a more vibrant orange.

Burger King took a step back in time with their most recent logo (2021), referencing the round, bubbly, vintage-style design they used from 1969 to 1994.

Use this Rebranding Checklist to Plan Your Strategy

The final step in the process is to establish a rebranding launch strategy. Executing your plan with precision and attention to detail is what will set your new identity apart from your competition. That’s where having a reliable, proven rebranding checklist comes in!

To ensure your rebrand goes smoothly, it’s crucial to:

  • Set a timeline.
  • Identify branded pieces that will need to be updated.
  • Assign responsibilities to everyone involved in the project.

We’ve laid out all the steps your company should take in our series of rebranding checklists below.

Logistical & Legal Rebranding Checklist

The logistical aspect of the process can be so intimidating that companies put off rebranding, for years. Or, some companies get befuddled and stall while deciding what should be in their rebranding checklist. Fear not, with proper planning, you can space items out over time to make them less overwhelming.

  • Consider timing. Your accountant will thank you for planning around tax season.
  • Hire a lawyer to assist and catch any loose ends with business permits and trademarks for your local and state jurisdictions. (Every rebranding checklist should consider this point.)
  • Decide if you should be outsourcing to a marketing agency that can handle the logistics and provide a new perspective from outside your business.
  • Apply to trademark your new brand name, taglines, and/or new product names.
  • Obtain new URLs.

Visual Rebranding Checklist

Taking into account every graphical detail is what will make your new brand resonate with your target audience. With our visual rebranding checklist, you can develop a personalized and comprehensive plan for making every necessary update.

  • Establish a clear review and approval process for new branded pieces. It’s imperative to understand how they will be reviewed and who has the final say. Ensure this is in your rebranding checklist and you’ll avoid introducing confusion.
  • Get second and third opinions. If the rebrand is occurring internally, take the time to gather opinions from your audience. Your new brand needs to resonate with them, not you.
  • Create a new style guide for internal review that includes usage guidelines for the logo, fonts, and colors. Once you’ve established your updated style guide, this will be your guiding light. 
  • Create a list of every item that needs to be redesigned. Start with urgent items and pieces that truly define the brand. Then, knock out smaller items like stationery.
  • Send out a new style guide and asset kit externally to relevant partners who need access to your logo and identity.

Internal

This is normally the last step of a rebrand, because you have the flexibility to make internal updates at a less accelerated pace. However, it’s still important to catch and remove every instance of your previous branding.

Schedule an all-hands meeting to share the new brand and its messaging internally, and pick a date for the following items to be updated:

  • Bills, checks, and other printed materials.
  • Phone systems, voicemail messages, and email footers.
  • Server and file names.
  • Computer logins.
  • Interior design and outdoor signage.

Think a rebrand is right for you? From guiding your staff through the process internally to augmenting your team to gain a fresh perspective, Tower can help! Contact us today to get started.

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Editor’s note: This blog was originally published on February 20, 2019. It was updated on August 1, 2023.

As a web designer, you have a keen eye for detail. Creating color palettes and arranging elements in a visually pleasing way is your job after all!

But when you’re gifted with these abilities, it can be easy to forget that some people struggle to see what we’re able to perceive with ease.

Over 2 billion people worldwide (more than a quarter of the world’s population!) have some form of visual impairment.

Glaucoma, cataracts, and color blindness are just a handful of the challenges they face—the same challenges you should also be taking into account when creating an accessible color palette.

If you’ve been tasked with creating an ADA-compliant website, these five easy steps will help you create a user-centric experience for everyone.

1. Understand Compliance

Understanding ADA compliance can be tricky. Unfortunately, it’s not as simple as a checklist you can reference when building your site. The law only states that you must provide “reasonable accessibility” to people with disabilities, like the ability to use a screen reader and fill out forms.

Although it isn’t a legal standard, most developers and designers follow the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG 2.0), which include three levels of compliance: AAA, AA, and A.

Accessibility consists of so much more than color, but for the purposes of this blog, we’re going to focus on which level your site would fall into based solely on your use of color.

WCAG Levels of Accessibility

  • Level AAA
    This is the strictest level of compliance. Level AAA is often used by government agencies, medical providers, and organizations that receive taxpayer funding.
  • Level AA
    This is the median level of compliance. For the majority of companies, level AA provides a balance between meeting legal requirements for usability and having design flexibility.
  • Level A
    This is the lowest level of compliance and is not recommended in terms of color. Color combinations that fall below levels AA or AAA will be considered a “fail” by color-checking tools.

How Compliance is Determined

Your design’s level of color compliance depends on two factors: the contrast ratio between the foreground (text) and the background, as well as the point size of your text.

A contrast ratio of 7 or higher is considered AAA compliant, while 4.5 through 7 will meet AA standards.

A color checker example using Tower Marketing branded colors

An example of a color contrast checker using Tower’s brand colors.

Some color combinations will be AA18 compliant, meaning they are readable at 18px (or 14px bolded) and above. If you do choose to use “borderline” complaint colors like these, however, you should take into account that text may scale down for mobile and no longer meet this size threshold. 

Of course, there are exceptions to every rule. If your client is using a font that’s unusually tall or narrow, you may need to find a contrast ratio even higher than the AA minimum.

2. Evaluate Your Accessible Color Palette Needs

Are you confined by your client’s strict brand standards, or do you have the freedom of a blank slate? We have tips for navigating both scenarios.

Working With an Existing Color Palette

With all the attention that goes into carefully crafting a brand, the idea of having to rethink a set of carefully-chosen Pantone colors can cause brands to balk at making updates for accessibility.

Luckily, there are minor tweaks (that no one except a designer would notice!) that can make a website fully accessible. Even slight alterations to a color palette can give you more viable background and text color combinations, making for a more dynamic and engaging site.

For this Tower client, minor adjustments to their existing red and black tones gave us twice the AA and AAA-compliant background and text color combinations.

A Tower client's original and updated color palettes

The client’s original color palette (left) vs. the updated version (right).

If you’re unable to modify a brand’s existing colors, you’ll have to get creative. Find a few key color combinations that pass as accessible color palettes, and then use photography, iconography, and infographics to add more color throughout the site.

Take Apple for example. Their fully-accessible homepage is bright, dynamic, and beautiful, and it utilizes only four colors in six combinations—proving that accessibility is only a restriction if you make it one.

Apple's brand colors and how they're used on their website

Building a New Accessible Color Palette

Being able to design from day one with accessibility in mind is a huge advantage—and it’s really no different from designing any other good color scheme. In fact, to make strong and accessible color palettes, you only need:

  • One or two base colors
  • A strong call-to-action color
  • A handful of neutral colors

Call-to-action colors are typically where designers struggle to remain compliant. If your CTA button is lighter (like yellow or light orange), try dark text instead of the more traditional white. You can also save fun, bright colors for hover states and opt for a slightly darker default tone. This can help buttons draw visual interest while still keeping them compliant.

Yellow and orange CTA button examples

3. Find a Color Contrast Tool That You Love

If you’re working on a new website or a website redesign, you’re going to spend a lot of time with your color contrast tool. So, take a moment and find the one that works for you. Here are a few recommendations!

  • Contrast Grid from EightShapes — This is our all-time favorite at Tower. It allows you to investigate not just one color, but all of your colors in context with one another. It also generates a unique link for every color palette, making it easy to share with clients, other designers, and developers.
  • Toolness — This is a similar tool that grays out non-accessible background and text color combinations. It can be especially helpful in visualizing and explaining compliance to those who are new to the guidelines. Since there are no non-compliant combinations shown, they won’t distract from the fully-accessible options.
  • Colors — We love this tool for its sheer inspiration and dozens of bright, exciting accessible color palettes. This can be a great place to start if you’re feeling overwhelmed.
  • Color Safe — This is another great option for creating an accessible color palette, as it also takes into consideration the specific typeface and font weight you’re using.
  • WhoCanUse — Finally, we recommend that you test your accessible color palettes with this tool that shows how people with color blindness, glaucoma, cataracts, and more will perceive the tones you chose (as well as what percentage of the population has these visual impairments).
The homepage of the color checker website WhoCanUse

4. Adjust and Iterate

Chances are, the first accessible color palette you try won’t be quite right. There may not be enough accessible options, and even if there are, the combinations available may not be a good fit for your client.

Context is Key

Play with your colors in the context of your design program. If you’re making minor alterations to an existing palette, check your new colors alongside old collateral. Is the difference noticeable? Is that a problem?

Consider print applications as well. Colors may look great online but horrible on paper, and vice versa.

Utilize the Right Design Tools

Having a powerful tool at your disposal is the key to working accessibility into your existing design process. At Tower, we use Sketch, a design program with a nearly endless library of plugins.

Stark is a color contrast analyzer that operates right inside your design file. It also has the unique ability to mimic different types of color blindness, from the most common to the very rare.

This is especially important when designing infographics and charts where differentiating colors is crucial to understanding the content. While colors may look completely different to you, if they are too similar in brightness or hue, they may be indistinguishable to someone with partial or full-color blindness.

The homepages of the websites for Sketch and Stark

Sketch and Stark are two tools we use at Tower and can recommend for others.

5. Remember Why It Matters

Designing through the new lens of accessibility can be frustrating at times, especially when working within an existing brand’s color scheme. It can be easy to get excited about a bright and edgy design, but the bottom line is that websites need to be both usable and beautiful.

Viewing ADA compliance as a challenge, rather than as a roadblock, can keep things in perspective and strengthen your design skills along the way. Plus, it will make the web a friendlier and more accessible place for everyone when we use accessible color palettes.

An older woman using a laptop in her office

At Tower, we work with many small businesses for whom individual customers are the prime focus, making visual accessibility, specifically accessible color palettes crucial for every site we build.

If you need to redesign or update your website to be ADA-compliant, our team of designers and developers is ready to help.

Explore Our Design Services

This blog was originally published on June 13, 2019. It was updated on July 6, 2023.

One of the first things a consumer will notice about your brand is your logo, which makes it so much more than just a symbol. It’s a visual depiction of your brand to help make it stand out and more easily recognizable.

However, you’re probably aware the biggest challenge of a logo is how easily it can be dated. If you’re thinking about redesigning yours and want a fresh look, this blog will help you understand the current logo design trends of 2023.

But more importantly, in the end, you’ll walk away with some tips on how to create a timeless logo that won’t become dated fast. And how to make a new one that represents your business well.

Trend #1: The Minimalist Logo

We’ve all heard the saying ’less is more’ and that’s what this trend is all about. Instead of using lots of color and contrast, a minimalist logo design tends to consist of simple fonts, small line strokes, and a limited color palette.

However, that doesn’t mean a logo like that can’t be interesting. Minimalist logos can actually have complex and even 3D elements (we’ll discuss this more below), without being overpowering.

The idea is to create something with less sensory overload for the viewer. A logo with just a few details creates a sense of breathing room for those seeing it, even if they aren’t design experts. Plus, having fewer details to load makes your logo more functional with screens and in other digital formats.

Minimalist logo design for bread shop

Trend #2: 3D Trendy Logo Design

In contrast to the first trend, three-dimensional design elements just started appearing in 2022 and are definitely here to carry into the upcoming years. 3D logos are iconic because they create a sense of realism that seemingly pops off the page, whether they’re online or on paper.

Adding depth or dimension to a logo can create opportunities for unique animation elements or simply to have a static, but eye-catching design. The 3D logo is a creative way to reach your viewer and engage them with your brand.

3d logo for bicycle shop

Trend #3: ’90s and 2000s Nostalgia

We’ve already been through the 80s influence of design and have definitely been moving through the ’90s and early 2000s inspiration. This period is often referred to as the Aughts time period.

If logos become dated so quickly, why reference vintage elements?

Well, truthfully, incorporating elements from the recent past and even what may be, for some of your audience, from the time of their youth, creates a sense of comfort. A vintage flair feels familiar and even may nod towards elements that have been lost in today’s heavily digital age.

Especially if your brand was founded several decades ago, a logo capturing nostalgic elements from that time may go a long way.

Nostalgia logo for beer company

Trend #4: Natural Patterns and Textures

If you want something that feels fresh and modern but can be paired with other trends, consider being inspired by nature! Natural-looking logos incorporate organic shapes that don’t feel so gridded.

And natural doesn’t mean it needs to contain the actual image of a plant. This trend can be accomplished simply by relying on earthy colors and organic-looking elements. As another way to make it pop, consider adding some textures like wood, grain, or stone, that create subtle elements to refresh your logo.

Nature inspired logo

Tips for Achieving a Timeless Logo: Balancing Trends with Needs

Redesigning your logo is a huge undertaking. And while modern logo design trends can influence the direction you go, it’s important to make sure your takeaway logo will last beyond the latest trends.

Logo design trends of 2023 are a great place to start and find inspiration, but you’ll want to make sure to take your actual project beyond them. Approach your project with the mindset of creating a logo that can survive the years to come. (Examples that come to mind include Apple or Levi’s.)

Below we’ll provide some simple tips to remember as you embark on the journey to find a new logo that makes your brand stand out.

1. Have a Long-Term Vision

Talk with your internal stakeholders and get a long-term vision of what you want the brand to look like. Do you want to be known as the funky 3-D nostalgic-looking brand forever? Make sure you all agree on what qualities you want to be known for and create a logo that accentuates that.

2. Base Your Design on Core Values and Products or Services

Who is your target audience and what kind of message are you projecting to them? Aim for a blend of trends and design that will make you look professional and evoke the right emotions in your audience when they see it.

3. Tell Your Story

Because who doesn’t love a story? Remember to avoid stuffing too much imagery or detail into your logo. If there’s too much going on, it can be difficult for viewers to understand what it all means or the story you’re trying to tell.

4. Keep it Simple

What does your new logo look like if it’s scaled up or down 50%? Will it look pixelated or shrunk?

Your logo will be used in a variety of digital and print mediums, so versatility is critical. Subtle elements and text are ideal if you need to use it across multiple platforms. And if your elements are vector, it’s even better for scaling your logo to any size.

5. Watch for Fonts

Fonts will make or break your logo. So make sure to not just pick the first you can find. Fonts also create emotion around your brand. For a more playful approach, try a script. Or for a more serious brand, a serif font may better convey your image.

Additionally, consider the readability. Make sure your font doesn’t just look appealing. It should also be legible.

6. Make it Hard to Imitate

Making sure your logo has a unique factor is about more than distinguishing you from the competition. It’s about making sure it can’t be easily copied. Plus, doing so ensures your new logo isn’t something that’s already been done or accidentally copied based on inspiration from a different company.

Most importantly, you want your logo to not be easily copied. If someone can take your logo and change the name, how will you be recognized? 

Having a one of a kind logo will definitely make you stand out from the rest of the competition and prevent others from taking it. If you make it as unique as your business you may only need slight changes as time goes on.

Ready to find a logo that reflects the message you want to send about your business? Speak with our team to see how our designers can help refine your logo and help it serve you better.

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Your website is often a user’s first impression of your brand, so you have to make a statement. But what makes a website stand out? These days, making a website attract attention is more than just ensuring it looks good. It must be easy to use, interactive, and informative. 

If you’re looking at your website analytics and noticing a lot of users are coming to your site and immediately leaving (a high bounce rate) then it might be time to make some UX improvements.

What is UX?

UX stands for the user experience within your digital space and encompasses a lot of disciplines that may be overwhelming to think about. But we are here to simplify and explain what goes into a user’s experience. By definition, UX is how the user thinks, feels, and interacts with your product, or in this case your website.

When a user comes to your site, they may evaluate in 1 of 4 ways, which are defined below. Your website should give the user value, be easy to navigate and be enjoyable to use. To help characterize your UX, ask yourself the following questions: 

Value: Is my site producing value for the user? 

Functionality: Does my site have a lot of page errors? 

Usability: Is my site easy to navigate and interact with? 

Impression: When a user first visits my site, what are they thinking? What immediate actions are they taking?

Difference between UX and UI

The terms “user experience” (UX) and “user interface” (UI) are often used interchangeably, even though they are describing two related but different things. The UI of a website consists of all the elements a user interacts with, buttons, slides, menus, maps, etc., or the relationship between the users and the computer systems and software. 

On the other hand, the user experience, as the name suggests, encompasses the entire experience of the website. UX takes into account how a user interacts with not just UI elements, but every other aspect of the website — load times, color usage, whitespace, mood, and subject matter in imagery, and even down to the amount of scrolling required to view elements on a page. 

When looking to improve your website user experience, think about the big picture. 

Why UX matters for your business

You may think that UX is something that will just help your website look better, but incorporating user-friendly features into your website design will also increase sales, and if applicable, products sold. If you are successful in improving your user experience, your bounce rate should also decrease. 

When a user visits your site, you don’t want them to move on from your site because they are frustrated when they can’t find answers on your site. Your ultimate goal in improving your website user experience is to grab your user’s attention and convert them into customers. 

A website that is aesthetically pleasing is one thing, but you also want a site that is easy to navigate, has limited page errors and motivates users to interact with your company. Creating a site with great UX allows users to trust your brand’s quality and credibility. 

Google Core Web Vitals

There are three Google Core Web Vitals that help determine a website’s user experience. These are the Largest Contentful Paint, First Input Delay, and Cumulative Layout Shifts. These Core Web Vitals will assess all aspects of the user experience and help give you an industry standard. 

We’ve outlined some of our best practices on how to improve user experience on your website that help generate traffic, keep users engaged, and allow users to easily reach their goals on your site. These practices are best paired with a strategic design team that creates content for your user. 

Keeping up with the Best Design Practices

1. Clear Call to Actions

What do you want your users to do while they are on your site? Answering this question will give you call-to-action ideas to incorporate into your site. The RICE marketing strategy will help you determine what types of call-to-action, or CTAs, to include on individual pages.  

If you are looking to interact with users that may not be quite ready to purchase your product or service, try adding soft call-to-actions on your website pages. Soft CTAs are not directing users to perform your main desired actions. Some soft call-to-actions ideas include: 

  • “Join our Mailing List” 
  • “Read Some Customer Testimonials” 
  • “Learn More” 

On some web pages, your goal should be to convert the user to a customer. This stage of the RICE marketing strategy calls for hard CTAs, which motivate a user to perform an end goal, for example, purchasing the product or service. 

2. Internal Linking

When laying out internal linking strategies, be conscious of the path you want the user to take throughout your site. Including internal linking allows website visitors to stay engaged on your site and easily learn more about your product or service.  

3. Take Advantage of White Space

Whitespace web design is crucial for users to be able to digest and understand the content on your website. Having a website that is cluttered with information, graphics, visuals, and other various content will cause users to feel overwhelmed and confused. 

Whitespace creates a visual break for the user’s eyes. When a user visits your site, you want them to see a clean, polished look that is easy to comprehend. 

Your whitespace web design can include more space between each body of content, margins on either side of the page, and group-related topics with white space. Remember, white space does not mean it needs to be white, the background color of your website can align with your branding colors. 

4. Write to Your Target Personas 

One of the best ways to improve your user experience on your website is to design your website for the user. What needs and pain points will your website solve for the user? Who will be visiting your site? 

Don’t be afraid to ask users questions or have them rate their experience. This feedback will help you shape your website to what works best for your target audience. 

5. Images

Images should enhance the copy and design of your website, not make the site disorganized or overwhelming. When thinking about what visuals to include on your webpage, find ones that explain the copy, evoke emotion, and talk to your audience. Avoid using images to just “fill space.”

6. Metadata 

Metadata may not be the most obvious practice to think about when looking for UX improvements, but having the correct metadata in place will help users find your website. There are a few different types of metadata, including descriptive, administrative, and structural. 

Your Google snippet will encompass the title tag and meta description, which is the first thing users see if your webpage shows up on their Google search. We recommend a title tag of fewer than 60 characters and a meta description of fewer than 160 characters. 

7. Mobile UX Design 

The UX improvements above are all very important to consider for your next website redesign, but if your site does not perform well through mobile, you’ll lose a lot of your potential audience. 

Key takeaways for mobile UX design are to make everything “thumb-friendly” as users will not have the accuracy of a mouse. Larger UI elements will ease the navigation and interaction points of your mobile website.  

Additionally,  remember that everything will be stacked so the content will appear much longer, requiring additional scrolling on mobile. We recommend keeping paragraphs to a maximum of three lines, so readers are able to digest the content fully without being overwhelmed. 

Mobile UX design is significant because it contributes to your Core Web Vital score. It will assess the accessibility of links, content readability, and other page elements. 

Two people looking at a screen with different mobile designs options

The Role of a UX Designer

The UX Designer will work with user research, front-end design, information architecture, and usability testing to increase your website’s user experience. They’ll help you make your website easier to navigate and interact with, so users are more likely to revisit and engage with your site. 

UX Audits

The UX audit is the first step in identifying any shortcomings on an existing site. The marketing team will comb the entire site, examining not only the UI but the overall user experience. This is to ensure the UX is serving the ultimate goal of the website. During this process, any user pain points or site goal misalignment will be identified and remediation will be suggested to ensure UX improvements across the site.

Ready to boost traffic and engage more users on your site through UX improvements? Work with our experienced web development team to set your site apart!

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Times change. Businesses grow. And if your company’s website isn’t keeping pace, it could have serious implications for your success.

Because your website serves as a digital representation of your brand, it’s absolutely critical that you get it right. If not, a website visitor will bounce to your competitor’s site before you can even blink.

Web users are cut-throat. If your website isn’t set up to serve them—and serve them well— they’ll leave you (and any consideration of buying a product or service from you) in the dust.

So, is your website looking a bit dated and dusty? Then it’s likely time for a website redesign. In this blog, we’ll explain what a website redesign is, how it can benefit your business, and help you prepare for a website design in 4 crucial steps.

What is a Website Redesign?

Many people tend to confuse a website refresh with a website redesign. Although similar, these projects serve different purposes and vary significantly in scope. Let’s take a look at the key distinctions between the two.

Website Refresh

A website refresh involves making slight changes to a website while leaving most of the code and structure unaltered. These changes are typically relatively minor, easy to execute, and don’t require extensive time or resources, such as swapping in a new logo or updating old product pages.

Website Redesign

A website redesign is a much more involved process that requires updating the content, structure, format, and navigation of your website to improve its overall performance and convert more website visitors. In other words, it’s going back to the drawing board and rebuilding your website from the ground up.

Depending on your situation, a website refresh may suffice to meet your needs. Or, you might need a complete transformation. Here’s how to know when to go for a full website redesign.

How Do You Know When It’s Time for a Website Redesign?

Before you invest valuable time and resources into a website redesign project, you should make sure that you’re doing it for the right reasons.

“My competitors just redesigned their website, so I want to do something similar” isn’t exactly a good reason if your site is effectively attracting visitors and converting leads. Here are three reasons why you should consider redesigning your website:

1. Your Goals Have Changed

Have your business goals changed drastically since launching your website? If the answer is yes, it likely no longer represents your company accurately. A website redesign can ensure that your site aligns with your current business goals and that they’re conveyed properly to your target audience online.

2. Your Branding Has Changed

If you’ve recently undergone a company rebrand or are planning to update your color scheme, logo, and messaging in the near future, then you should redesign your website to reflect those branding changes and affirm your new visual identity.

3. Your Web Performance has Plummeted

Website performance is a clear indicator of whether or not your site is meeting users’ needs. To determine how your website is performing, ask yourself the following questions:

  • Have leads decreased?
  • Are people staying on the site or bouncing?
  • Is the website converting a reasonable amount of traffic?

If you’ve noticed that your website performance has decreased, that’s a red flag that your website may be outdated or out-of-touch with your target audience. A website redesign can help you identify and resolve issues related to poor performance.

Close up of hands typing on laptop.

How to Prepare for a Website Redesign

The website redesign process involves a lot of time, resources, and decision-making. And, the better prepared you are ahead of time, the easier it will be. Here is how to prepare for a website redesign.

Step 1: Complete A Website Audit

Before you decide what changes to make, take the time to review your current website and determine what’s working well and what isn’t. Be objective and take note of any areas that need improvement so you can address them in the website redesign.

If you need some guidance, here’s a helpful tool that you can use to access how well your site is currently performing.

Get Your Free Website Check-Up Checklist

While auditing your website, be sure to consider the following:

Content

Evaluate your current content to decide what should be reworked. Look at everything—from blogs to videos to downloads—and ask yourself:

  • Is it audience-focused?
  • Is it easy to understand?
  • Is it helpful or useful?
  • Is it current?
  • Does it match my business goals?

If the answer to any of these questions is no, then that piece of content needs to be updated.

It’s important to note that not everything on your site needs to be changed. Content that’s performing well can likely be left as is. Your website redesign team can help you repurpose strong content, identify gaps, and create a new content strategy to pull it all together.

Search Engine Optimization

In addition to assessing the effectiveness of different types of content on your current site, you should consider if it’s optimized for search.

If you don’t have a search engine optimization (SEO) strategy in place or yours needs to be adjusted, a website redesign could be in your best interest. This is an ideal time to optimize existing content and create new, strategically-worded copy to increase traffic.

If you do have a strong SEO strategy in place, then your current website has likely gained authority and is ranking well for relevant keywords. In that case, it’s critical to have a knowledgeable website redesign team that will properly migrate that content to your new site.

Failure to follow SEO best practices when migrating content can cause crawl errors, search engine red flags, and other penalties that can make your site undiscoverable.

User Experience (UX)

You can have great, optimized content and stunning branding, but if your website provides a poor user experience, it won’t perform well.

Today’s customers don’t just base their loyalty on a product or price, but rather on the experiences that they receive. In fact, 73% of buyers consider customer experience to be the primary factor for their purchasing decisions. This also applies to their experience on a company’s website.

You have about seven seconds to make a good first impression on a website visitor before they flee to another site. So, if your site is hard to navigate, lacks information, and isn’t accessible or mobile-friendly, then your users probably aren’t staying on it.

Thoughtful user experience (UX) design can greatly improve your website performance.

Woman sitting at a desk writing down notes.

Step 2: Determine Your Goals & Budget

We’ve already discussed the importance of having a good reason for overhauling your website. So, what’s the “why” behind your website design? Write out the goals that you have for your new website and tie them to measurable results. For example, some of your goals may include:

  • Increasing traffic to your website
  • Reducing your bounce rate
  • Increasing time on site
  • Generating more leads and form submissions
  • Improving SEO rankings for notable keywords

Communicate these goals with your web redesign team to ensure that everyone is on the same page. This will help them better determine your needs, pricing, and projected timeline.

Before discussing pricing, however, you should determine an amount that you’re willing to spend. Everyone wants a high-quality website that’s built quickly for a low cost. But remember, your website is your greatest sales investment. Cutting corners just to reduce costs can lead to expensive consequences and missed profits in the long run.

Step 3: Define Your Branding

Before you can dive into content and design, you have to decide what look and feel you want your new website to have. Your website serves as a visual representation of your business. So, you want to ensure that your branding matches your company’s mission, values, and overall brand identity.

Being very clear about your desired branding, messaging, and tone will guarantee consistency across your site. During this step, ask yourself what you like about your current branding, what you want to change, and why. Here are two helpful steps you can take to flesh out your intended visual identity.

Create a Style Guide

Once you’ve determined what you’d like to keep and change about your current branding, write it all out in a style guide. Be sure to include your preferences on color palette, logos, fonts, imagery, and icons. Having all of this information recorded will help your team achieve cohesiveness during the website redesign process.

Gather Assets

Now that you’ve defined your branding, you should compile all of the files that your team will need for your website redesign. This includes any vector file logos (.svg, .eps or .ai), photography, and other essential visual assets. While gathering files, carefully consider whether each asset fits into your new style, or if it could use some adjusting.

Two male employees compare color swatches for a project.

Step 4: Choose Your Website Redesign Team

The final step to prepare for your website redesign is choosing who you want to work with.

A website redesign is a big investment, so you need to be able to trust that the people working on your project will get it done right. Since any mishap will cost you time and money, don’t just go with the cheapest option you can find.

Rather, do extensive research before you commit. Look at past projects, reviews, prices, processes, and inclusions for every freelancer or agency you’re considering. Once you narrow down your choices, send out a request for proposal (RFP) for website redesign services. Once you receive the proposals, you can make the best decision for your needs, budget, and preferences.

If you need to make extensive changes, we highly recommend hiring an agency (like Tower) for a website redesign. Agencies typically have streamlined processes in place to make every part of the website redesign process go as smoothly as possible and stay on track. Here are a few other advantages of hiring an agency:

  • Extensive knowledge and services
  • Collaborative group of specialists
  • Access to advanced software and resources
  • High-level professionalism
  • Superior communication

The people you choose to work on your website redesign can quite literally make or break the whole experience. So, be sure to choose wisely!

Looking for the right group of people to bring your vision to life? Check out our website redesign services to see how Team Tower can help!

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If there’s anything that’s been learned in the wake of the pandemic, it’s the importance of having an up-to-date online presence that represents your brand just as well as a face-to-face meeting. Your brand is a lot more than just a logo and some copy. It should be an experience.

As a digital marketing agency, we help our clients explore new strategies to elevate their brand via web design, creative, content, and more every day. However, just as we encourage our clients to explore new ideas in their digital marketing, it’s only fair that we take our own advice.

While our brand refresh started in a seemingly “regular”  world, it certainly ended in a changed one. In early 2020, as we dove into redesigning our site, content, and digital assets, our team was suddenly scattered. On top of that, most (if not all) of our regular routines were paused. 

In spite of everything, we successfully elevated and reached our goals. Here’s the “why” and “how” behind our recent brand refresh and some tips you can apply to start your own along the way.

Rebranding vs. a Brand Refresh

Before digging in, it’s important to understand the key difference between a brand refresh and a rebranding project. The idea behind a brand refresh is that you’re reimagining the feeling of your brand using what you already have. It’s primarily a visual process where you adjust your assets to keep your business looking current.

Rebranding your company successfully is a much larger project where you get rid of everything you’ve done previously and start from scratch. This can include creating a completely new brand voice and tone, trying to break into new markets, and completely re-doing your company’s image.

Starting on the Ground Floor

Our previous website was from 2017 and was due for a redesign, knowing it’s optimal to update your site every 3 years. Plus, it was clear it didn’t match the direction our company had evolved into as well. However, the catalyst for updating your digital branding shouldn’t always just be an “older design.”

As soon as your online branding feels out of alignment with your business strategy or vision for the future, it’s an indication that it’s time for a refresh. Sometimes that can just be minor tweaks to what you have, while other times more drastic action is required.

For Tower, we saw a need to elevate our own branding to match the shifts we’d undergone in the past few years. While we didn’t need to do a complete overhaul, we found a lot of opportunities to push ourselves beyond what we had done in the past.

Why a Brand Refresh Matters for Your Business

Your business is making progress every day. As you move forward and scale your company, it’s important to also continue refining and evaluating your brand to keep it sharp. This doesn’t always require designing a completely new logo or color palette. Refreshing your brand can include updating content on your service pages or replacing old, outdated images.

There’s no set time frame for how often you should be doing a brand refresh. However, the industry you’re in can have a hand in how often you make these types of changes.

If you’re a brand rooted in history, stability, or security (like a financial institution or college) you shouldn’t have to refresh that frequently. However, if you’re in a fast-growth industry like tech, your business will likely need a brand refresh more often to compete in the digital landscape.

The Key to Re-Doing Online Branding in Digital Marketing

When it came time to approach this project, our team found it extremely helpful to establish some simple ground rules and then outline a process before digging in. Our ground rules throughout the whole process were to:

  1. Keep our signature green color
  2. Keep our current logo
  3. Keep Cabrito (our main typeface we created internally)

From there, we then completed a visual audit of all our materials including our website, business cards, previous campaigns, social media posts, and much more. Our team sorted various assets into two categories — one for assets that “work” and one for those that “don’t work.”

While this part of the process required a lot of back and forth between our broader team, it spurred useful conversation. This audit allowed us to pair down the elements we liked and the ideas behind them, as well as see what areas needed the most attention. From there our team got to work redesigning creative, strategizing SEO, experimenting with dev, and drafting new content to match our updated brand voice and tone.

Think Outside the Logo

For any business diving into these types of changes, the biggest pitfall is thinking your brand is just a logo. At Tower, we encourage you to take a holistic marketing approach. Ultimately, your business is conveyed through everything — fonts, type treatments, colors, patterns, layout compositions, photography, written content, and much more.

The goal is to make sure all these elements are cohesive to the point that even when viewed separately, they still clearly portray your brand in the same light. When you take the time to do this, the benefit is that your brand becomes recognizable for consumers. It sticks.

For Tower, we started by pinpointing the areas we wanted to change and then got to work fine-tuning every single element. In the end, our goal was to make sure everything fit that holistic approach.        

Finding Your Inspiration

Our office has a saying that first came to light when our team brainstormed for a campaign a few years ago — “elevate.” Over time, it became a crucial part of how we approach marketing for clients and, ultimately, ourselves. We took that concept and we ran further in terms of this brand refresh.

“Elevate” was behind every decision we made in the process. We went as far as taking pieces we thought were good and working to make them even better.

Anything that wasn’t working and had even become dated or cliche was scrapped altogether. The idea of “elevating” became our litmus test for all design, content, and development choices. 

Staying Inspired in the Unexpected 

While the state of our clients and our business had to rapidly evolve to respond to the pandemic, our team still continued pressing forward with our brand redesign. If anything, the pandemic opened up interesting opportunities to look at the idea of collaboration differently.

Collaboration is certainly the key to creating, however, there is also great value in having a chance to actually retreat from distraction and do the work itself. Being remote gave us a chance to become fully immersed in the project and our ideas without any interruption. Working in this hyper-focused manner was actually a huge benefit to developing the more difficult and complex elements.

However, our team also balanced working remotely by supplementing our progress with check-in meetings and plenty of video calls. Doing this allowed us to clearly communicate and stay on the same page. 

Ultimately, here’s the biggest takeaway — it’s important to build in pockets of time to collaborate on refreshing your brand with others, while also balancing it with uninterrupted time to work individually on it.

Staying One Step Ahead of Your Competition

With any brand refresh, it’s crucial that you’re aware of the competitor landscape. You want to make sure that, in the end, your outcome goes far beyond what they’ve done so you can carve your own unique spot in the industry.

Make sure that a part of your project includes investigating your competition. Ask yourself the following:

  • What are they doing?
  • What are they saying?
  • What is their user experience like?
  • What can you do better?

You want to avoid doing or saying the same message. Otherwise, you won’t stand out. You need to be refreshing your brand not not just to “look good” today, but to ensure you stay relevant in the months ahead.

Develop Your Unique Value Proposition

As you’re working, make sure you take time as a team to be introspective of your company. Clearly define what makes you different. In our case, it was the idea of “elevating.” However, that won’t be the differentiator for every company, and you’ll need to decide what makes yours unique.

It’s worth devoting the time to sort this part out during your brand refresh process. Knowing your unique value proposition as a business will keep your strategy clear and brand refresh work cohesive. Plus, that differentiator can even become the very hook that draws in your target audience to choose you over your competitors.

Know it’s time for a brand refresh, but need help executing it? Contact our team to learn how we can help you reach your next goals with our creative services.

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