Website redesign checklist for a Kenyan business

Write down why the site needs to change

‘It looks old’ is a starting complaint, not a project brief. Record what fails now. Customers may struggle to use the menu, staff may be unable to update products, forms may send nowhere or the service copy may describe a business that changed two years ago.

Pick outcomes the team can inspect after launch. Examples include shorter enquiry forms, editable service pages, a working product filter or fewer calls asking for basic directions. A redesign without a stated problem tends to spend money on decoration while keeping the same faults.

Take control of the existing accounts

Confirm access to the domain registrar, DNS, hosting, content system, analytics, Search Console, email service and payment provider. Store access in a business password manager. Do this before the old supplier contract ends.

The business should be the registrant or account owner where the service allows it. A developer can have managed access. Moving a domain under deadline becomes risky when the only login belongs to a former employee or an agency inbox that nobody answers.

• Domain and DNS account

• Current website hosting

• Email hosting and DNS records

• Google Search Console and analytics

• Payment and messaging services

• Source files, content exports and media originals

Inventory pages before deleting anything

Export the current URLs and check which ones receive visits, links or enquiries. Keep useful pages when their subject still belongs to the business. Merge duplicates carefully. Remove dead material only after deciding where old addresses should lead.

Create a redirect map for every changed URL. A permanent redirect should point to the closest replacement, not send every removed page to the home page. Keep the old map available during launch testing.

Audit the content with the people who do the work

Ask sales, support and operations to mark wrong claims, missing services and repeated customer questions. They know where the website creates confusion. A copied old page with new colours is still an old page.

Gather current prices only if the business publishes them, service boundaries, team details, policies and recent photographs. Remove awards, customer quotes or performance numbers that nobody can verify. The redesigned site should be easier to defend line by line.

Review mobile layouts as working screens

Do not approve a redesign from one wide desktop mock-up. Check 320px and 390px widths, a tablet and a large monitor. Read the type, open menus, expand questions, use forms and inspect long service names. Watch for sideways scroll.

Buttons need room for a thumb. Fixed WhatsApp controls should not cover form actions or consent notices. If a section depends on hover, it needs a tap and keyboard path too.

Prepare the launch and rollback

Take a final database and file backup. Lower DNS timing in advance only if the hosting move requires it. Freeze content edits for the short launch window, then test the production domain rather than relying on a preview address.

Check redirects, forms, payment callbacks, email delivery, analytics, robots rules, canonicals, sitemap URLs and social preview images. Keep the old site recoverable until the new one has handled real enquiries. A rollback plan is boring right up to the moment it saves the launch.

• Backups can be restored

• Old URLs reach the right new pages

• Forms arrive in monitored inboxes

• Search engines can index public pages

• Private and draft pages remain blocked

• The 404 page and server errors are tracked

Watch the first weeks

Review Search Console indexing and crawl reports, analytics entry pages, failed forms and server logs. Ask staff which new questions customers are raising. Fix errors while the project context is still fresh.

Do not judge the redesign by one keyword checked from one phone. Search results vary. Look for broken journeys, lost landing pages and changes in qualified enquiries. The design can settle; data faults should not.

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