Discover how to plan and execute your SME website redesign in 7 key steps, from initial audit to optimised go live. You'll learn how to:
- Audit your existing site and identify weak points
- Define clear objectives (UX, performance, SEO)
- Choose the right technology stack
- Model your screens with professional wireframes
- Develop a responsive and accessible site
- Optimise loading times and performance
- Testing and preparing for a smooth launch
Introduction
For an SME or freelancer, redesigning a website can seem like a major challenge: limited budget, reduced internal resources, fear of business interruption... Yet a modernised, fast and well-referenced site is one of the best levers for growth. In this tutorial, we guide you step by step, using tried and tested methods and accessible tools, to transform your online presence into a competitive asset.
1. Carry out a full audit of your current site
Before starting from scratch, you need to understand where you stand. The audit covers three areas:
- Technical: performance, HTML tags, 404 errors, responsive.
- UX/UI: user path, ergonomics, visual consistency.
- SEO: keywords, meta tags, Hn structure, backlinks.
Recommended tools:
2. Clearly defining your objectives
A redesign without objectives is doomed to failure. Take the time to specify:
- UX: reducing the bounce rate, simplifying the conversion tunnel.
- Performance: Lighthouse target ≥ 90, loading in less than 3 s.
- SEO: improved positioning on 5 strategic keywords.
Formalise these indicators in a brief or scoping document shared with your service provider or in-house team.
3. Selecting the right technology stack
The choice of technology is based on your business objectives, your internal skills and your budget. There are three main families available to you:
- CMS (WordPress, Grav, Strapi) for simplified content management that's quick to get to grips with.
- Framework (React, Vue, Svelte) for bespoke, interactive and highly dynamic interfaces.
- Static Site Generators (Jekyll, Hugo) for optimal performance, minimal maintenance and enhanced security.
Why use an agency like Lumineth?
Choosing the right technology on your own can be risky and time-consuming. By working with Lumineth, you benefit from:
- Our proven expertise to select the solution best suited to your project and resources.
- Precious time savings: we supervise the implementation, configuration and upskilling of your team.
- A guarantee of smooth, scalable deployment, with ongoing support to avoid any technical blockages.
4. Mock-up your screens with wireframes
Before any line of code, make clear wireframes for :
- Validate the information architecture
- Ensure the logic of user paths
- Get feedback quickly from your staff or customers
Free tools: Figma (free version), Pencil Project, Wireframe.cc.
5. Developing a responsive and accessible site
Visitors use all types of device: desktop, tablet, mobile. Make sure your site :
- Automatically adapts via
@media queries - Respects WCAG contrasts for accessibility
- Includes ARIA tags for screen readers
@media (max-width: 768px) {
.nav-menu {
display: flex;
flex-direction: column;
}
}
6. Optimising performance and load times
A slow site drives away 40% of visitors; it also hurts SEO. Here are the priority actions:
- Image compression (WebP, AVIF)
- Caching via
Cache-ControlandETag - Minification of HTML/CSS/JS (Gulp, Webpack, esbuild)
- Asynchronous script loading (defer, async)
| Format Image |
Target size (max.) |
Advised use |
|---|---|---|
| JPEG | 200 Kb | Photos |
| WebP | 100 Kb | Alternatives to PNG/JPEG |
| SVG | <50 Kb | Logos, icons |
7. Testing and preparing for launch
Before going live:
- Functional testing (forms, shopping carts, authentication)
- Cross-browser and cross-device testing
- Final SEO audit (meta tags, sitemap.xml, robots.txt)
- Rollback plan in case of problems
Organise a closed beta with a few collaborators or customers to detect the latest bugs and gather their feedback.
Points to remember
- Pre-audit guides all decisions.
- Clear objectives guarantee a measurable project.
- The choice of technology must match your skills.
- Optimising performance improves UX and SEO.
- Pre-launch testing prevents unpleasant surprises.
Conclusion
Redesigning your SME website may seem ambitious, but by following these 7 steps-from audit to go live-you structure your project to guarantee performance, visibility and customer satisfaction. Take the time to document each phase, involve your stakeholders, and choose the right tools for your resources.
How Lumineth can support you: At Lumineth, we put our expertise in web auditing, UX/UI design, front-end development and local SEO at your service. We tailor our methods to the size of your business, using open-source tools and innovative technologies to complete your redesign on budget and on time. Contact our team for a free audit of your site.
Appendix
To take your SME website redesign one step further, here are some useful additional elements to keep to hand:
- Project preparation checklist: List of existing pages to be kept or deleted, elements to be migrated, content inventory (text, media, scripts).
- Specification template: Objectives, target audience, technical constraints, schedule, roles and responsibilities, success indicators.
- Examples of free or open-source tools: Figma for mock-ups, Netlify for hosting, WebPageTest.org for performance, Lighthouse for final audit.
- Useful resources: Accessibility guides (W3C/WCAG), documentation of frameworks used, technical SEO checklist (tags, sitemap, robots.txt).
- Organisational tip: Schedule weekly check-ins during the project to monitor progress and anticipate blockages.