How much change should you make to your site in one go?

[hotchilidamo]

Hey everyone,

So we are currently working on a new website and are in the final stages right now. We have some plans for a brand name change too and there is some debate internally whether we should:

a) roll out the new site now and hold off on the rebrand - let the redirects kick in and the site bed in so to speak. Then when the dust settles look at a domain name change

b) Roll out the new site with the domain name change too - an all in change

A bit of background on the changes being made:

The new website will have some structural changes but the main blog content will remain the same - this is where we get the majority of our traffic. The blog will have a slight page layout change but the core content, structure, urls, etc. will be exactly the same.

The core website surrounding the blog will change with 301 redirects from old out of date content pages consolidated to fewer, more relevant pages.

I hope I've explained enough here, if not please let me know and I'll add more detail

[hotchilidamo]

Thanks for the response and whilst it is very useful, it doesn't actually answer my question.

We know we want to change the brand, the question is more about how much change should you make in one go. The scenarios are:

1. redesigned site - this is a consolidation of pages, structure change, and a move to a wordpress platform. A pretty major shake up

2. then there's the rebrand and url change

My question is, should we do 1 and 2 at the same time in one huge change, or is it more sensible to do 1 first and then after x months, implement change 2.

Does that help clarify things?

[PatrickDelehanty]

Hi there

You should check out Rand's Should I Rebrand and Redirect My Site? Should I Consolidate Multiple Sites/Brands? Whiteboard Friday. This post walks you through the thought process and different things to consider.

I would also make sure you keep the Web Site Migration Guide in your back pocket as well to make sure you have all of your bases covered.

Lastly, make sure you check your backlinks so you know which ones you will want to update, remove, or disavow come launch of your new URL structure.

Hope this helps! Good luck!