The foundation of your digital presence: Getting it right

Your website is the cornerstone of your online identity—a crucial touchpoint for prospects, partners and existing clients. It influences perceptions, educates and drives action. A redesign is an investment in your future, making it vital to get the preparatory steps right.

11 mistakes water brands make before redesigning a website

Navigating a website redesign can feel complex, but avoiding these common missteps will create clear solutions for your project.

1. Not defining clear goals

• The mistake: Jumping into design without articulating what the new website needs to achieve. Is it lead generation, brand awareness, e-commerce, improved customer service or a combination?
• The fix: Before anything else, establish specific, measurable, achievable, relevant and time-bound (SMART) goals. This creates a roadmap for success and a benchmark for measurable outcomes.

2. Prioritizing a website redesign over an investment in brand identity or messaging

• The mistake: Redesigning a website without confidence in the brand’s visual identity or the shared language around your brand’s core values, mission, product + service descriptions or key differentiators. 
• The fix: Once your goals are established, evaluate your internal team’s confidence in the brand’s recognition and recall. If your internal team expresses concerns in this area, we can help. We offer a variety of consulting services, including brand auditing, messaging strategy and brand-intensive workshops to help you master your visual identity, tone of voice and messaging pillars before the start of your website redesign. This investment of time and strategy removes bottlenecks or delays that may arise from differing opinions on how the brand should be represented online. 

3. Ignoring user experience (UX)

• The mistake: Prioritizing flashy aesthetics over intuitive navigation and a seamless user journey. If users can’t find what they need easily, they’ll leave.
• The fix: Put your users first. Conduct user research, create user personas and map out user flows. A good user experience (UX) keeps visitors engaged and guides them toward your desired actions.

4. Neglecting search engine strategy from the start

• The mistake: Treating SEO (Search Engine Optimization), GEO (Generative Engine Optimization or AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) as an afterthought, only considering it once the new site is built. This can lead to a significant drop in organic traffic.
• The fix: Integrate a search strategy into every stage of your redesign. Conduct keyword research, map existing content to new URLs, ensure proper redirects are in place and optimize site structure from day one. Your visibility depends on it.

5. Overlooking content strategy

• The mistake: Believing the existing website content will simply transfer over, or waiting until the design is complete to think about new content. This often results in generic, uninspired copy.
• The fix: Develop a comprehensive content marketing strategy upfront. Audit existing content, identify gaps, plan for new, compelling material and ensure your messaging aligns with your brand’s voice and goals. This is where deep water + marketing expertise truly shines.

6. Focusing only on aesthetics (not functionality)

• The mistake: Getting caught up in visual appeal without considering how the site will function—its load speed, integrations with other systems (CRM, marketing automation) or backend management.
• The fix: Balance design with functionality. Ensure the chosen platform and technologies support your operational needs and deliver a robust, scalable website that performs well.

7. Failing to analyze current website performance

• The mistake: Not reviewing analytics from your current site to understand what’s working (and what isn’t). This means you miss opportunities to improve.
• The fix: Dive into your Google Analytics, search console data and other metrics. Identify popular pages, common exit points, traffic sources and conversion paths. This insight meets impact, guiding intelligent redesign decisions.

8. Not involving key stakeholders

• The mistake: Excluding sales, product development, engineering or customer service teams from the planning process. Their unique perspectives are invaluable.
• The fix: Create a cross-functional redesign committee. Gather input from all departments that interact with the website or its users. This fosters internal alignment and ensures the new site serves diverse needs, collaborating for clear solutions.

9. Underestimating the project scope + timeline

• The mistake: Being overly optimistic about how quickly a redesign can be completed, leading to rushed decisions and compromised quality.
• The fix: Work with experienced professionals to develop a realistic project scope, budget and timeline. Account for discovery, design, development, content creation, testing and launch.

10. Forgetting mobile responsiveness

• The mistake: Designing primarily for desktop and assuming mobile will just “work.” With most B2B research happening on mobile devices, this is a critical oversight.
• The fix: Prioritize a mobile-first design approach. Ensure your website looks and functions flawlessly across all devices, providing an optimal user experience (UX) for every visitor.

11. Choosing the wrong partner (or no partner)

• The mistake: Attempting a complex redesign with an in-house team lacking specialized expertise, or hiring a generalist agency that doesn’t understand the nuances of the water sector.
• The fix: Partner with a specialist agency that truly understands your industry and your unique challenges. Boeh Agency is built for water brands—we’re your full-service ally and trusted guides with water expertise. We know how to navigate the intersection of water + marketing to deliver a website that drives tangible results.