As your business evolves or market trends shift or user needs change, you must adjust your web site accordingly. Thus introducing the concept of realignment. In order to stay competitive within the online market, a realignment is executed to adjust a web site to new strategies or goals. This concept is less costly than an entire site redesign for it aims to fully reposition versus merely refresh.

A redesign is aesthetic-driven, while the desire to realign is purpose-driven. One approach seeks merely to refresh, the other aims to fully reposition and may or may not include a full refresh. Most redesigns fail to live up to expectations since it relies on emotional response to the look, feel, color scheme, layout and overall identity, rather than with a purpose in mind. A redesign caters to the demands of popular culture, rather than the needs expressed by popular demand. Realignment, however involves citing strategic objectives and user needs. It has two main facets.

The Concept of Realignment
The first is realigning your web site with your current web strategy. Having a defined strategy narrows the focus and purpose of a project to make it as effective as possible. Strategy helps contain the scope of work, direct the content creation process, and provide tactical direction. It also allows designers to design instead of just making pretty pictures, and it keeps developers focused on the right features. Is your web site doing everything it can to convince buyers to perform a specific action? If it isn't, what do you need to do to realign your website with your strategy? What changes can you make today to bring your site a little closer to being in line with your strategy?

The second is the process of realigning your goals. This should be an ongoing endeavor. Plan to update, maintain, and improve your web site on a yearly basis. Make sure you track your progress as updates are made. See what motivates each customer. Constantly examine the definition of your customer. Has it changed? What do you need to do to adapt to the change in needs? The quicker you notice change and realign your goals accordingly the farther you will stay ahead of the competition.

Meriter Health Services
A great example of realignment is Meriter Health Services. After they reviewed their site, they thought it best to connect there someone to lean on campaign with the photos displayed on their homepage. Starkmedia added names and professional titles underneath each individual in order for the visitor to identify with each care provider. Originally, Meriter featured a Daily News section which was thought to not have enough content. As a result, the Daily News section was realigned what is now a general News section that features past and current content. Finally, a static site was repositioned to be more interative and informative for each visitor. Through a partnership with Staywell Solutions, Meriter purchased and utilizes one of the most elaborate healthy living sections available on the web. Not only can visitors learn about diseases and conditions, surgeries and procedures and wellness classes, they can also take risk assessments, put together their own personal health page and view recipes specifically tailored for individual with diabetes, heart conditions or that are pregnant. By having a specific purpose and a strategy in place, Starkmedia was able to realign their site to fit the needs of each visitor.

Of course, sometimes it is necessary to recreate instead of refresh. Some situations warrant a complete re-design, for example, adapting to a new identity or "brand" or if the design is the cause of your problems (confusing navigation or painfully slow load time).

The Starkmedia Way
Here are some questions to consider when considering changes to your site:

1. What are you trying to accomplish? What are your reasons or goals? "Look and feel" considerations like a font choice and color scheme should not be discussed before addressing these issues.
2. What level of change is necessary? Answering the first question will help to answer this question. If you already have a solid design, a few minor changes in the "look" and updated content may be all you need. A re-design will not bring new traffic to your site if you repeat old mistakes.
3. How will this affect the users of the site? How painful or painless will it be for them to adjust to the changes? Are most of them new or repeat visitors?
4. How will the re-design/re-align be done? Can changes be phased in or is it necessary to do it all at once? What are your budgets considerations?