Plan the redesign before you build it.
A website redesign consultant engagement is audit and strategy without the build. Some teams need a plan more than they need a redesign. The consultant engagement gives you a clean map of what to keep, what to change, what to measure, and what the right scope actually is — without committing to a full rebuild. Audit, strategy, page plan, SEO map, written brief.
A real plan, in writing.
The consultant engagement delivers five things:
- A written audit of the current site — pages, structure, search value, lead paths
- A redesign brief: goals, page priorities, success metrics
- A new sitemap and information architecture
- An SEO migration map: keep, redirect, retire decisions per URL
- A scoped recommendation: what should change, in what order, at what cost
The deliverable is a document your team — or any agency — can build from.
Four situations where the consultant engagement is the right call.
You have an internal team that will build it
Your team has designers and developers but lacks redesign strategy or SEO migration experience. We deliver the plan; your team executes. Common pattern at mid-sized companies with mature in-house design.
You're shopping the build to multiple agencies
A detailed brief, page plan, and scoped recommendation gives every agency the same starting point. You get apples-to-apples quotes instead of three different interpretations of what you want.
You need an unbiased read before committing
The cost of a full redesign is meaningful. A consultant engagement costs less and tells you whether you need one. Sometimes the answer is "yes, here's the scope." Sometimes it's "no, a content refresh will get you most of the way for a fraction of the cost."
Leadership needs to see the plan before approving the budget
A written audit + strategy document is something to present to a board, partners, or executives. Easier to approve a redesign when the case for it is sized and scoped in writing.
Five sections, one document.
Current-site audit
Page-by-page inventory. Traffic and rankings. Content equity. Forms and lead paths. Mobile, accessibility, page speed. Technical SEO health. The document names what's working, what's broken, and what's salvageable.
Redesign brief
The goal for the new site. The page priorities. The audience the new version needs to reach. The success metric. The non-goals (what we're explicitly not trying to fix). Locked in writing before any structural work begins.
Information architecture
New sitemap. Navigation structure. Internal linking plan. URL strategy. Page hierarchy. The shape of the new site, before any design or copy.
SEO migration map
Every existing URL: keep, redirect, or retire. Status codes per URL. Redirect destinations. Metadata carry-forward decisions. The launch can't drop rankings if this document lands first.
Scoped recommendation
What we'd build, in what order, at what cost. Sized for the team that will execute — whether that's our agency, your internal team, or another vendor. Includes ranges for the full build engagement.
Faster than a full build.
The consultant engagement runs faster and costs less than a full redesign because the deliverable is a document, not a built site.
Pricing and scales with site size and migration complexity. What you get back is a written document plus a walkthrough call. After delivery, the document is yours. Take it to your internal team, share it with agencies you're evaluating, or convert directly into a build engagement with us.
Plan first, build next — or take the plan elsewhere.
Some clients use the consultant engagement to scope a build with us. Others take the document to an internal team or a different vendor. Both paths are fine. The consultant engagement is built to stand alone.
Frequently asked questions.
How is this different from a free site audit?
Short answer: A free site audit is a sales tool — a short marketing deliverable designed to start a conversation. The consultant engagement is a real deliverable: a written document with audit, strategy, IA, SEO migration plan, and scoped recommendation. We charge for it because it takes real work to produce.
Can we keep the consultant deliverable and use a different agency for the build?
Short answer: Yes. The document is yours. Many clients use it to compare agency proposals or to brief an internal team. We're happy to be one of the agencies you compare against — and equally happy if a different firm is the right fit.
If we proceed with a build, does the consultant fee count toward it?
Short answer: The consultant engagement effectively becomes the first phase of the full redesign when you proceed with us. We talk through how that credit works case by case.
Will the consultant document tell us whether to redesign at all?
Short answer: Yes. Sometimes the recommendation is "don't redesign — refresh the content and update the proof, and you'll get 80 percent of the gain at 20 percent of the cost." We'd rather give that answer in writing than sell you a redesign you don't need.
Who delivers the consultant work?
Short answer: Senior strategy and SEO leads anchor the engagement. Copy, design, and build specialists weigh in on relevant sections. The lead presents the deliverable on the walkthrough call.
Tell us about the site and where you need the plan.
Send the URL, what's already been decided about the redesign, and the questions you need answered before you commit to a build. We'll be in touch to schedule a call.