Small Steps, BIG Results: Improving Your Website Without a Major Redesign

Are you looking to improve your website without a major redesign? 

You don’t need a website redesign to make a significant impact. You can boost website usability, user engagement, and member value with thoughtful, incremental changes — what we call quick wins. These targeted updates are often faster to implement, easier to test, and more cost-effective. Over time, they add up to meaningful improvements that align with both user needs and organizational goals.

Small steps can make a big impact

Many associations think that updating a website means they need to start from scratch. However, your website can grow and adapt without a significant financial investment. A great place to start is to get a clear understanding of your users’ pain points and develop a strategy to address them. Your website is the first point of member engagement.

I’ve compiled a list of quick wins that you can implement immediately without a big investment. Think evolution, not revolution.

Opportunity: Refresh Your Website Design

A few simple updates can give your website a fresh, modern feel and improve user experience. By adjusting styling (fonts, colors, spacing), simplifying the navigation and adding engaging hero images with calls to action, you can quickly create a more inviting and impactful site.

Quick win: Replacing stock images with more authentic visuals and streamlining the layout enhances the user experience, especially on mobile devices. With these thoughtful improvements, your website will feel vibrant, cohesive, and easy to navigate.

Opportunity: Test Your Website’s Usability

Your website should serve your users, not just your organization. The first commandment of website sanity is clear: Thou shalt not ignore thy user. Some common pain points include:

• Confusing navigation menus
• Outdated or buried content
• Slow load times
• Broken links or inaccessible forms 

Consider doing a card sort exercise because it will help uncover how users naturally group and label content, offering valuable insight into their priorities and language. This can directly inform a more intuitive website structure and improve navigation. Then hosting a reverse card sort exercise to test how well users can complete key tasks using your proposed structure. This reveals usability issues and helps validate your navigation with real user behavior.

These exercises will help clarify top user goals, enabling you to deliver more meaningful content and experiences. Improved website navigation is a powerful driver of engagement.

Quick win: Start with simple heatmap or user tracking tools like Hotjar or Google Analytics. You’ll be surprised at what users click on and ignore completely.

Opportunity: Create an Analytics/SEO Reporting Dashboard

Redesigns can easily fall into "shiny object syndrome," adding features no one uses. Instead, focus on functionality. Start by reviewing your website analytics to understand what truly matters to users. Don’t be afraid of the numbers. Analytics are your friend, not your frenemy. Whether it's bounce rates, session duration, or conversion paths, the data tells a story. Are people finding what they need? Are they leaving too soon? Are they clicking where you want them to? Track, test, refine, repeat.

Quick wins:

1. Improve your website speed. Compress images, clean up plugins, and leverage caching.
2. Refine your calls-to-action: “Join Now” should feel more like an invitation, less like a command.
3. Make it mobile-friendly because your members are probably accessing your website while multitasking.
4. Create a Google Analytics Reporting Dashboard using Looker Studio. (We do this for clients!)

These small, purposeful tweaks can go a long way in improving member experience and satisfaction.

Opportunity: Review, Refine & Retire Content

It's important to speak your members’ language. Associations are notorious for insider jargon. I call it the “alphabet soup” of member communication. If your website homepage sounds like a committee meeting, it might be time to reword and rethink your content.

Effective website content should be meaningful, useful, and accessible. To drive engagement, ensure every webpage includes clear next steps. If not, identify and add them. Use the chart below to guide a team exercise and build a focused content plan.

Quick win: Conduct a content audit with an eye toward clarity. Ask a non-member to read your website homepage and explain what your organization does. If they look at you like you’ve spoken Elvish, it’s rewrite time.

Opportunity: Consolidate Your Digital Presence

Consolidating your digital presence reduces tech costs, streamlines staff workflows, boosts SEO, and strengthens brand authority by eliminating duplicate content and driving relevant traffic. It’s a smart move for strategy, scalability...and sanity. Be sure to embrace agile thinking and regularly scheduled micro-improvements. Continuous testing is an effective way to achieve this.

In other words, your website doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to improve consistently.

Quick win: Start by auditing your digital ecosystem for redundant or outdated microsites, landing pages, or external resources. Consolidating these into your primary website not only streamlines the user experience, but also strengthens your SEO and makes content easier to manage. It’s a simple step that can immediately reduce confusion for users and lighten the load for your team.

Why This Matters for Associations

Your website serves at the central hub for member engagement, communication, and resources. It’s often the first point of contact for potential members, sponsors, and partners. A well-designed, user-friendly website makes resources, events, advocacy efforts, and networking opportunities easily accessible, driving member satisfaction and retention. Without a strong online presence, an association risks losing relevance, visibility, and connection in today's digital world.

Overall win: Consistent, strategic updates keep your website relevant and member-focused. My colleague Steve often says this mantra to our web clients: “Progress over perfection. Always.” I like it because it's a mindset that drives lasting, meaningful results.

Watch the "Small Steps, BIG Results: Improving Your Website Without a Major Redesign" webinar recording here for more ideas: