An association website redesign goes well when most of the work happens before anyone opens a design file. Get the logins, the content, the member data and the old addresses sorted first, and the new site launches without breaking renewals, event registration or the links your members have bookmarked. Skip that part and you spend the first month after launch putting out fires.
I’ve built more than 200 websites since 2006, and I run a chapter’s admin, events and marketing day to day alongside a volunteer board. The redesigns that hurt never fail on the colors. They fail on the boring stuff. Here’s the checklist I use.
Before you start: find out what you actually own
This is the step everyone wants to skip, and it’s the one that stops projects cold.
At most associations, the logins are scattered. One past president registered the domain on a personal card. The hosting is under a volunteer who moved away. The email platform is tied to someone’s Gmail. Nobody is doing anything wrong. That’s just what happens when volunteers rotate every year or two.
Before the redesign, track down and write down:
- The domain registrar and who the account belongs to. If it’s a person, not the organization, fix that first.
- The hosting account or website platform and its billing contact.
- DNS, which is often at the registrar but not always. Your email depends on it, so it needs care.
- Your email platform and the member list inside it.
- The member database, payment processor and any event registration tool.
- Analytics and Google Search Console, if they exist.
Put every login in a shared password manager owned by the organization, not in a spreadsheet passed from treasurer to treasurer. Use a role-based address like admin@ or president@ for account ownership, so the keys stay put when people change seats. Our board member responsibilities guide covers who should hold what.
Decide what the website is for
A redesign is a chance to answer a question most association sites never answered: who is this for, and what should they do here?
For most associations and chapters, the website has three jobs:
- Get people to join or renew. The path to membership should be one click from the home page.
- Get people to events. Upcoming events, with registration, near the top.
- Prove you’re active. Recent news, photos and a calendar that isn’t stuck in last year.
Everything else is supporting cast. If a page doesn’t serve one of those jobs or answer a question members actually ask, it can probably go. If you’re not sure your current site is doing its job, run through the “is my website terrible?” checklist first.
Take inventory of your content
Make a simple list of every page on the current site. For each one, mark it keep, rewrite or cut.
Watch for these:
- Outdated board pages. Names and photos from three boards ago undercut everything else.
- Dead event pages. Last year’s golf outing should be a recap, not a registration page that still takes money.
- PDFs nobody can find. Bylaws, past newsletters and forms often live in a pile. Decide which ones members need.
- Pages that only one person understands. If a page exists because a past volunteer liked it, ask whether anyone visits it.
Rewriting is the slow part. Assign each page to one person with a due date, or the launch waits on copy forever.
Protect your member data
This is where redesigns get risky. If your member records, dues history or event registrations live in your current platform, you need a clean export before anything changes.
- Export members, dues history, event registrations and email subscribers to spreadsheets.
- Check that the exports actually contain data, not just column headers. Open them and read a few rows.
- Note who opted in to email and when. You’ll want that record if you move platforms.
- Confirm whether your current vendor lets you take your data with you, and in what format.
If your current setup means one spreadsheet per task, all updated by hand, the redesign is the moment to fix that, not carry it forward. I lived that pain for years at an association management company and then again running a chapter. It’s a big part of why we built Purple Pushpin, where members, events, dues and email run through the website itself. Whatever you choose, make sure the new setup reduces the spreadsheets rather than adding one more.
The redesign checklist
Copy this and work through it in order.
Before design
- [ ] Every login listed and stored in an organization-owned password manager
- [ ] Domain and hosting owned by the organization, not a person
- [ ] Goals agreed: join or renew, events, proof of activity
- [ ] Content inventory done: keep, rewrite or cut
- [ ] Member, dues, event and email data exported and spot-checked
- [ ] List of every current page address saved
During the build
- [ ] Membership and renewal path tested, start to finish, with a real payment
- [ ] Event registration tested, including confirmation emails
- [ ] Mobile layout checked on an actual phone
- [ ] Board, sponsor and contact pages current
- [ ] Accessibility basics: real headings, alt text on images, readable contrast
- [ ] Each page has its own title and meta description
Launch week
- [ ] Redirects from every old page address to its new home
- [ ] Email records (SPF, DKIM, DMARC) still in place after any DNS change
- [ ] Analytics and Search Console connected
- [ ] Forms send to the right inbox, tested by someone outside the board
- [ ] Old platform kept running until the new one is confirmed working
First month after
- [ ] Search Console checked for errors and missing pages
- [ ] One person owns updates going forward, with a backup
- [ ] Logins handed over properly at the next board transition
Don’t break your old links
Every page on your current site has an address that someone, somewhere, has saved. Search engines have them too. If those addresses disappear on launch day, members hit error pages and you lose whatever search ranking you had.
Before launch, save a list of every current page address. For each one, set a redirect to the closest page on the new site. It’s tedious, and it’s the difference between a quiet launch and a month of “the link in the newsletter is broken” emails. You’ll find more on this in our website design for associations guide.
Plan who keeps it current
A new site looks great for about six months. Then the event calendar goes stale, the board page lags behind the election and the home page still promotes last spring’s luncheon.
Before you launch, decide:
- Who updates events and how fast after the board approves them.
- Who updates the board page after each election.
- What the site’s editor looks like. If only one volunteer can figure it out, it won’t get updated when that volunteer is busy.
The best association websites aren’t the fanciest. They’re the ones that are easy enough to update that someone actually does. That’s how we approach websites and software for associations and chapters.
Frequently asked questions
How often should an association redesign its website?
When it stops doing its jobs, not on a schedule. If members can’t find how to join or register, the site doesn’t work well on a phone, or nobody on the board can update it, it’s time. Many associations get five or more years out of a site that’s built well and kept current.
How long does an association website redesign take?
The build itself is often a few weeks. What stretches it is gathering logins, deciding what stays and rewriting pages. Budget more time for the prep than the design, and set due dates for content.
What’s the biggest mistake in an association website redesign?
Launching without redirects and without testing the join and registration paths. A beautiful site that loses renewals or breaks every old link costs more than it gains. Test the money paths with a real transaction before you announce anything.
Planning a redesign and not sure where your logins, data or old links stand? We’ll help you sort out the boring parts first, then build something your board can actually keep current. Request an introduction.