Website redesign, Rwanda
A redesign should fix what holds your current site back while protecting the search rankings, links and domain you have already built. We start with an audit, keep your .rw address and rebuild on WordPress with a written plan for every old URL.
Organisations in Rwanda usually ask for a redesign for familiar reasons: the site looks dated, it is slow on phones, staff cannot update it, or it was built before mobile money became the obvious way to pay. Sometimes it is all four. A new look alone rarely fixes those problems, so we look at structure, content and technology together.
Redesign projects sit within our Strategy & Design service, which starts from $1,500 per project. If the new site needs custom features such as payments or portals, we scope that development separately so you can see what each part costs.
We begin by reviewing the existing site: which pages bring visitors from search, which forms people actually use, what plugins are installed and what personal data is collected. We also check how the site performs on a mid-range Android phone over mobile data. The audit gives you a short written report and becomes the brief for the redesign, so decisions rest on evidence rather than taste alone.
Rankings are attached to URLs. If a page moves and nothing tells search engines where it went, the ranking is often lost. We list every indexed URL on your current site, decide which pages stay, merge or retire, and set up permanent redirects before launch. Page titles, headings and internal links are carried across where they still serve the page, and we resubmit the sitemap once the new site is live.
Your .rw or .co.rw address is part of your identity, and changing it would throw away years of links. We rebuild behind the same domain, on a staging address first, then switch over in a planned window. Domain records stay with your RICTA-accredited registrar and in your organisation's name. Email on the domain keeps running throughout, because we check mail records before touching DNS.
Older Rwandan sites often predate Law No. 058/2021. Contact forms may store entries indefinitely, newsletter sign-ups may lack clear consent, and nobody may know where the database physically sits. A redesign is the right moment to correct that. We reduce form fields to what you need, add consent wording you approve, set retention for stored entries and plan hosting in line with the law's default of storing personal data in Rwanda.
Content migration is where redesigns quietly go wrong. Images lose captions, French and Kinyarwanda pages lose their links to the English versions, and downloads disappear. We map content type by type, move it with scripts where volume allows and check samples by hand. Your team reviews the staging site before launch and signs off on content, not just on design.
Strategy & Design from $1,500 · Development from $5,000 · Managed Services from $2,000 per year. See pricing
Our redesigns for Verbatim and WL Construction show how we take an established company website and rebuild it with a clearer structure and a more modern design.
Some movement is normal for a few weeks after any relaunch. Serious, lasting losses usually come from missing redirects, deleted content or blocked indexing, and those are what our process is designed to prevent. We map every URL, test redirects before launch and monitor search data afterwards so problems are caught early.
Yes. If your logo, colours or certain layouts work well, we keep them and improve around them. Some clients want a complete change, others a refresh that existing visitors will still recognise. The audit and an early design workshop help you decide which approach fits your audience.
Yes. We move sites from other platforms and custom systems to WordPress as part of the redesign, exporting content, rebuilding templates and redirecting old addresses. If the old platform locks content away, we work out the cleanest export route before committing to a timeline in the written scope.
Your current site stays live until launch day. We build and test the new one on a staging address, then switch at a time you approve, ideally outside your busiest hours in Kigali. If anything needs attention after the switch, the old version is kept ready so we can roll back while it is corrected.
Yes, if payments are in scope. We connect WordPress to IremboPay, Flutterwave or MTN's Collections API so customers can pay with MTN MoMo or Airtel Money, with cards as another option. Payment work is development rather than design, so it is priced separately in the written scope.
Access to the current site, analytics and search console if you have them, and your hosting and domain details. We also ask who will approve content in each language your site uses. With that in hand, we can complete the audit and send you a written scope to review.
We also work acrossBotswanaCanadaCôte d'IvoireEthiopiaGhanaKenyaMalawiNigeriaSénégalSouth AfricaSwedenTanzaniaUgandaUnited KingdomUnited StatesZambiaZimbabweAll countries
A new website, a redesign, a client portal, a booking system, or a move from another platform. Tell us what you need and we will tell you how WordPress can carry it.
What happens next
