Nobody wakes up wanting to pay for a website twice. So the question of whether an existing site should be replaced tends to get put off, usually until a customer says something embarrassing about it. A calmer way to decide is to look at evidence, and there are three places to find it.
Below are the signs you need a new website that are worth acting on, followed by a few that are not.
What your customers are telling you
Customers rarely complain about a website directly. They show you in other ways.
- They ring to ask things the website should answer. Opening hours, prices, whether you cover their area. If the information is on the site and people still ask, they could not find it.
- They say they found you somewhere else. If every new customer comes from a recommendation or a directory and none from your own site, it is not doing its share.
- They mention it was awkward on their phone. For every person who says so, several simply left.
- You have stopped giving out the address. If you feel the need to apologise for your website before someone looks at it, you already know.
What the numbers are telling you
If you have Google Analytics or Search Console, a few figures are worth checking. If you have neither, that is a finding in itself.
- Visits without enquiries. People arrive, look at one page and leave. The site is being found but is not persuading anyone.
- Enquiries falling while the business is steady. Something has changed, often on the mobile side.
- Poor speed results. If the site takes several seconds to show its main content on a phone, visitors are being lost before they read a word. We have covered why websites become slow and what can be fixed without a rebuild.
- Hardly any visits from phones. For most local businesses the majority of visitors are on mobiles. A low share suggests the site is being avoided on them.
What the website will not let you do
This is often the deciding factor, because it gets worse every year.
- You cannot update it yourself. Changing a price means emailing someone and waiting. So the site slowly fills with things that are no longer true.
- It cannot be updated safely. The theme or plugins are no longer supported, and applying updates breaks the layout. An unmaintained site is a security risk as well as an inconvenience.
- The business has outgrown it. You have added services, changed your name, moved, or started selling online, and the structure cannot stretch to fit.
- It does not work with the tools you now use. Booking systems, payment links, your customer database.
Reasons that are not enough on their own
Some common prompts for a redesign deserve a second look before you spend anything.
- You are bored of it. You see your site far more often than any customer does. Familiarity is not the same as being out of date.
- A competitor has relaunched. Their new site may or may not be winning them work. Copying it will not tell you.
- It is a certain number of years old. Age alone means little. A five-year-old site that is quick, accurate and brings in enquiries is doing its job.
- Someone has emailed to say it is broken. Unsolicited audits are sales tools. Check the claims yourself before worrying.
Refresh, redesign or rebuild?
These words get used loosely, and the difference in cost is large.
| Option | What changes | Right when |
|---|---|---|
| Refresh | Text, photos, colours and a few layouts. The structure stays. | The site works well technically but the content has drifted out of date. |
| Redesign | New look and page structure on the same platform. | The foundations are sound but the layout no longer suits your customers or your services. |
| Rebuild | Everything, usually on a new foundation. | The site is slow, cannot be updated safely or cannot do what the business now needs. |
If the honest answer is a refresh, take it. It is cheaper and quicker, and regular upkeep under one of our website care plans may be all the site was missing.
If you decide to go ahead
Two things protect you. First, keep what already works. Pages that rank on Google and bring in visitors need to be carried over carefully, and there is a right way to redesign a website without losing its rankings. Second, know what you are signing up for before you start. It helps to understand what happens during a redesign and how long each stage takes.
Write down the three or four problems you most want solved and judge every proposal against that list. A redesign that looks different but leaves those problems in place has not earned its fee. Rebuilding existing sites is a regular part of our website design work, and we will tell you plainly if yours does not need it yet.