Published
A website feels old before it is actually in the way. The expensive mistake is to rebuild a site that only needed a clearer phone number, and the quiet mistake is to keep paying to patch a site that cannot say what the business does.
Repair it when the bones are sound
If people already find the right page, and the problem is that they do not enquire, start there. A visible call, a shorter form, faster pages and a first screen that states the offer can be a smaller project than a new site.
Keep the addresses of pages that already bring work. Changing a URL because the new menu looks tidier is how a redesign loses the search visibility the old site had earned.
Redesign when the structure is the problem
A new site is the right conversation when several of these are true:
- You are embarrassed to send the address to a good customer
- The services you want are not the services on the menu
- Every change risks breaking the page, or nobody knows how to change it
- The site is not usable on a phone, and the template cannot be fixed cleanly
- You need a quote tool, a booking flow or a portal the current setup will not hold
What to carry across
Make a list of pages that receive enquiries or search visits before anyone designs a homepage. Decide which claims, photos and reviews are still true. Write the redirects at the same time as the new map, not the week after launch.
Agree what 'done' means. A redesigned site that looks calmer and still hides the enquiry has not finished. The same is true of a fast site that describes a business you no longer run.