Does your website need a redesign, or just a refresh?

Your website looked fine when it went up. Now it feels dated, a customer mentioned it was hard to use on their phone, and you are not sure whether it needs a few fixes or starting over. Starting over feels expensive. Patching something broken feels like a waste.

Here is how to tell whether your site needs a full website redesign or just a refresh, and what you can fix yourself this week either way.

How do you know if your website needs a redesign?

Your website needs a redesign when the problems are in its structure rather than its surface: it does not work properly on phones, it is built on software that can no longer be updated safely, it is too slow to fix without rebuilding, or it no longer matches what your business actually sells. Surface problems such as old photos, dated wording or a missing page can usually be fixed without starting over.

A useful test is to ask whether the problem would still be there after a week of editing. If yes, it is a structural problem. If no, it is a refresh.

What are the signs a website redesign is overdue?

These are the signs that usually mean rebuilding is cheaper than patching:

• It is hard to use on a phone. More than half of local searches happen on mobile, and Google ranks sites mainly on how they work on phones. If people have to pinch and zoom, you are losing them.
• It takes more than about three seconds to load on mobile. Google’s own research found that more than half of mobile visitors leave a page that takes longer than three seconds.
• Nobody can update it. If changing a phone number means calling someone who built it years ago, the site is working against you.
• The software is out of date and cannot be updated. Old themes and plugins that no longer receive security updates are one of the most common ways small business sites get hacked.
• Your business has changed. New services, new area, new prices or a new name that the site was never built to show.

If two or more of those apply, a redesign is usually the better use of money. Our post on why a slow website loses local customers explains how much speed alone can cost.

When is a refresh enough?

A refresh is enough when the site works well on phones, loads quickly, can be edited easily and runs on supported software, but simply looks or reads tired. In that case new photos, tighter wording, a clearer call to action and an updated services page will do most of what a redesign would, for a fraction of the cost.

You can do a refresh yourself over a weekend:

• Replace stock or dated photos with recent photos of your own work, team and premises.
• Rewrite the top of the homepage so it says what you do, where, and how to get in touch, in one glance.
• Put your phone number and a booking or contact button at the top of every page.
• Add three or four recent reviews where people can see them.
• Run your homepage through Google PageSpeed Insights, which is free, and fix the easy items it lists, usually oversized images.

Our guide to what makes a website turn visitors into customers has more on what to change first.

How much does a website redesign cost?

A small business website redesign typically costs between 2,000 and 10,000 dollars in the US, depending on the number of pages, whether you need features such as booking or online payments, and how much new writing and photography is involved. Template rebuilds by freelancers can come in under that range, and large custom sites run well above it.

The figure that matters more than the price is what the current site is costing you in missed calls. A site that loses even one customer a week to a bad phone experience is usually more expensive than the redesign.

Target Marketeer builds and runs marketing for small businesses nationwide, based in Greensboro, North Carolina, and we often recommend a refresh before a rebuild. If yours does need a fresh start, our standard website starts at $3,195, and our website design and development page walks through how a redesign runs.

Quick answers

How often should a small business redesign its website?

Most small business websites need a redesign every four to six years, with smaller refreshes in between. The trigger should be a structural problem or a change in the business, not just the calendar.

Will a website redesign hurt my Google rankings?

It can if page addresses change without redirects, or if well ranking content is removed. A careful redesign keeps or redirects existing pages, and usually improves rankings because the new site is faster and works better on phones.

Can I redesign my website myself?

You can refresh the content yourself, and many owners can rebuild a simple site with a modern website builder. The risky parts are moving the domain, keeping existing pages ranking and setting up forms and tracking correctly.

How long does a website redesign take?

A small business website redesign usually takes four to eight weeks from first conversation to launch. Most of the time goes into gathering content, writing and photos, rather than the build itself.

Start with the weekend refresh. If the problems are still there afterwards, you will know it is time for a redesign, and you will know exactly what the new site has to fix.