7 signs your business website needs a redesign

1. It is awkward to use on a phone

Many visitors will see your website on a phone first. Open it on your own phone and try to do the things a customer would: find your services, check where you work and get in touch. If you need to pinch and zoom, if buttons are too small to tap comfortably, if menus are fiddly or if text runs off the screen, customers will feel that frustration too. A website that was not designed for mobile from the start is one of the clearest reasons to redesign.

2. It is slow to load

People are impatient online, particularly on mobile data. Oversized images, heavy themes, too many plugins and slow hosting are common culprits. Google’s free PageSpeed Insights tool will show you how your pages perform and what is slowing them down. Some speed problems can be fixed without a redesign; others are built into the foundations of an older website.

3. Visitors cannot tell what you do within a few seconds

Show your homepage to someone who does not know your business for five seconds, then ask them what you do, who it is for and where you work. If they cannot answer, your website is making visitors work too hard. A clear headline, a short explanation of your main services and an obvious next step are worth more than clever slogans or a slideshow of stock photos.

4. It does not bring in enquiries

A website should do a job, whether that is generating calls, enquiries, bookings or sales. If it rarely produces any, look at why. Is your phone number or contact form easy to find on every page? Do you explain your process and what happens next? Do you show real examples of your work? Are there too many distractions? Sometimes a few changes to calls to action make a big difference. If the whole structure is working against you, a redesign may be the better investment.

5. It looks dated or no longer reflects your business

Businesses evolve. You may have added services, moved upmarket, changed your branding or simply outgrown a website that was built quickly when you started. If you feel the need to apologise for your website, or you avoid sending people to it, that is a strong sign. Customers judge credibility quickly, and an outdated design can suggest an outdated business, even when your work is excellent.

6. It is difficult or expensive to update

If changing a price, adding a photo or publishing a new page means emailing a developer and waiting, your website will slowly go out of date. The same applies if you are locked into a platform you cannot leave, or if nobody quite knows how the website was built. A good website should make routine updates straightforward and be built on foundations you understand and own.

7. It has security, technical or search problems

Warning signs include browser messages saying the site is “not secure”, out-of-date plugins and themes, broken links and forms, error pages, and pages that have quietly dropped out of Google. You may also notice that your website does not appear for the services you offer. Some of these are quick fixes; others point to a platform that has reached the end of its useful life. Our guide to why a website may not be showing on Google explains the most common search issues, and our SEO services for small businesses can run alongside a redesign so search is planned in from the start.

Redesign or improve what you have

A redesign is not always the answer. If your website is built on a sound platform, works well on mobile and mainly needs clearer wording, better photos or stronger calls to action, targeted improvements can be quicker and cheaper. A redesign tends to make more sense when several of these signs appear together, when the website no longer reflects your business or when the underlying technology is holding you back.

Before you decide, it helps to know:

• Which pages matter most to your customers
• What is working well and should be kept
• Which problems are cosmetic and which are structural
• What you would need from a new website that the current one cannot do

How to plan a redesign that pays off

Start with your goals rather than the look. Decide what you want the website to achieve, who it is for and what visitors need to know before they contact you. Keep any pages that already perform well in search, and plan redirects from old addresses to new ones so you do not lose visibility. Gather your content early, because waiting for words and photos is the most common cause of delay. Our article on how much a website costs in the UK covers budgeting and the questions to ask suppliers.

Get a clear answer first

If you recognise some of these signs but are not sure how serious they are, our £99 site audit gives you an expert, independent view. We audit your whole website for design, mobile experience, search foundations, speed and conversion, then send you prioritised recommendations within 2 working days. You can use the report yourself, share it with your developer or ask us to quote for a website redesign for small businesses or a new small business website.

Not sure what’s holding your website back? Get your whole site reviewed for £99, with prioritised fixes in 2 working days. Book a £99 website audit.