When to redesign your website, and when a few fixes will do
A redesign makes sense when your site can no longer do what the business needs: take bookings, hold a catalog that's grown, let you make changes yourself, or work well on a phone. If the problem is confusing copy, old photos or a buried button, a few fixes will do.
A redesign makes sense when your website can no longer do what the business needs: take bookings, hold a catalog that's grown, let you make changes without calling anyone, or work properly on a phone. If the problem is copy nobody understands, old photos or a contact button buried at the bottom, a few fixes will do, and they're a lot faster.
Most owners who reach out to “redo the website” actually have one of those smaller problems. Others really do need to start over and have been putting it off. This post is meant to help you tell which one you are before you start asking for quotes.
Five questions before you decide
Answer them honestly, looking at your site on your phone:
- Can someone tell what you do and who it's for in five seconds? If not, the problem is the copy, not the design.
- Can you change prices, products or photos yourself? If every edit depends on someone else, the site will always be out of date.
- Does it look and work well on a phone? Not just “it shows up,” but buttons are easy to tap and nothing gets cut off.
- Does it do what the business needs today? Bookings, a catalog, orders, a second language. What you needed when you built it may not be what you need now.
- Are inquiries coming in? If you're getting visits but no inquiries, first read why my website doesn't bring in customers.
Symptom by symptom
| What's happening | Fix or redesign? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Confusing or outdated copy | Fix | Rewrite it without touching the structure |
| Old or low-quality photos | Fix | Replace them |
| No message button, or it's hidden | Fix | Add it where people look |
| Slow to load | It depends | Sometimes it's the photos; sometimes the whole site is badly put together |
| Breaks on phones | Redesign, almost always | The foundation wasn't built for small screens |
| You can't change anything yourself | Redesign or a new admin panel | You need a place to manage your own content |
| The business changed direction or audience | Redesign | The site tells a different story now |
| You need bookings, a catalog or orders | Redesign or add a new section | It's a feature the site doesn't have |
When fixes are enough
If the foundation is solid, meaning it works on phones, loads quickly and you can update it, rebuilding it is throwing money away. What's usually missing is clarity: a first screen that says what you do, a visible contact button, real photos, a couple of case stories or reviews. With that, a site that “doesn't work” can start bringing in inquiries without a new design.
A good fix is also easier to measure. You change the first screen, wait a few weeks and see if anything moved. For what to watch, I have a guide on how to measure website results.
When it's time to start over
Sometimes patching costs more than rebuilding. A site built on a template that never adapted to phones. One nobody knows how to update because whoever built it is gone. One that's slow because of how it was built, not because of the photos. And above all, a site that can't do something the business already needs.
If your site is slow, before deciding, read why website speed matters, where I cover what to ask to find out whether it can be fixed. And if you're on WordPress and thinking about a custom site, what to protect is in moving from WordPress to a custom website.
When the website has to do more than look good
Here's the kind of change a fresh coat of paint won't cover: Mecohue, a pet shop with a vet clinic and grooming salon near Buenos Aires. Its website isn't just a shop window: it has a catalog, services and WhatsApp bookings, and behind it there's an internal system with a cash register, appointments and one-tap WhatsApp reminders.
Going from a site that just shows things to one that sends every product question or booking straight to WhatsApp isn't a color change. It's adding features with their own logic: catalog, services, reminders. When a business reaches that point, that's when it makes sense to rethink the site around what it has to do.
See the Mecohue caseWhat not to throw away
Even if you rebuild everything, some things are worth keeping: copy that already ranks on Google, the addresses of pages that get visits, your reviews, good photos and your domain. A redesign that throws all of that out can cost you in a month what took years to build.
I work remotely from Buenos Aires, Argentina (UTC−3). Before suggesting a redesign, I go through your site with you, and if fixes are enough, I'll tell you. I quote each case separately. See other work in projects.
Frequently asked questions
Will I lose my Google rankings if I redesign?
Not if it's done carefully. You keep the copy that works and make sure every old address leads to its new one. I go into detail in my post on moving from WordPress to a custom website, and it applies to any site change.
Can I redesign in stages?
Often, yes. You can start with the page that gets the most visits, or the one that should bring the most inquiries, see how it does, and move on to the rest.
How often should a website be redesigned?
There's no fixed schedule. A site that's maintained, kept current and does what the business needs can last many years. You redesign when the business changes or the site can't keep up, not because the calendar says so.
If you're not sure whether your site needs a redesign or a few fixes, send me the link on WhatsApp at +54 9 11 6193-3176 or email contacto@facundocampo.com.ar. I answer in English and Spanish. I'll take a look and tell you what I'd do first.