You already have a website. It is not working the way you want, and now you are stuck between paying to fix it and paying to replace it. Both are reasonable. The right answer depends on what is actually broken.
Work through the questions below before you get quotes, and the conversation with any designer gets much shorter.
Start with what is wrong
Old technology
If the site runs on a platform that is no longer updated, or nobody can log in and edit it, you are maintaining something that will keep getting more expensive. That points toward rebuilding.
Poor mobile design
Most of your visitors are on a phone. Pinching to zoom, text running off the edge, or buttons that are hard to tap will cost you calls. Some sites can be adapted; sites built before responsive layouts were standard usually cannot.
Confusing navigation
Twelve menu items, duplicate pages, and no clear next step is a structure problem. Structure can often be reorganized without touching the underlying build — a redesign candidate.
Rebranding
New name, new logo, new colors, or a different audience. If the pages themselves still make sense, this is often visual work. If the business now does something different, the content has to be rewritten anyway.
Major functionality changes
Adding booking, customer accounts, quotes, or a portal usually means new foundations. Bolting a system onto a site that was never designed for it tends to produce something fragile.
Ecommerce expansion
Going from a handful of products to a real catalog with variations, shipping rules, and inventory is a rebuild-sized change more often than not.
Slow website
Sometimes speed is oversized images and too many plugins, which is fixable. Sometimes it is the platform and theme, which is not — at least not affordably.
Outdated content
Old prices, services you dropped, staff who left, a copyright year from three years ago. This is content work, not design work, and it is the cheapest fix on this list.
Poor customer experience
People cannot find your phone number, the form does not send, or nobody knows what to do next. Fix these first regardless of which path you choose.
A simple comparison
A redesign may make sense when...
- The site works, it just looks dated
- It already reads well on a phone
- You can still log in and edit it
- Page structure is mostly right
- You are updating branding or photos
- Content needs rewriting more than rebuilding
- Speed issues trace back to images or plugins
Starting fresh may make sense when...
- The platform is outdated or unsupported
- Mobile visitors have to zoom and pinch
- Nobody has access to edit the site
- You are adding booking, accounts, or a portal
- Your catalog is outgrowing the current setup
- Every small change requires a developer
- The business does something different than it used to
Things to protect either way
- Your domain registration — keep it in an account you control.
- Your existing page addresses, or redirects for any that change.
- Your Google Business Profile and the reviews attached to it.
- Photos and written content you already own.
- Any email addresses running on your domain.
How to decide this week
- 01Open your site on your own phone and try to hire yourself.
- 02List every specific thing that failed or annoyed you.
- 03Mark each item as content, design, structure, or platform.
- 04Mostly content and design? A redesign is likely enough.
- 05Mostly structure and platform? Budget for a rebuild.
- 06Either way, decide what the site needs to do for the next two years, not just today.
If you want a second opinion on which side you land on, the professional website design page shows how the process runs here, and small business website design covers what most owners end up needing. When you are ready, start your website and tell us what you already have.