Should you upgrade your website or rebuild it?
Upgrade your website when its address, content and platform are sound and the problems are speed, clarity or a missing call to action. Rebuild when the platform blocks basic changes, the site cannot be made fast on a phone, or the business has changed so much that most pages need rewriting. Either way, keep your domain and the pages that already bring in visitors.
Signs an upgrade is enough
- The site works, but it is slow or awkward on a phone.
- Visitors cannot tell within a few seconds what you do and where.
- There is no single, obvious next step, such as a short inquiry form.
- Some pages already bring in visitors from search.
Signs it is time to rebuild
- The platform makes simple edits slow, costly or impossible.
- The site cannot be made fast on a phone without starting over.
- The business now sells different services to different customers.
- Nobody can get into the accounts that run the site.
What to keep either way
Keep the domain. Keep the pages that already bring in visitors, and make sure anyone who knew the old pages can still find the new ones, so the visitors and the reputation they earned are not lost. Keep ownership of the accounts in the business's name.
Settle these first
What one action should a visitor take? Who are the customers, and what do they search for? Who owns the domain and the hosting? Answering those three before any design work starts avoids the most expensive mistakes.
Related answers
Websites, upgraded or built
Most businesses do not need a new website. They need the one they have to load fast, say clearly what they do and ask the visitor to take one step.