The business moments that make it time to redesign your website: a new offer, a new audience, growth or a rebrand. How to time it, what to budget, and what a redesign should achieve so it is more than a new coat of paint.
Key takeaways
- The best time to redesign is when the business changes, not when the site gets old.
- Set goals for the redesign in numbers before choosing a look.
- Time it around your quiet season and never around a launch or peak.
- Budget for content, redirects and a month of fixes, not just design.
Business moments that call for a redesign
Websites usually need rebuilding because the business moved, not because the design aged. A new service line, a move upmarket, a new audience, an acquisition, new locations or a rebrand all change what the site has to say and who it has to say it to.
When that happens, patching the old site means bolting new pages onto a structure built for a different business. A redesign lets the structure follow the business as it is now.
- A new service or product line
- Moving upmarket or to a new audience
- New locations or markets
- A rebrand or merger
- A shift from enquiries to online sales or booking
Set goals before choosing a look
A redesign that starts with a mood board ends with a site that looks different and performs the same. Start with two or three goals you can measure: more quote requests, more online bookings, a higher share of visitors from a target market, fewer support calls.
Every design decision can then be judged against those goals, and after launch you can show whether the investment paid off.
Related: seven measurable signs.
When to time it
Launch in your quieter season, so a few teething problems do not land on your busiest weeks. Work back from there: a small site of up to eight pages typically takes four to seven weeks with us, and a larger design-and-build project seven to thirteen.
Avoid launching alongside a big campaign or product release. If something needs fixing, you want to know whether the redesign or the campaign caused it.
What to budget for
The design and build are only part of the cost. Budget time or money for writing and updating content, new photography if the old images do not fit, redirects from every old URL, and a month of fixes after launch.
Our websites are designed and built for one price: $1,599 for up to five pages, $1,999 for up to eight and $2,999 for up to thirty pages. Every price is fixed in writing, paid 30% at the start, 40% at review and 30% at launch, with 30 days of fixes included.
Related: fixed website prices.
| Budget line | Often forgotten because |
|---|---|
| Content writing and updates | Assumed the old copy will do |
| Photography | Old photos do not fit the new brand |
| Redirects and SEO checks | Invisible until rankings drop |
| Fixes after launch | Real traffic finds real edge cases |
What to keep from the old site
Before you throw anything away, find what works. Pages that rank, pages that convert, content customers mention, and URLs other sites link to all carry value. Keep them, improve them and redirect them carefully.
Search Console and your analytics will show the pages that bring the most search clicks and conversions. Those are the pages to protect.
What a good redesign process looks like
Research and an audit of the current site come first, then structure and wireframes, then visual design, then the build, testing and launch. You should approve each phase before the next begins, and see work weekly rather than all at once at the end.
Insist on a written redirect map and a launch checklist. They are the difference between a redesign that lifts results and one that costs you months of search traffic.
If you are not sure yet
If the business has not changed but the site still feels wrong, check the numbers first. Our list of seven measurable signs you need a website redesign shows what to look at in your analytics and Search Console, and when a smaller fix is enough.
