A tired website does not always need to be thrown out. Sometimes the bones are fine and it needs new clothes. Sometimes the bones are the problem. Knowing which one you have saves you money either way.
Three levels of work
A tidy up. The site is basically sound. It needs current prices, fresh photos, a few dead links fixed and a contact form that actually sends. This is small work, and if you have the login you can often do much of it yourself.
A refresh. The setup you pay for is fine, but the design is dated, the wording no longer describes the business, and it is awkward on a phone. A refresh keeps your existing setup and replaces what visitors see. No new bills, nothing to transfer.
A rebuild. The setup itself is what is holding you back. Starting clean is faster and cheaper than patching.
Signs a refresh is enough
- You, or someone you trust, can still log in.
- It loads at a reasonable speed.
- The system it is built on is still supported and still getting updates.
- The problem is how it looks and reads, not how it works.
Signs you need a rebuild
- Nobody knows the login, and the person who built it is long gone.
- It cannot be made to work properly on a phone without redoing every page.
- Changing a sentence needs a developer.
- It was built on something that has been discontinued.
- Bits of it break every time something is updated.
A five minute test
Open your website on your phone, not your computer. Then try to do the three things a customer would do.
- Find out what you do and where you do it, without zooming.
- Find a price, or at least a clear idea of one.
- Contact you. Tap the phone number. Send the form to yourself and see if it arrives.
If all three work and it just looks a bit old, you are in refresh territory. If you got stuck on any of them, keep going with the fuller self check.
What we tell people
Wherever possible we rebuild on the setup you already have and pay for. There is no point moving a site somewhere new just so the job sounds bigger.
When the existing setup is the problem, we say so before you commit, along with what it will cost. Either way you get a fixed price in writing first. Most of our jobs land between $2,000 and $3,000, and this is what moves that number.