Redesigning your website

When an old site holds you back, and how to replace it without losing what works.

• Your website is ten years old: what has changed since thenA 10-year-old website was built for a different internet. What changed with phones, security, speed, forms and customer habits, and what still holds.
• Why your old website looks bad on phones and what to doOld websites were built for a desk-sized screen. Here is why yours shrinks, cuts off or hides its menu on a phone, how to test it, and your options.
• When your web designer disappears: getting your website backYour web designer stopped answering. How to check what is at risk, secure your domain first, deal with hosting and files, and get back in control.
• What to tell customers when your website changesHow to announce a new website without fuss: a short email, a social post, what to tell staff, signs at the counter, and when to say nothing at all.
• What to save before you replace your old websiteBefore a redesign, save your text, photos, page addresses, form settings, email records and logins. A plain checklist that takes an afternoon.
• What to look for in a website rebuild previewHow to review a website preview before you approve it: check the facts, use it on your phone, click every link, test the form, and write changes clearly.
• What to do in the first month after a new website launchesA week-by-week plan for the month after launch: watch enquiries, fix the small things customers notice, and use Search Console to catch missed pages.
• What happens to my old website when I get a new one?Your old site does not vanish when a new one goes live. What happens to the old hosting, files, domain and email, and what to cancel when.
• What a website rebuild from your existing site includesA rebuild keeps your pages, words, photos and addresses and replaces the design and code. What a good one includes, what it leaves out, what to ask.
• What a modern small business website looks like nowA modern small business website is built for phones, says what you do in one line, uses real photos, loads fast and makes contact easy. A top-to-bottom tour.
• Website rental vs owning your websiteRenting a website, rent-to-own plans and owning your site compared: what you pay, what you keep if you stop, and which suits your business.
• Website refresh vs full redesign: which one you needA refresh updates words, photos and colors on the site you have; a redesign rebuilds how it works. How to tell which one your site needs, honestly.
• Website redesign with many town or service pagesRedesigning a site with dozens of town or service pages: which to keep, which to merge, how to keep their addresses, and how to stop near-copies.
• Website redesign trends small businesses can ignoreVideo backgrounds, sliders, pop-ups, chatbots and scroll effects: which website trends a small business can skip, and the few modern habits worth keeping.
• Website redesign questions to ask before you hire anyoneThe questions to ask a web designer before you sign: who owns the site and domain, what hosting costs, how changes work, and what happens if you leave.
• Website redesign proposal: what should be in itA good redesign proposal spells out pages, ownership, timeline, revisions, yearly costs and what happens to your old site. What to look for, section by section.
• Website redesign mistakes small businesses makeThe redesign mistakes that cost small businesses calls: lost page addresses, a hidden phone number, stock photos, broken email at launch, and how to avoid each.
• Website redesign for seasonal businessesHow a seasonal business website should change through the year: off-season messages, booking windows, opening dates and what to keep up while you are closed.
• Website redesign for local shops and studiosWhat a local shop or studio website redesign should get right: hours people can trust, how to find and park, photos of the place, and class schedules.
• Website redesign for home service businessesWhat a home service website redesign should fix first: the phone button, the towns you serve, one page per service, and proof you are licensed and trusted.
• Website redesign for a business that's grownYour business added services, towns or staff, but your site still describes the old one. How to redesign for the business you run now, with room to grow.
• Website redesign FAQ: plain answers for ownersTwenty short, honest answers to the questions small business owners ask most about a website redesign, from cost and time to email, Google and ownership.
• Website redesign checklist for small businessesA tick-off checklist for a small business website redesign, before, during and after launch, including what to save from the old site.
• Website redesign and accessibility: what owners should knowWhat an accessible website redesign means in plain terms, the ADA question, and the checks for contrast, alt text, headings, forms and keyboard use.
• Website launch day checklist for small businessesThe launch day steps in order: save your DNS records, switch the domain, check the padlock, forms and email, then update your Google listing.
• Using your logo well on a new websiteWhere your logo goes, how big it should be on a phone, which file types to send, how to find the originals, and what to do if you have no logo.
• Signs your small business website needs a redesignTen checks you can do in ten minutes, with your phone and a browser, to tell whether your website needs a redesign or just a few fixes.
• Seeing a website before paying for it: why it mattersPaying for a website before you see it puts the risk on you. How previews work, what kinds exist, and what to check in one before you pay.
• Rewriting your website text during a redesignHow to rewrite your website text in a redesign without losing what works: find the pages that earn visits, keep their substance, cut filler, use plain words.
• Redesigning your website before a busy seasonWhen to start updating your website before your busy season, what to fix first if time is short, and the date after which you should stop changing things.
• Redesigning a Yahoo, Homestead or other legacy builder siteReplacing a Homestead, Yahoo or other legacy hosted builder site: get into the old account, find the domain and email, save your content, then move.
• Redesigning a website you didn't build: getting access firstInherited a website or lost the logins? Map the five accounts behind it, find out who holds each, and recover access before any redesign begins.
• Redesigning a website with a Flash or very old builderSites made in Flash, iWeb, FrontPage or Muse cannot be updated anymore. How to rescue the words, photos and page addresses and move to something current.
• Redesigning a website that came with your hosting planThe site builder your hosting company bundled is easy to start and hard to leave. How to tell what you have, save your content and move off safely.
• Redesigning a website in another language for your customersHow to set up a bilingual business website in English and Spanish, or another language: separate pages, a clear switch, real translation and who answers.
• Redesigning a website for older customersIf many customers are over 60, design for how they use a website: larger text, strong contrast, a phone number up top, and menus that never hide.
• Redesigning a website after rebrandingNew name or logo? How to carry the rebrand onto your website without losing the customers, Google listings and old page addresses tied to the old one.
• Redesigning a website after a business changes handsBought a business? Get the domain, site and email accounts into your own name first, then decide what the website keeps and what it changes.
• Redesigning a one-page website: is one page enough?When a one-page website is all a small business needs, when it starts holding you back, and how to lay one out so it works on a phone.
• Redesign your website without writing anything newYou can redesign a website using the words and photos you already have. What to reuse as-is, what needs a light touch, and where else your content hides.
• Redesign or start over? Deciding what to keep from your old websiteHow to decide between redesigning your old site and starting fresh, and which content, addresses, photos and reviews are worth keeping.
• Redesign or fix? Small changes that make an old site work betterQuick ways to improve an old website in an afternoon, from a tappable phone number to cutting dead pages, and the signs a rebuild is the better spend.
• Old website warning signs customers notice firstThe signs that tell customers a website is outdated: a "Not secure" warning, an old footer year, broken links, dated photos. What each says and how to fix it.
• Moving from an old WordPress site to something simplerTired of WordPress updates, plugins and security worries? When replacing it makes sense, when it still fits, and how to move without losing pages or email.
• Merging two business websites into oneHow to pick which web address to keep, map the pages of both sites onto one, and forward the other address so customers and Google follow you.
• Leaving a website agency's monthly planHow to cancel a web design monthly plan cleanly: read the contract terms, find out what you own, collect your domain and accounts, and time the switch.
• Keeping your email working during a website changeYour email depends on MX records in your domain's DNS. How to find where your mail lives, protect those records during a website switch, and test it after.
• Keeping reviews and testimonials when you redesignHow to move testimonials from your old website to the new one without losing any, what permission you need, and where Google and other reviews fit.
• Is your website costing you customers? A simple self-testA ten-minute test you can do on your own phone, playing three real customers, to find where your website turns people away and what to fix first.
• Is an AI-built website good enough for a real business?An honest look at whether an AI-built site is good enough: where it holds up, where it falls short, and the human checks that make the difference.
• How to test your new website before it goes liveA practical way to test a new website before launch: phones, forms, every link, spelling and facts, speed, and your old page addresses.
• How to tell if a redesign workedJudge a website redesign by calls, form messages and the kind of jobs they bring, compared fairly with the same months before, not by visits or likes.
• How to redesign your website's contact formA contact form redesign in plain steps: cut the fields to what you need, make sure every message reaches a person, stop spam, and say what happens next.
• How to redesign your website without losing customers from GoogleWhat protects the place your site has earned in Google during a redesign: keep addresses, titles and content, forward old pages, and watch the first weeks.
• How to redesign a website on a small budgetWhen money is tight, spend on what brings calls: a phone-friendly layout, clear words, real photos, a working form. What to skip and what to do yourself.
• How to plan your new website's pages before a redesignPlan your new site's pages from the questions customers ask you, sketch a site map on one sheet of paper, and decide what each page must do.
• How to give a web designer feedback that gets resultsGive website feedback that gets fixed the first time: one list, organized by page, specific about what and where, with examples and a reason for each change.
• How to compare website redesign quotesLine up website quotes on the same terms: pages, content, ownership, three-year cost, changes and old addresses. A side-by-side sheet you can fill in.
• How to collect photos for your website redesignWhere your best website photos already are, a short shot list for the gaps, who needs to agree before a photo goes online, and how to send them.
• How to choose a color scheme for your new business websiteBuild your website colors from the logo, truck and storefront customers already know, then check contrast so every word stays readable on a phone.
• How often should you redesign your business website?Why "every few years" is weak advice, the real triggers for a redesign, and a short yearly review that tells you when it is time.
• How much does a small business website redesign cost?What agencies, freelancers, builders and done-for-you services charge for a redesign, what moves the price, and how to spend only on what you need.
• How long does a website redesign take?Agency redesigns take months, freelancers weeks, builders a few weekends, done-for-you rebuilds hours to days. What sets the pace and what slows it down.
• How AI website builders work for small businessesWhat an AI website builder actually does when it makes your site, what it does well, where it invents things, and how to check every fact.
• Fixing a website that looks fine on a computer but not on a phoneMatch what you see on your phone to its usual cause, from tiny text and sideways scrolling to broken menus, then decide whether to patch or rebuild.
• Does my business need a new logo before a new website?Usually not. Why your current logo is worth keeping, the few cases where a new or cleaned-up logo helps, and how to keep it from delaying your site.
• Do-it-yourself redesign vs hiring help: an honest comparisonRedesigning your website yourself saves money but costs time and carries risks owners rarely plan for. An honest look at when DIY works and when to get help.
• Choosing fonts for a small business websitePick two readable fonts, one for headings and one for text, set them large enough for phones, and test them on the customers who need them most.
• Can I keep my website address when I redesign?Yes. Your domain belongs to you, not your old website. How a domain gets pointed at a new site, what you need, how long it takes and what to watch.
• Adding pages during a redesign: how many pages you needThere is no magic number of pages. Typical page sets for trades, restaurants, salons, offices, shops and nonprofits, and how to decide what to add.