7 min read
10 signs your website needs renewing
A website ages slowly and quietly. It works, but a little worse every year, and it rarely shows until enquiries drop. Here are ten signs you can check yourself, and for each of them whether it calls for a rebuild or just a fix.
1. It is slow on a phone
Put the address into Google's PageSpeed Insights and look at the mobile result. If the main content appears after more than four seconds, you lose visitors before they see what you offer. If the images are already in order, the speed is usually a consequence of how the site is built.
2. It looks wrong on a phone
Open the site on your phone. Do you need to zoom to read the text, does anything run off the screen, are the buttons too small for a thumb? Most visitors arrive on a phone, and Google judges the site by how it works there.
3. You cannot change the text yourself
If you have to call someone to change your opening hours or a price, the changes rarely get made. A website should let you change text, images and prices in a few minutes, without knowing any code.
4. The system is no longer updated
Old versions of WordPress and plugins nobody updates any more are the most common way in for people who break into websites. Log in and check whether updates are waiting. If a plugin has not been updated for years, it has probably been abandoned.
5. It does not appear in Google for what you do
Search for your service and your area, not your name. If you are nowhere on the first page, something is wrong. Search Console shows you which searches the site appears for and in which position, and it is free.
6. The information is out of date
Old prices, staff who have left, last year's opening hours. Each of these costs trust, because the visitor cannot tell what else on the site is wrong as well.
7. Visitors cannot find the next step
Every page should lead to one thing: book, buy, call or send an enquiry. If you have to hunt for the button on your own site, your visitors will not; they go elsewhere.
8. You do things twice
If you enter the same product, tour or booking both in your system and on the website, a connection is missing. A website can read availability, prices and products straight from the booking or store system, so what changes in one place changes everywhere.
9. It is not secure
The browser warns about the site, the certificate has expired, or Google finds pages on your site you never made. The last one is more common than people think, and it is a sign that someone got in.
10. You would rather not send the link
This is the most honest measure of them all. If you hesitate before sending a prospective customer the link, they hesitate too when they open it.
Fix or rebuild?
Signs 2, 6 and 7 can usually be fixed on the site you have. Signs 1, 3, 4 and 8 are rooted in how the site is built, and when they pile up, a rebuild is usually cheaper than patching on. If you rebuild, keep the addresses, so your place in Google comes with you.
If three or more signs apply and one of them is speed or updates, a rebuild is usually cheaper than patching. If only one or two apply, fix them and save the money.