When do you choose to make major changes to your existing website and when do you choose to completely revamp your website? Below I outline some scenarios that lead to this question and what we would recommend. Many times the answer will depend on your budget and desired lifespan of your website.
The back-end is not scalable or editable
You had a nice website created several years ago and are trying to add new pages or you want the layout to be different, but it’s either not working or very difficult. It is common that the back-end of your website is not set up to really work with. This can be due to:
- The webdevelopment copmany did this deliberately to make it ‘idiot proof’
- To keep you in as a support customer.
Whatever the reason, you can have the back-end converted.
This is often a big job, but generally half the price of a new website. Basically, the back-end is rebuilt and not updated. The time savings is in the strategy and design phase, which takes about half the project time.
If you want to move forward with the current website for more than 3 years, then updating your back-end is a better investment than completely revamping your website.
New business goals, mission or proposition
It happens from time to time as a company that you take a new direction due to internal or external reasons. The website is often an important part of communicating that new direction. So the website needs to be updated.
- If you can modify a proposition within the content of your website then there is no reason to create a new website.
- If you want to tell a whole new story and can get by with some new page templates, then that’s the most sensible thing to do. Assuming you don’t need rebranding or really want to tinker with the structure of your Web site.
Developing some new templates in an existing website costs about 10 to 15% of a new website.
Rebranding
A complete rebranding is often a reason to develop a new website. But a minor “brand refresh” is questionable. Here it is mainly the degree of uniqueness of the web design that plays an important role.
- If the fire refresh fits within the current page templates then it is nice to update the design in the website.
- If the imagery is very different from what is currently online, for example, round shapes while the new branding does not have that, then you need to revamp the designs.
Renewing designs almost always means a new website. This has to do with the fact that the web design impacts the back-end of the website – specifically, the builder/wysiwyg of the site.
Conversion and findability are insufficient
Sometimes your website performs inadequately for online marketing purposes. Think about the lack of visibility in Google/ChatGPT or the fact that your visitors are not converting. There can be many reasons why this is insufficient. Some of which could be technical issues in your website, or in your user experience. Looking at the technical side, optimizing the back-end is often a fine solution and there is no need to develop a new website.
However, there are situations where the back-end is so outdated that it is useful to rebuild your website to keep up with the times. Consider situations such as before and after the introduction of the smartphone. It became necessary to build your website responsive.
With the advent of LLMs such as ChatGPT, it is now important to put much more structured data into your Web site. Something that should usually be possible within your current setup.
User experience is underwhelming
If you find that the user experience is substandard you have a nice challenge. Again, the trade-off between having a new site created or updating your website is important. Improving user experience is a journey you first want to work out on “paper” and then implement online. Going to edit live in your website is very unwise in this regard, because you want to optimize the whole path, you need to map it well first. Moreover, mapping out the desired paths and page layouts is a test to see to what extent you need to “rebuild” the website.
If the rebuilding becomes so intensive or extensive, then building your website from the ground up is often more efficient and you can also pick up more things.
Very old website
If your website is simply very old (8 years or older) then it is often wise to build a new website if you want to add new things or improve things. Old sites can stay online just fine, but updating them is inconvenient.
Even if you have been actively maintaining all these years, a website gets old. That’s because technology continues to evolve and not everything is implementable in older Web sites. So eventually you come to the point where having a website created again makes more sense than continuing to update the old website.
Safety
If your website has become insecure then it is wise to address those issues, no matter how young or old your website is. Security is often good to seal in your current website. There are exceptions, but as a rule, updating here is preferable to building a new website. Remember that security is partly in your hosting, not entirely in your website back-end.
We can help
Whether you choose to update or renew, keep in mind the hidden costs of a website that is not working optimally. Whether that’s in the amount of time to up-date things or the fact that your customers aren’t converting. Take that in mind when you go to make a choice. Need help or want us to watch? Let us know, we are happy to help!
When do I choose a new website over an update?
With new business goals, can I keep my existing site?
Does a fire refresh always require a new website?
How does the back-end affect my choice to refresh or update?
When is security a reason for a new Web site?
For security problems, an update is usually sufficient, unless the underlying technology can no longer be made secure.
