Not every tired website needs replacing. Sometimes a refresh is enough: new photos, updated wording, a tidy up. But there is a point where patching costs more than rebuilding and never quite fixes the problem. Here are the signs you have reached it.

The signs

1. It is slow, and the platform is the reason. If pages take several seconds to load and the cause is baked into how the site was built, no amount of image compression will save it.

2. It does not work properly on a phone. Text too small, buttons overlapping, things you have to pinch and zoom to read. Most of your visitors are on a phone, so this is not a minor issue.

3. It does not reflect what you do now. Services you have dropped, nothing about services you have added, an old focus that is not your business any more.

4. Every change is a battle. You cannot update it yourself, or you can but it takes an hour and something always breaks.

5. It brings in no enquiries and you cannot tell why. No analytics, no clear path for a visitor to take, no way to see where people drop off.

6. It looks dated next to competitors. Open your site and three competitors' sites side by side. If yours looks ten years older, customers notice that too.

7. Security warnings. No padlock in the address bar, or browsers warning people before they even reach you.

8. You are embarrassed to send people to it. If you find yourself apologising for your website, that is your answer.

9. It is built on something no longer supported. The platform or key parts of it are out of date, unsupported, or a security risk.

10. You do not actually own it. You cannot get into the hosting, the domain is registered to someone else, or leaving your current provider means losing the site.

When a refresh is enough

If the site is reasonably quick, works on a phone, is on a current and secure platform, and just needs fresher content and photos, you probably do not need a rebuild. Spend the money on better copy and images instead.

What to do about it

1. Audit what you have. Speed, mobile, security, content, analytics. Our guide to a technical SEO audit covers the technical side

2. Decide rebuild or refresh based on the signs above

3. Sort the content first. What pages you need, what each one says, what photos you have. This is usually the thing that holds projects up

4. Choose who builds it, and ask the ownership questions early: domain, hosting access, content, all yours

5. Set a realistic timeline. See how long it takes to build a website

The takeaway

You need a new website, not another patch, when it is slow because of the platform, does not work on mobile, does not reflect your business, fights you on every change, or you do not own it. If it is basically sound and just looks tired, a refresh will do. Either way, start with the content.

Koprio rebuilds and refreshes small business websites across East Sussex, with clear pricing and everything handed over to you. See the website design service or get in touch for an honest view on which you need.