Vellum

JournalNathan Brown  ยท 

Is your old website worth fixing

Plenty of local businesses have a site someone built years ago that still sort of works. It's up, it has your name on it, and nobody has looked at it closely in a while. That's usually when it starts costing you customers.

Open it on your phone

This is the quickest test. Pull up your site on your phone and try to find your hours and call you. If you have to pinch and zoom, if the text is tiny or if buttons are hard to tap, the site isn't built for phones. Most of your visitors are on one, and Google ranks sites by how they work on a phone.

Other signs it's out of date

  • Old hours, prices or phone numbers
  • A copyright year from years ago
  • Photos of staff who left or a space you've changed
  • A browser warning that the site isn't secure
  • Pages that take more than a few seconds to load
  • A contact form nobody checks

Any one of these makes people wonder if you're still open.

When fixing it makes sense

If the site works well on a phone, loads fast and you can log in and edit it, you might just need new photos, updated info and better words on the homepage. That can be a small job.

When starting over is easier

If it's not built for phones, runs on old software nobody updates, or you can't even get into it, starting fresh is often faster and cheaper than patching it. A simple new site for a local business doesn't have to be a big project. My Starter site is $295 and takes about 3 days. Standard is $395 and takes about 7. If you'd rather pay monthly, it's $49 a month with a 12 month minimum.

Don't lose what's working

Before you replace anything, check what your old site still does well. If people find you on Google through certain pages, keep those pages or point them to the new ones. Keep your domain. Write down where your email is set up so nothing breaks when the site switches over.

Start with what customers need

Whatever you decide, the goal is the same. A site that loads fast, works on a phone and shows your hours, location and phone number right away. Get that right first and the rest can come later.