1. It is awkward to use on a phone
Open your site on your phone. If you have to pinch and zoom to read the text, if buttons are too small to tap, or if parts of the page spill off the side of the screen, your site was built for desktop computers. Many local customers search on mobile, so this is the first thing to fix.
2. It takes ages to load
If you find yourself waiting for the page to appear, so are your customers, and many of them will not wait. Large uncompressed photos, old themes and too many plugins are common causes. Our guide on why your website is slow on mobile goes into the details.
3. The browser shows "Not secure"
Look at the address bar. If there is no padlock, or the browser warns that the site is not secure, visitors will be put off before they read a word. A security certificate is now a basic requirement, not an extra.
4. The information is wrong
Old phone numbers, services you no longer offer, last year's prices, a team member who left, a "latest news" post from years ago. Each one tells customers the business might not be paying attention, or might not be trading at all.
5. You cannot update it yourself
If changing your opening hours means emailing a designer and waiting, or logging into a system you do not understand, the site will always be out of date. You should be able to make simple changes in minutes.
6. Nobody knows who has the logins
Ask yourself: who controls the domain, the hosting and the website account? If the answer is "the person who built it years ago" and you are not sure you could reach them, your business is depending on someone else's goodwill.
7. It does not show up in local search
Search for your main service and your town. If you cannot find your own website, customers cannot either. Missing page titles, missing descriptions, no sitemap and no structured data are typical of older sites.
8. The design looks dated
Visitors judge a business by its website within moments. Cramped layouts, tiny text, clashing colours and blurry or stock photos all suggest a business that has not kept up. You do not need anything flashy, just something clean, clear and current.
9. It is hard to get in touch
Count how many taps it takes on a phone to call you or send an enquiry. If the phone number is hidden, the contact form is long or broken, or there is no way to book, you are losing enquiries at the final step. Test the form yourself and check the message actually arrives.
10. It has accessibility problems
Low-contrast text, images without alt text and links that just say "click here" make a site harder to use for people with visual impairments, and harder for everyone on a small screen in bright sunlight. Accessible websites are simply better websites.
How many did you tick?
- One or two: fix them now. They are probably costing you enquiries.
- Three to five: your site needs a proper refresh. Patching an old system often costs more time than starting again.
- Six or more: it is time for a new website. Treat the old one as a source of useful content, not something to repair.
Repair or replace?
Repairing makes sense when the underlying system is sound and you just need new content. Replacing makes sense when the site is slow, insecure, hard to edit or not built for phones, because those problems sit deep in how it was made.
Before you replace it, gather the things worth keeping: your best photos, customer reviews (with permission to reuse them), your service descriptions and your domain login. Our tradesperson website checklist will help you plan what the new site needs.
Replacing an outdated site with Site Shifter
Site Shifter replaces an old website in about an hour. You answer six questions, which takes about ten minutes, and get a complete site with pages, wording and photographs, built on fast static pages with images resized automatically. You keep your own domain, and publishing is blocked until checks for findability and accessibility pass. Find out how to move your website, or if your current site is on WordPress, read about switching from WordPress.
Frequently asked
How often should a business website be updated?
Check the content every few months for wrong details, and update it whenever your services, prices, hours or contact details change. Many small business sites are replaced entirely once the underlying system becomes hard to maintain.
Is it cheaper to fix an old website or build a new one?
Small content fixes are usually quick. If the site is slow, insecure, not built for phones or hard to edit, starting again is often less effort than patching it.
What should I keep from my old website?
Your domain, your best photos, genuine customer reviews you have permission to reuse and any service descriptions that still read well.
Shift it today.
Ten minutes of questions, an hour of polishing, and your new site is live on your own domain.
Shift my website