Your website might be costing you customers right now, and you might not even realise it. Here are 10 clear signs that it's time for a website redesign—and what to do about each one.
1. It doesn't work properly on phones
Pick up your phone and visit your own website right now. Is the text readable without zooming? Can you tap buttons easily? Does the navigation work? If the answer to any of these is no, you have a problem.
More than 60% of web traffic in the UK now comes from mobile devices. Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning it primarily evaluates the mobile version of your site for rankings. A desktop-only website in 2026 is essentially invisible to Google and frustrating for the majority of your visitors.
2. It loads slowly
Test your site at Google PageSpeed Insights. If your mobile score is below 50, visitors are leaving before your page even finishes loading. Every second of delay costs you roughly 7% in conversions.
Common culprits: oversized images that haven't been compressed, outdated WordPress themes loaded with unnecessary code, cheap hosting with slow servers, and too many plugins doing too little. A redesign gives you the chance to start clean with a lean, fast codebase.
3. You're embarrassed to share it
This is the simplest test there is. When someone asks for your website, do you share the link confidently or do you find yourself making excuses? "Oh, the website is a bit outdated" or "we're planning to update it" are things we hear constantly from business owners who contact us.
Your website reflects your business. If you wouldn't hand out a crumpled, outdated business card, don't let a neglected website represent you online.
4. Your design looks dated
Web design trends evolve. A site that looked contemporary in 2018 now looks noticeably dated. Visual indicators of an ageing design include: heavy drop shadows, glossy buttons, carousel sliders on the homepage, tiny body text, cluttered layouts with no whitespace, and stock photos that feel generic.
A modern design doesn't mean following every trend—it means clean typography, generous spacing, fast-loading visuals, and a layout that guides visitors naturally toward contacting you or making a purchase.
5. You can't update it yourself
If adding a new blog post, changing a phone number, or updating your opening hours requires a developer, your website is holding your business back. A properly built WordPress website gives you an intuitive admin panel where your team can handle routine content updates without technical knowledge.
Worse still: if the original developer is unreachable and nobody knows how to make changes, you're effectively locked out of your own website. A redesign on a modern CMS solves this permanently.
6. It's not generating enquiries or sales
A website isn't a digital brochure—it's a sales tool. If your site gets traffic but doesn't generate phone calls, form submissions, or orders, the design isn't doing its job.
Common issues: no clear calls to action, contact details buried on an inner page, no visible phone number on mobile, forms that are too long or broken, and no trust signals (reviews, testimonials, case studies, accreditations). A redesign with conversion in mind addresses all of these.
7. You've outgrown it
Businesses evolve. Maybe you've added new services, expanded to new locations, launched an e-commerce arm, or rebranded. If your website doesn't reflect your current business, it's confusing visitors and undermining your credibility.
Common signs: your homepage mentions services you no longer offer, there's no mention of your newest and most profitable services, your team photos show people who left years ago, or your portfolio is full of work that no longer represents your capabilities.
8. It's not secure
Check your browser's address bar. If your website shows "Not Secure" instead of a padlock icon, you're running without HTTPS. Google Chrome actively warns visitors away from non-secure sites, and Google's ranking algorithm penalises them.
Beyond HTTPS: if your WordPress site hasn't been updated in months or years, it's almost certainly vulnerable to known security exploits. Outdated plugins and themes are the number one entry point for website hackers. A redesign on current software with a care plan for ongoing maintenance keeps you secure.
9. Your competitors' websites are better
Search for your main services on Google. Look at the top 5 results. How does your website compare to theirs? If their sites look more professional, load faster, have better content, and feature prominently in search results while yours doesn't appear at all—that gap is costing you real money.
Your website doesn't need to be the most expensive in your industry. It needs to be competitive. A clean, fast, well-structured site with good content and strong SEO can outperform a flashy site with poor fundamentals.
10. Google can't find you
Search for your business name on Google. Then search for your main service plus your location (e.g. "plumber Armagh" or "accountant Belfast"). If you're not on page 1 for your own name, there's definitely a technical problem. If you're not appearing for your services, you're likely missing out on your most valuable potential customers.
A website redesign with proper SEO foundations—unique page titles, keyword-optimised content, schema markup, fast loading, mobile-first design, and clean code—gives you the best possible platform for ranking well in Google.
What a redesign actually involves
A website redesign doesn't mean starting from scratch. It means taking what works, improving what doesn't, and building on a modern foundation. The typical process includes:
Discovery. Understanding your business goals, target audience, and what's not working about the current site.
Design. Creating a modern, mobile-first design that reflects your brand and guides visitors toward conversion.
Content. Reviewing and improving your copy, ensuring it's keyword-optimised and speaks to your customers' needs.
Development. Building the new site on a clean, fast, secure codebase with proper SEO structure.
Migration. Carefully redirecting old URLs to new ones so you don't lose any Google rankings or existing links.
Launch and monitoring. Going live, monitoring performance, and making adjustments based on real data.
Most redesign projects take 6-10 weeks and start from around £2,000-£4,000 for a standard business website. If you're recognising your business in several of the signs above, it's worth having a conversation about what a redesign could do for you.