Do you need a new website, or just 3 fixes?

When the phone goes quiet, a new website feels like the obvious fix. It's also the most expensive one, and it takes the longest. Before you pay for a full rebuild, run four quick checks. If your site fails one or two of them, a few targeted fixes will usually do more for your calls and orders than a redesign, in less time and for less money.

Check 1: How fast does it load on a phone?

Most of your visitors arrive on a phone, often on a mobile connection. If your page takes too long to show anything, they tap back and call the next business on the list.

Go to pagespeed.web.dev, paste your website address and open the Mobile tab. Google scores the page from 0 to 100:

• 0 to 49 shows in red. Visitors are waiting too long.
• 50 to 89 shows in orange. There is room to improve.
• 90 to 100 shows in green. Speed is not your problem.

A red score rarely needs a new website. The usual causes are oversized images, too many plugins or apps, and scripts that load before the page does. All of those can be fixed on the site you already have.

Check 2: Can a visitor call or buy in one tap?

Open your site on your phone and try to do the one thing you want customers to do.

• Service business: is your phone number a button that starts a call when you tap it? Is there a clear Call or Get a quote button before you scroll?
• Online store: can you see the price and the Add to Cart button on a product page without scrolling? Does a popup cover the product before the page has even loaded?

If you have to hunt for the next step, so do your customers. Fixing a phone link or moving a button takes hours, not weeks.

Check 3: Is your proof easy to find?

People choose the business that looks most trustworthy in the first few seconds. On your homepage and your main service or product pages, look for:

• Reviews or star ratings near the top, not buried in the footer
• Real photos of your work, your team or your products
• The areas you serve, or shipping and returns details for a store

If your best proof is hidden, move it up. That's a layout change, not a rebuild.

Check 4: Do you know where your leads come from?

Ask yourself: last month, how many calls, form leads or orders came from your website, and from which ads or searches? If you can't answer, a new website won't fix that. You also won't be able to tell whether the new site is any better than the old one.

Before you change anything big, set up call tracking, form tracking and order tracking in Google Analytics, so every change is measured against real numbers.

When a new website is the right call

Sometimes a rebuild really is the answer. It usually is when:

• You can't edit your own site or add a page without paying someone
• The site runs on a platform that is no longer supported
• The mobile layout is broken on most pages, not just one or two
• You're changing what you sell, who you sell to, or your brand
• You're moving your store to a new platform, for example to Shopify

Even then, keep the pages that already rank on Google, and redirect old page addresses to the new ones, so you don't lose the traffic you already have.

What to do next

Run the four checks and write down which ones your site fails. If it's one or two, fix those first and watch your numbers for a month. If it fails all four, or one of the reasons for a rebuild fits, it's time to plan a new site.

If you'd rather not do it yourself, send us your website. We'll record a free 2 minute video showing the 3 fixes we'd make first, and you can decide from there.