FAQs / Small Business Websites
How can I redesign my existing website?
Start by recording what the current site does well: which pages bring in visits and enquiries, and their exact addresses. Then plan the new pages, write the content, keep or redirect every old address, and test on a phone before and after launch.
By Richard Thomas-Pryce, Founder · Updated
The temptation is to start with how the new site will look. Start with what the old one is doing instead. Google Search Console shows which pages people find you through, and your enquiries show which pages actually bring in work. Write those addresses down. They are the pages you cannot afford to break.
Next, decide what the new site needs that the old one lacks. For a local service business, the usual gaps are a separate page for each main service, a page for each area you want work from, clear prices or price guidance where you can give it, photos of finished jobs, and reviews near the phone number.
Then build and write. If you are staying on the same platform, you may only need a new theme and better pages. If you are moving platform, every page has to be rebuilt, and that is when addresses tend to change. Where they do, set up a permanent (301) redirect from each old address to its closest new page, not everything to the home page.
Before launch, test the new site on a phone: tap the phone number, send a test enquiry, check every menu link. After launch, check Search Console for errors and pages Google cannot find, and keep an eye on enquiries for a few weeks. A small dip can happen while Google reassesses the changed pages; a long one usually means something was missed.
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