5 Signs Your Small Business Website Needs a Redesign
Is your website holding your business back? Here are five clear signs it's time for a redesign—and what you can do about it.
Your website is your digital storefront. It’s often the first impression potential customers have of your business—and just like a physical store, if it looks run-down or hard to navigate, people will walk right past.
But how do you know when it’s time for a refresh? Here are five signs that your small business website might be overdue for a redesign.
1. It’s Not Mobile-Friendly
Pull out your phone and visit your own website. Does it look good? Is the text readable without pinching and zooming? Can you tap the navigation links easily?
If you answered “no” to any of these, you have a problem. Over 60% of web traffic now comes from mobile devices. If your site doesn’t work well on a phone, you’re turning away more than half your potential customers before they even see what you offer.
What to look for:
- Text that’s too small to read on a phone
- Buttons or links that are too close together to tap accurately
- Horizontal scrolling (a major red flag)
- Images that don’t resize properly
A modern, responsive website automatically adjusts to look great on any device—phone, tablet, or desktop.
2. It Loads Slowly
Speed matters more than you think. Studies show that 53% of mobile visitors will leave a website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. Three seconds. That’s not a lot of time.
Slow loading times hurt you in two ways. First, potential customers leave before they see your content. Second, Google considers page speed when ranking websites—so a slow site means lower search rankings.
Common causes of slow websites:
- Unoptimized images (oversized photos that haven’t been compressed)
- Outdated hosting infrastructure
- Too many plugins or unnecessary scripts
- Old code that wasn’t built with performance in mind
You can check your site’s speed for free using Google’s PageSpeed Insights tool.
3. The Design Looks Dated
Design trends change. What looked modern in 2018 can look outdated today. If your website has any of these characteristics, it might be showing its age:
- Flash elements or auto-playing music (yes, these still exist)
- Cluttered layouts with too much information on one page
- Stock photos that look generic or staged
- Color schemes that feel more “early 2000s” than current
- Tiny fonts or decorative typefaces that are hard to read
Your website doesn’t need to follow every trend, but it should look professional and current. When a potential customer compares your site to a competitor’s modern website, you want to hold up well.
4. It’s Hard to Update
Can you easily update your business hours? Add a new menu item? Post an announcement? If making simple changes to your website requires calling a developer or navigating a confusing content management system, that’s a problem.
Your website should work for you, not create more work. When updating content is difficult, one of two things happens: either you spend too much time struggling with it, or—more commonly—you just stop updating it. And an outdated website with last year’s hours and old information erodes customer trust.
5. It Doesn’t Reflect Your Current Business
Businesses evolve. You add new services, refine your offerings, change your hours, or shift your target audience. If your website still reflects who you were two years ago instead of who you are today, there’s a disconnect.
Think about it from your customer’s perspective. They find your website, see services you no longer offer or miss services you’ve added, and they form an inaccurate picture of your business. That disconnect can cost you real revenue.
Ask yourself:
- Does my website accurately describe my current services?
- Are my contact details and hours correct?
- Does the overall tone match how I want to present my business?
- Would a first-time visitor understand what I do and why they should choose me?
What’s Next?
If you recognized your website in any of these signs, don’t worry—you’re not alone. Most small businesses go through this. The good news is that a website redesign doesn’t have to be overwhelming or expensive.
At Luminest, we specialize in helping small businesses like yours get a website that works as hard as you do. We start every project by getting to know your business, your customers, and your goals. Then we build something that genuinely represents who you are—at a price that makes sense.
Website redesign + hosting + maintenance starting at $100/month.
Book a free consultation and let’s talk about what your business needs. No jargon, no pressure—just an honest conversation about your online presence.