Selling Website Redesigns: 12 Signs a Business Needs a NEW Website
Published on September 28, 2021. Updated on July 17, 2023.
As a website designer, you should always be on the hunt for your next client. Most likely, your first instinct is to look for businesses without a website. While there are still millions of businesses currently without a site, don’t be so quick to rule out businesses just because they have an existing site. Many of these sites are in desperate need of a redesign.
A business that already has a website is an excellent candidate because they are generally easier to sell to. They already understand the need for a strong online presence so you won’t have to explain why they should have a website in the first place. You just need to explain how you can make their website better.
There are many reasons why a business might be in the market for a new website and would happily pay you to redesign it. Some will be fully aware of this while others may not even realize it.
Here are 12 reasons why a business might be ready for a redesign, and how you can pitch them a new website:
1. It’s Old or Outdated
If you come across an outdated website, this can be an opportune time to pitch a redesign. Sometimes you can see the copyright on the bottom of the site from several years ago. Maybe the content is no longer relevant to what the business is currently doing or there are older design elements that are no longer relevant. These are all clear signs that the website is outdated and needs to be refreshed.
Most businesses look to refresh or revamp their site every 2-3 years. A modern, up-to-date look is very important for every business’s online presence. When pitching a business who has an outdated website, assure them that as their new web designer, you will happily help them keep their website up to date by making regular updates and changes on their behalf.
2. It’s Just Plain UGLY
We’ve all come across sites with bright, harsh colors or poor quality, pixelated images. Maybe you can just tell that the small business owner hired someone’s niece or nephew or another amateur to build the site.
You will come across some business sites where you see six or more different fonts and/or a clash of colors. Or maybe the site has all text and no images at all. These “homemade” sites give a bad first impression and can be an opportunity for you to offer the business owner a redesign.
Be careful not to insult a client when you pitch a redesign to a business who has an ugly website. You never know if someone close to them built their site. Suggest it’s time for a “new look” that helps elevate their brand. Show some examples of your recent work or share some of our website Themes to give them an idea of the quality of design you can offer.
3. It’s Difficult to Navigate
Sometimes a site can look really good and then be a nightmare to navigate. Page titles are ambiguous or difficult to find, or there are no calls to action for the visitor to take. A business owner should never have to trade beauty for functionality.
Every business website should provide a pleasant user experience to all online visitors. If it’s very difficult to get around the site, then this is considered a terrible user experience. This could also cost the business owner in losing potential customers and/or revenue.
Explain the importance of functionality and a positive visitor experience. Explain how you only have less than 15 seconds to make a positive first impression and confusing navigation setup can be turning away visitors. Outline some of the changes you envision to improve the user experience on their new site.
4. It’s Not Mobile-Friendly
With about 58% of all site visitors coming from mobile devices, it’s important to have a mobile-optimized website. Google gives a high preference to mobile responsive websites. If a business website is not mobile responsive, then it could really suffer in the search results.
Non-mobile responsive business websites are prime candidates for a revamp. A great way to check is to shrink your browser window down or check the site from your mobile device. Since this is such a big problem amongst small businesses, we have a mobile site checker built into our Local Prospecting Tool.
Rest assured that every SiteSwan website is automatically mobile-optimized so you can confidently pitch them a new website that looks and works great on all devices. Share some examples of other sites on the platform so they can see how they look on a smartphone.
5. It’s Broken or “Under Construction”
Oftentimes you’ll come across a business website that either doesn’t load properly or has components that are missing or broken. For instance, the links are broken, images are missing, buttons are not responsive, etc. There might even be a message on the homepage that reads “this site is under construction”. These can all contribute to a really bad user experience and are indicators that the business needs a new website.
This bad user experience could then cost the small business owner in missing out on the potential for more customers and/or revenue due to a broken website. Offer to solve their problems immediately by building a new website that WORKS. Start by offering them a free demo using one of our pre-built website Themes.
6. It’s Not Secure
Have you ever tried visiting a website only to be hit with a warning message that says something like “your connection is not private” or “this site is not secure”? It’s not only alarming, but it’s also hurting their business. In a recent study, 46% of customers say that they would not do business with a website that’s not secure.
Website security is more important than ever. Google is actually penalizing sites for not having an up-to-date SSL certificate assigned to the site. Every site should be secured – in fact, some browsers won’t even load a site without a valid SSL certificate. The great thing about SiteSwan is that all of your client websites built on our platform will be automatically issued an SSL certificate without any additional charges.
Just because a site looks good at first glance and isn’t outdated, ugly, broken, or insecure doesn’t mean you don’t have an opportunity to pitch a new site. There are many additional reasons why business owners need a new site - some of which might require you to spend a couple of additional minutes exploring their site or talking to the business owner to unveil.
7. They’re Overpaying
Lots of freelancers and web design companies are out there and quite frankly overcharging small businesses for a simple website. It’s not uncommon for a company to charge $5,000 - $10,000 for a basic site up front followed by hundreds of dollars per month or per hour for basic support.
You can save your customers hundreds or thousands of dollars per year by offering a redesign. Because your costs are so low with SiteSwan, you can afford to charge rates lower than the industry standard and still come out with a solid profit margin. Aside from that, the real money is in having multiple clients on a monthly support plan as opposed to charging per project.
Don’t be afraid to ask a business how much they are currently paying for their website solution. If you can beat their current price, it might be your easiest sale.
8. They’re Not on Google
Every business website should perform well in search results for keywords related to their business. A nice looking site is not effective marketing if customers cannot easily find it on Google.
If a business’s site isn’t coming up on the first page of Google, there is likely something inherently wrong with the site such as the issues mentioned in #4, #5, and/or #6 above. This business could also be losing market share to their competition due to not showing up on the search engine results page.
Building a search engine-optimized website on SiteSwan is super easy following our straightforward tips and suggestions. You can even submit your sites to search engines with just one click. Start by demonstrating how their current website doesn’t come up in relevant search results. Assure them that you will not only build them a new site that looks great, but you’ll do everything in your power to make sure customers can find it on Google for terms related to their business.
9. It’s Lacking Key Features
Over time, businesses’ needs may change. Their current site might lack some key features they need to grow. It could be as simple as a well-placed contact form to generate leads or a link for online ordering.
When interacting with a prospective client, you’ll want to learn their goals and objectives so that you can make the right recommendations. The beauty about the SiteSwan platform is that you can easily incorporate key features including third party apps to create a website that serves a business’s current needs in an ever-changing market.
10. They’ve Rebranded
Businesses will sometimes redesign their logo or remodel their physical office or retail space. It’s super important that all their branding & marketing is updated on their site to reflect that as well.
If you notice some inconsistencies such as on their brochure, social media accounts, and/or in photos people post on Google, this could be an excellent opportunity to pitch them a new website to get their brand consistency back in line. As a best practice, every business needs to use a consistent logo, color scheme and font scheme across all marketing materials.
11. They’re Current Designer Sucks
It’s very common for larger web design firms to be unreliable when it comes to customer support and for fly-by-night web designers to fall off the face of the Earth. Web design is ultimately a service-based business. So if a business owner is not getting the care or response they expect, it could be a good enough reason to find a new web designer along with a new website.
This is your opportunity to sell yourself and ensure that you are always accessible and available to help them. Explain how you’ll provide top notch customer service and can be reached by phone or email to assist them. Assure them that you're committed to your web design business and will give them the attention they deserve for years to come.
12. You Can Just Do Better
Maybe their site checks almost every box, but it’s not as nice as what YOU can do for them. Looking at our Themes, you may find opportunities to significantly improve the online presence for a lot of small business websites right out of the gate.
Maybe the vibe they give off isn’t right or it doesn’t send the right message, have the right call to action, or compel people to want to do business with them. Even if a business website only has a few “rough edges”, a website redesign may be needed.
Now you know 12 reasons why a business might need a website redesign. Although there will always be opportunities to create websites for brand new businesses, you don’t want to leave out current businesses who might need a revamp for their website. Whether you need to create a new business website or redesign a current one, SiteSwan provides the tools and support you need for success.
As a website designer, you should always be on the hunt for your next client. Most likely, your first instinct is to look for businesses without a website. While there are still millions of businesses currently without a site, don’t be so quick to rule out businesses just because they have an existing site. Many of these sites are in desperate need of a redesign.
A business that already has a website is an excellent candidate because they are generally easier to sell to. They already understand the need for a strong online presence so you won’t have to explain why they should have a website in the first place. You just need to explain how you can make their website better.
There are many reasons why a business might be in the market for a new website and would happily pay you to redesign it. Some will be fully aware of this while others may not even realize it.
Here are 12 reasons why a business might be ready for a redesign, and how you can pitch them a new website:
1. It’s Old or Outdated
If you come across an outdated website, this can be an opportune time to pitch a redesign. Sometimes you can see the copyright on the bottom of the site from several years ago. Maybe the content is no longer relevant to what the business is currently doing or there are older design elements that are no longer relevant. These are all clear signs that the website is outdated and needs to be refreshed.
Most businesses look to refresh or revamp their site every 2-3 years. A modern, up-to-date look is very important for every business’s online presence. When pitching a business who has an outdated website, assure them that as their new web designer, you will happily help them keep their website up to date by making regular updates and changes on their behalf.
2. It’s Just Plain UGLY
We’ve all come across sites with bright, harsh colors or poor quality, pixelated images. Maybe you can just tell that the small business owner hired someone’s niece or nephew or another amateur to build the site.
You will come across some business sites where you see six or more different fonts and/or a clash of colors. Or maybe the site has all text and no images at all. These “homemade” sites give a bad first impression and can be an opportunity for you to offer the business owner a redesign.
Be careful not to insult a client when you pitch a redesign to a business who has an ugly website. You never know if someone close to them built their site. Suggest it’s time for a “new look” that helps elevate their brand. Show some examples of your recent work or share some of our website Themes to give them an idea of the quality of design you can offer.
3. It’s Difficult to Navigate
Sometimes a site can look really good and then be a nightmare to navigate. Page titles are ambiguous or difficult to find, or there are no calls to action for the visitor to take. A business owner should never have to trade beauty for functionality.
Every business website should provide a pleasant user experience to all online visitors. If it’s very difficult to get around the site, then this is considered a terrible user experience. This could also cost the business owner in losing potential customers and/or revenue.
Explain the importance of functionality and a positive visitor experience. Explain how you only have less than 15 seconds to make a positive first impression and confusing navigation setup can be turning away visitors. Outline some of the changes you envision to improve the user experience on their new site.
4. It’s Not Mobile-Friendly
With about 58% of all site visitors coming from mobile devices, it’s important to have a mobile-optimized website. Google gives a high preference to mobile responsive websites. If a business website is not mobile responsive, then it could really suffer in the search results.
Non-mobile responsive business websites are prime candidates for a revamp. A great way to check is to shrink your browser window down or check the site from your mobile device. Since this is such a big problem amongst small businesses, we have a mobile site checker built into our Local Prospecting Tool.
Rest assured that every SiteSwan website is automatically mobile-optimized so you can confidently pitch them a new website that looks and works great on all devices. Share some examples of other sites on the platform so they can see how they look on a smartphone.
5. It’s Broken or “Under Construction”
Oftentimes you’ll come across a business website that either doesn’t load properly or has components that are missing or broken. For instance, the links are broken, images are missing, buttons are not responsive, etc. There might even be a message on the homepage that reads “this site is under construction”. These can all contribute to a really bad user experience and are indicators that the business needs a new website.
This bad user experience could then cost the small business owner in missing out on the potential for more customers and/or revenue due to a broken website. Offer to solve their problems immediately by building a new website that WORKS. Start by offering them a free demo using one of our pre-built website Themes.
6. It’s Not Secure
Have you ever tried visiting a website only to be hit with a warning message that says something like “your connection is not private” or “this site is not secure”? It’s not only alarming, but it’s also hurting their business. In a recent study, 46% of customers say that they would not do business with a website that’s not secure.
Website security is more important than ever. Google is actually penalizing sites for not having an up-to-date SSL certificate assigned to the site. Every site should be secured – in fact, some browsers won’t even load a site without a valid SSL certificate. The great thing about SiteSwan is that all of your client websites built on our platform will be automatically issued an SSL certificate without any additional charges.
Just because a site looks good at first glance and isn’t outdated, ugly, broken, or insecure doesn’t mean you don’t have an opportunity to pitch a new site. There are many additional reasons why business owners need a new site - some of which might require you to spend a couple of additional minutes exploring their site or talking to the business owner to unveil.
7. They’re Overpaying
Lots of freelancers and web design companies are out there and quite frankly overcharging small businesses for a simple website. It’s not uncommon for a company to charge $5,000 - $10,000 for a basic site up front followed by hundreds of dollars per month or per hour for basic support.
You can save your customers hundreds or thousands of dollars per year by offering a redesign. Because your costs are so low with SiteSwan, you can afford to charge rates lower than the industry standard and still come out with a solid profit margin. Aside from that, the real money is in having multiple clients on a monthly support plan as opposed to charging per project.
Don’t be afraid to ask a business how much they are currently paying for their website solution. If you can beat their current price, it might be your easiest sale.
8. They’re Not on Google
Every business website should perform well in search results for keywords related to their business. A nice looking site is not effective marketing if customers cannot easily find it on Google.
If a business’s site isn’t coming up on the first page of Google, there is likely something inherently wrong with the site such as the issues mentioned in #4, #5, and/or #6 above. This business could also be losing market share to their competition due to not showing up on the search engine results page.
Building a search engine-optimized website on SiteSwan is super easy following our straightforward tips and suggestions. You can even submit your sites to search engines with just one click. Start by demonstrating how their current website doesn’t come up in relevant search results. Assure them that you will not only build them a new site that looks great, but you’ll do everything in your power to make sure customers can find it on Google for terms related to their business.
9. It’s Lacking Key Features
Over time, businesses’ needs may change. Their current site might lack some key features they need to grow. It could be as simple as a well-placed contact form to generate leads or a link for online ordering.
When interacting with a prospective client, you’ll want to learn their goals and objectives so that you can make the right recommendations. The beauty about the SiteSwan platform is that you can easily incorporate key features including third party apps to create a website that serves a business’s current needs in an ever-changing market.
10. They’ve Rebranded
Businesses will sometimes redesign their logo or remodel their physical office or retail space. It’s super important that all their branding & marketing is updated on their site to reflect that as well.
If you notice some inconsistencies such as on their brochure, social media accounts, and/or in photos people post on Google, this could be an excellent opportunity to pitch them a new website to get their brand consistency back in line. As a best practice, every business needs to use a consistent logo, color scheme and font scheme across all marketing materials.
11. They’re Current Designer Sucks
It’s very common for larger web design firms to be unreliable when it comes to customer support and for fly-by-night web designers to fall off the face of the Earth. Web design is ultimately a service-based business. So if a business owner is not getting the care or response they expect, it could be a good enough reason to find a new web designer along with a new website.
This is your opportunity to sell yourself and ensure that you are always accessible and available to help them. Explain how you’ll provide top notch customer service and can be reached by phone or email to assist them. Assure them that you're committed to your web design business and will give them the attention they deserve for years to come.
12. You Can Just Do Better
Maybe their site checks almost every box, but it’s not as nice as what YOU can do for them. Looking at our Themes, you may find opportunities to significantly improve the online presence for a lot of small business websites right out of the gate.
Maybe the vibe they give off isn’t right or it doesn’t send the right message, have the right call to action, or compel people to want to do business with them. Even if a business website only has a few “rough edges”, a website redesign may be needed.
Now you know 12 reasons why a business might need a website redesign. Although there will always be opportunities to create websites for brand new businesses, you don’t want to leave out current businesses who might need a revamp for their website. Whether you need to create a new business website or redesign a current one, SiteSwan provides the tools and support you need for success.
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