When To Redesign Your Website: Our Answer

Knowing when to redesign your website can be tricky. Often, your website is “good enough”, and a complete redesign is never particularly urgent. Still, in 2025, websites that are even just a few years old can quickly start to look outdated.

That’s why we wrote this post. Below we go over our own thoughts about website redesign – and how to know when it’s time. 

Reasons To Redesign Your Website

Before we can answer the question of “when to redesign your website”, we need to understand the most common reasons. Website redesigns aren’t just about making things look better. The real goal? Making sure that your site works better. Not just for your audience, but your overall mission. 

With that in mind, here are the most common (and valid) reasons for a website redesign:

1) Your site is hard to use.

Your site visitors should find what they’re looking for in just a few clicks. If they can’t? They’re going to get frustrated, and will likely bounce quickly. Make sure you prioritize user experience on your website. Ease of use is non-negotiable.

2) It’s not mobile-friendly.

More than half of your site visitors are likely on their phones. This is a trend that’s been going up in recent years, and it’s only going to increase. If your website doesn’t work well on mobile devices, you are actively losing people.

3) Your site looks outdated.

Even if your website’s functionality is fine, things online quickly start to look outdated. You don’t need the flashiest or prettiest site on the internet. But does your web design look like it’s stuck in 2015? That impacts credibility, and is a sign that it’s time for a redesign.

4) It no longer reflects your brand or mission.

Companies and nonprofits change. That’s just a natural cycle. Maybe you have grown, updated your messaging, or launched new programs. Does your website fully reflect who you are? If you hesitate when answering this question, you have work to do.

5) It’s hard to update internally.

A good website shouldn’t be complicated. Professional, yes. But you should also be able to make simple changes without hiring a developer each time. A good website should be lean and easy-to-update. Otherwise, everything becomes more complicated than it needs to be.

Five Questions To Ask Before You Redesign Your Website

A website redesign is a big project. If you’ve decided to take the leap, you need to be clear about a few questions.

Here are some things to ask yourself:

1) What’s working now?

Don’t throw out the baby with the bathwater. Just because you are going to redesign your website doesn’t mean everything needs to go. Take inventory of what your audience actually uses and values. These are the things you should keep.

2) What’s the goal of the redesign?

The more specific you can be about what you’re trying to achieve, the more likely you will be successful with a website redesign. Here are a few common goals across different kinds of organization:

• Better promote your products
• Improve your overall SEO
• Increase online donations
• Better highlight client results

These are all worthy goals, but you need to first understand what you are trying to achieve with a website redesign.

3) Who’s the website for?

Who are the most important people looking at your website? Hint: it’s not your board or staff. Think about your real users (customers, clients, partners, or donors) and what they need from your site. This is a small but essential shift in your mindset. Design with the end user in mind, and any web redesign project is going to be more successful as a result.

4) What’s your capacity and budget?

Be realistic. A redesign will take time, money, and internal effort. All of these are limited resources. If you are going to change your website, make sure you have the necessary resources. This helps manage expectations. It also makes it clear when you can expect the project to be finished. 

5) Can we evolve instead of overhaul?

This last question is all about the 80/20 principal. Sometimes you don’t need a full rebuild. A few key updates (like improved navigation or a better donation flow) can go a long way. Don’t stress yourself here.  Likely, you already have certain web features that work quite well. Keep these, and prioritize replacing the ones that don’t.

So: When To Redesign Your Website? 

There’s no hard and fast rule for website redesigns. Still, it’s a general rule of thumb to consider one every 2-3 years. Why? Here is what you will usually see in that span of time: 

• Shifting design trends. Nothing stays constant. While you should always keep in mind best practices, your website should look current.
• New technology. Mobile-first frameworks and accessibility standards haven’t always been around – but websites that neglect them quickly look outdated.
• A changing organization. Like we said above, it’s a natural thing to develop as a business or nonprofit. Has your organization changed in a meaningful way? A new website design will reflect that.

The fact is, you don’t need to wait for a crisis. The best redesigns happen proactively, not reactively. 

Our end conclusion? If you think it’s been awhile since you redesigned your website, and believe your company or nonprofit could benefit from one-

You’re probably right.

…

Are you an enterprise, nonprofit or small business looking for help on your website? Give us a shout! We provide a free consultation. Email us at [email protected] or call us at (718) 855-1919!