Why Most Website Redesigns Are a Total Waste of Money
I’ve seen it happen dozens of times across Brisbane, from sparkies in Coorparoo to law firms in the CBD. A business owner decides their old site looks a bit dusty, so they spend five or ten grand on a shiny new one. Two months later, they realise something terrifying: the new site looks great, but the phone has stopped ringing.
Most web designers are artists, not business people. They care about pretty colours and fancy animations. But as a business owner, you don’t need an art project. You need a sales tool. If your website doesn't put money in your bank account, it’s a failure—plain and simple.
If you’re thinking about refreshing your site, I want to save you from the common traps that kill small businesses. Here is the honest truth about what actually works and what is just a waste of your hard-earned cash.
Mistake 1: Making it Pretty Instead of Functional
I’ll be blunt: your customers don’t care about your brand story or your "creative vision." When someone’s hot water system bursts at 9:00 PM on a Tuesday, they want three things: your phone number, proof you can fix it, and a reason to trust you.
We recently spoke with a landscaper in Samford who spent a fortune on a site with huge, high-resolution videos that took forever to load. It looked like a movie trailer. The problem? Most of his customers were looking at his site on their phones while standing in their backyard. The video wouldn't play, the site froze, and they just clicked back to Google to find someone else.
Focus on the basics first. Does the site load instantly? Is your phone number the biggest thing on the page? If you stop losing customers by making the site easy to use, you'll see more enquiries without spending an extra cent on advertising.
Mistake 2: Hiding Your Contact Details
This sounds obvious, but you’d be shocked how many "modern" websites hide the contact page inside a tiny menu. Or worse, they replace a phone number with a 15-field contact form that nobody wants to fill out.
People in Brisbane are busy. Whether they are looking for a bookkeeper or a pest controller, they want the path of least resistance.
The Rule of Thumb: Your phone number should be at the top right of every single page. On a mobile, there should be a big button that says "Call Now" that stays at the bottom of the screen. If a customer has to scroll for more than three seconds to find out how to talk to you, you are losing money.
Mistake 3: Writing for Yourself, Not Your Customer
Most business owners fill their website with "About Us" content. "We were established in 1994..." "We pride ourselves on excellence..." "Our mission statement is..."
Here’s the reality: Your customer only cares about their own problem. Instead of saying "We use the latest diagnostic equipment," try "We find the leak fast so you don't have to rip up your driveway."
Talk about the results you deliver. Use the words your customers use. If you’re a mechanic in Moorooka, don't use technical jargon about fuel injection systems; tell them you'll have them back on the road by school pick-up time. When you focus on small website tweaks like changing your headlines to focus on the customer's needs, the phone starts ringing much more often.
Mistake 4: Forgetting the "Trust Factor"
In the old days, a Yellow Pages ad was enough. Today, your website is your digital storefront. If it looks dodgy, people assume your work is dodgy.
I’m not saying it needs to be a masterpiece, but it needs to look professional and current. If your last "Latest News" post is from 2019, visitors will wonder if you’re still in business.
To build trust quickly: Use real photos of your team and your vans—not fake stock photos of people in American hardhats. Show your Google Reviews front and centre. Mention that you are local to Brisbane or your specific suburb.
If people don't feel a connection immediately, they won't stick around. You need to understand why people don’t trust certain sites so you can avoid those same red flags on your own.
Mistake 5: DIY-ing the Technical Stuff
I love the DIY spirit of Aussie small business owners. I really do. But building your own website on a "free" builder is often a massive mistake.
Sure, it saves you $2,000 upfront. But if that DIY site doesn't show up on Google, or if it breaks every time there’s a software update, it’s costing you tens of thousands in lost jobs.
A professional site should be an investment, not an expense. If you spend $5,000 on a site and it brings in two extra jobs a month for the next three years, it’s the cheapest employee you’ll ever hire. If you build it yourself for free and it brings in zero jobs, it’s the most expensive mistake you’ll ever make.
What Should You Do First?
If you’re feeling overwhelmed, don't try to fix everything at once. Start here:
1. Check your site on your phone. Not your office computer—your actual phone. Try to find your phone number. Try to click it. If it’s hard, fix that today. 2. Look at your photos. If you’re using stock photos of generic office people, get your iPhone out and take a photo of your actual team in front of your shop or van. It’s 10x more effective. 3. Change your headlines. Stop talking about yourself and start talking about the customer’s problem.
How Long Until You See Results?
Unlike some marketing tactics that take months to kick in, website changes can work almost instantly. If we fix a broken "Contact Us" button today, you could get a call this afternoon. Generally, if you overhaul your site correctly, you should see a noticeable bump in enquiries within 30 days.
The Bottom Line
Don't let a web designer talk you into fancy features you don't need. You don't need chatbots, you don't need parallax scrolling, and you don't need a blog that nobody reads.
You need a site that works on phones, loads fast, and tells people exactly why they should hire you instead of the bloke down the road.
At Local Marketing Group, we’ve helped countless Brisbane businesses turn their websites from expensive ornaments into lead-generating machines. We don't care about design awards; we care about your bottom line.
Ready to stop guessing and start getting more calls? Contact us at Local Marketing Group and let’s have a straight-talk chat about what your business actually needs.