Should I refresh or rebuild my practice website?

Signs a refresh is enough

• The pages are the right pages. Your services and conditions each have a place on the site.
• The platform is not what is holding the site back.
• The problems are technical: missing security headers, images that were never compressed, a phone layout that breaks in two places.
• The problems are editorial: stale dates, dead links, an About page that still names a partner who left years ago.

All of these can be fixed in place for a fraction of a rebuild. A refresh also keeps the search history attached to your existing page addresses, which a rebuild can lose if it changes them.

Signs you need a rebuild

• The structure no longer matches the practice: a site built for a solo surgeon that now serves a group, or a site with no page for half of what you treat.
• The platform itself is the limit, and the fixes you need cannot be made on it.
• The repairs added together would cost more than starting over.

Get the answer in writing

A developer earns more from a rebuild, so a verdict should come from a written assessment rather than a sales call. RC’s website evaluation rates ten areas, from search visibility to security, as Good, Fair, Needs work or Critical, with the measurement behind each rating. It ends in a verdict and a fixed quote either way, and the report is yours to keep whoever does the work. We have written a refresh verdict against our own interest more than once, including on our own website.

What each costs

• Evaluation: complimentary for physicians, practices and surgical programs.
• Refresh: $1,500 to $3,500, fixed from the evaluation’s findings. Paid 50% to begin and 50% on completion, with a 30-day defect-fix window. Your site stays on its current platform and hosting.
• Rebuild: $3,500 for up to 10 pages, $6,500 for up to 22, or $8,500 for a practice. See How much does a physician website cost?

Questions physicians ask

Will a refresh move my site?

No. A refresh fixes the site where it is. It stays on its current platform and hosting and is handed back to you.

How long does the evaluation take?

Usually about a week from your answers to the finished report, depending on how large the site is.