So we did a thing yesterday.

Some of you might remember I was visiting my daughter abroad last month. While I was there, I completely fell in love with her cat.

When I got home, I told my family I thought I might want one of our own.

Noah, by the way, had been begging for a cat for quite awhile… so he was thrilled to hear this.

Yesterday we went to the shelter.

And immediately saw them. A sibling pair.

Through the glass, Noah and I just looked at each other like… oh boy.

Then we held them and that was it.

The only issue was that we came in planning to adopt one cat, not two. Hubby would have my head.

So we stood there for a good 30 minutes going back and forth.

Two felt like a lot. It wasn’t what we planned.

But separating them felt wrong.

The shelter team kept telling us the same thing. Siblings usually do better together. They play with each other. They keep each other company.

In other words, the thing that looked like more might actually make everything easier.

So we brought them both home.

Her name is Lilah. We’re still working on a name for him.

And I am completely, ridiculously obsessed.

Right now they’re chasing each other all over the house like tiny maniacs and looking so freakin’ adorable curled up together when they sleep.

Which, apparently, was the whole point.

And it’s just like this in our business.

I see it all the time with websites, especially for small business owners whose work has grown faster than the site they originally built.

How Your Website Outgrows the Original Plan

Most business owners build their first website with a pretty simple goal in mind.

Maybe the site is meant to support a single offer. Maybe it showcases a handful of services. Sometimes the goal is simply getting something live so the business has a home online.

That works beautifully in the beginning.

But businesses don’t stay the same for long. New ideas show up, offers shift, and over time you get much clearer about who you serve and how you help them.

Meanwhile the website is still structured for the version of your business from a few years ago.

So another page gets added. Then another. Eventually new sections appear to make room for new offers, programs, and ideas.

Before long the site technically contains everything… but the experience becomes harder to navigate than it used to be.

Nothing is exactly wrong.

It just feels heavier.

When Growth Starts to Hide the Main Thing

One of the biggest things that gets lost during this stage is user experience.

As more content gets added, the main thing you want people to do slowly gets buried.

Your primary offer ends up farther down the page. The main call to action sits next to several other options. Visitors land on the site and have to spend a little too much time figuring out where to start.

And when someone has to work to understand what you do, most people won’t stick around long enough to figure it out.

An Outgrown Website Can Cost You

When a website becomes harder to navigate or the messaging gets too broad, the impact can show up in different ways.

Sometimes it’s subtle. From the inside, everything seems fine. The site works, the pages load, and nothing appears broken.

But small moments of friction start adding up.

A visitor lands on the homepage and can’t immediately tell what you do, so they leave.

Someone who might have been a great client doesn’t quite see themselves in the message and assumes the site isn’t for them.

A potential referral clicks your link but has to spend a little too long figuring out where to go next, and at that point many people simply head back to Google and try the next option.

Other times the impact is more obvious.

Inquiries slow down. The people who do visit don’t convert. Or, worse, the people who do reach out seem a little confused about what you actually offer.

That’s often a sign the website no longer reflects the business you’re running today.

And when that happens, it can quietly cost you opportunities, prospects, and clients. Not because your work isn’t valuable, but because the website no longer makes that value easy to see.

The “Generalist Website” Trap

Another thing I see happen during this stage is messaging that becomes too broad.

Business owners try to make the website speak to everything they do and everyone they serve.

The intention makes sense. You don’t want to leave anything out.

But the result is often vague language that sounds nice without actually saying much.

Hero sections start saying things like:

Helping you grow your business.

Supporting entrepreneurs in building their dreams.

Those statements aren’t wrong. They’re just so general that visitors can’t immediately tell if the site is meant for them.

When people can’t quickly see themselves in the message, they move on.

I wrote more about this a few weeks ago in “Why Authentic Website Messaging Matters More Than Pleasing Everyone”, because it’s one of the most common issues I see on websites that have grown over time.

Signs Your Website May Have Outgrown Its Structure

If you’re wondering whether this might be happening to you, here are a few signs I see all the time with clients:

your homepage tries to talk about too many different things
visitors ask what you do even though it’s on the site
you keep adding new pages instead of improving the structure
your main offer isn’t obvious within the first few seconds
you hesitate to send people to your website because it feels a little messy

None of these mean your website is bad.

They usually mean your business has grown faster than the site structure has.

When the Website Finally Matches the Business

This is why a website refresh can feel like such a relief.

When the structure reflects the business you’re actually running today, everything starts to make sense again.

Your messaging becomes clearer and your main offer stands out. Visitors land on the site and quickly understand what you do and where to go next.

Instead of trying to squeeze today’s business into yesterday’s website structure, the whole experience starts working together again.

And suddenly the site feels lighter. Easier to manage. Easier for your audience to understand.

There’s another benefit too.

Clear structure and specific messaging also help search engines and AI tools understand what your site is about. When your pages are organized well and your language clearly reflects what you do, it becomes much easier for Google and AI search tools to connect the right people with your website.

This is the kind of work I do with clients all the time inside their Squarespace websites. Not starting from scratch, but reorganizing and refreshing the structure so the website finally matches the business they’re running today.

Kind of like what we realized standing in the shelter yesterday.

What looked like “more” at first might actually make everything easier in the long run.

If your website is starting to feel like it belongs to an earlier version of your business, a refresh can make a surprising difference. Sometimes a few thoughtful changes are all it takes to bring everything back into focus.

Shell, yes! Here’s to your success.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common signs include unclear messaging, too many pages added over time, and visitors struggling to understand what you do within the first few seconds.
As businesses evolve, websites often stay structured for an earlier version of the business. This can create cluttered navigation, vague messaging, and a confusing user experience.
Usually not. In many cases, a thoughtful refresh and restructuring of the existing site is enough to make the website clearer, easier to navigate, and aligned with the current business.
Most businesses benefit from reviewing their website every few years. As offers evolve and audiences become clearer, updating the structure and messaging helps keep the site relevant and effective.

When Your Website Outgrows the Business It Was Built For