Best Practices for Complete Website Revamp: Clone and Modify or Start from Scratch?

Sean R. · 2026-03-31T22:22:18.031Z

Hey all. When it comes to doing a complete website revamp (new IA, new visuals, page layouts etc) what are peoples go-to methods for doing so? There is a lot of content that is going to remain so I'm thinking of cloning the website and then gutting all styling, removing modules but keep collections in place as there's quite a lot of content on the site. OR is it simply better to start from scratch and then manually recreate (or import) collections and the listings? Any stories out there on how not to go about it? Big thanks

7 comments

· Sorted by Oldest

Matt J.
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Sean R. couple of surface level questions here.
1.
Is the current site and new site both going to be in Webflow?
2.
What is the goal for the revamp? What's motivating the client to do this revamp?
3.
How does keeping some content benefit the end result of the new site? (I understand how it could benefit the scope of the work or save the client money etc, but how does it BENEFIT the new site based on the answer to #2 which is what is the goal of the revamp?
Sean R.
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Matt J. Thanks for chiming in.
1.
Current site is in Webflow (should’ve clarified that upfront).
2.
This is a fairly significant shift — the campaign site is evolving into a more editorial/content-driven experience.
3.
Content-wise, I’m expecting some collections to carry over (e.g. articles, stories), but I don’t want to inherit structural or design debt. My instinct is to treat it more as a rebuild — either duplicating and restructuring selectively, or starting fresh and migrating content intentionally.
Main thing I’m trying to get right is:
Keeping what’s valuable (content + URLs where needed)
While avoiding dragging over a bloated CMS or outdated patterns
So less about “saving effort,” more about not compromising the new system.
Matt J.
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Sean R. yeah got it. Is your plan to use the Relume Site Builder at all (totally cool if not) and does the current site have the latest style guide (v3) or no? My gut is saying rebuild as well because there is usually a lot more to gain from a clean, fresh start, than trying to inherit an old infrastructure. Things move so quickly in the web design world, and as developer we learn new techniques, new ways to organize projects or build them out and inheriting an old site leaves little room to improve upon those foundations. Taking catalog of all the existing URLs, taking backups of the current site, exporting CMS collections or using Whalesync to help with migrations are all ways we can help mitigate the labor and effort of an old site, while still being able to build a new foundation. The other factor not mentioned is how old the current website is. If its 2-3 years old, then I would definitely rebuild without a doubt. The time saved by using the Relume site builder and importing those pages - even if its just the wireframes, would likely eat up a good chunk of whatever time was spent having to migrate. Just my two cents on it.
Matt J.
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Another thing I wanted to mention is that I think your client is really lucky to have somebody like you working with them on their website. You sound like you have spent a good amount of time considering what is best long-term for their business and how to spend their dollars wisely. I really love how you are thinking about this migration - not compromising the new system, but still retaining valuable content that the business had invested into previously - really nice work Sean!
Sean R.
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Matt J. Website was built Sept 2023, so likely on an older version of Relume. That alone pushes me toward a clean rebuild. Given the shift in direction, content will probably change quite a bit anyway — so trying to preserve 1–2 collections doesn’t feel worth optimizing around. Leaning toward:
Fresh build
Recreate only what’s still relevant
Migrate content intentionally where it makes sense
Feels like the cleaner long-term play vs inheriting anything outdated. Thanks so much for your input.
Matt J.
·
·
yeah, I agree with that direction - that feels pretty good. Just ensure that the current site can stay as a staged site for reference later - even post-launch. I would expect to keep the old (current) webflow project around for at least 90 days after launch. Personally, I would never delete it but that's just me. The number of times I was like "oh shoot, what was that one heading we had on the old site?" or some other piece of content etc.
Sean R.
·
·
Matt J. Smart. We'll keep that on hand in case of emergency

Matt J.
·
·
Sean R. couple of surface level questions here.
1.
Is the current site and new site both going to be in Webflow?
2.
What is the goal for the revamp? What's motivating the client to do this revamp?
3.
How does keeping some content benefit the end result of the new site? (I understand how it could benefit the scope of the work or save the client money etc, but how does it BENEFIT the new site based on the answer to #2 which is what is the goal of the revamp?
Sean R.
·
·
Matt J. Thanks for chiming in.
1.
Current site is in Webflow (should’ve clarified that upfront).
2.
This is a fairly significant shift — the campaign site is evolving into a more editorial/content-driven experience.
3.
Content-wise, I’m expecting some collections to carry over (e.g. articles, stories), but I don’t want to inherit structural or design debt. My instinct is to treat it more as a rebuild — either duplicating and restructuring selectively, or starting fresh and migrating content intentionally.
Main thing I’m trying to get right is:
Keeping what’s valuable (content + URLs where needed)
While avoiding dragging over a bloated CMS or outdated patterns
So less about “saving effort,” more about not compromising the new system.
Matt J.
·
·
Sean R. yeah got it. Is your plan to use the Relume Site Builder at all (totally cool if not) and does the current site have the latest style guide (v3) or no? My gut is saying rebuild as well because there is usually a lot more to gain from a clean, fresh start, than trying to inherit an old infrastructure. Things move so quickly in the web design world, and as developer we learn new techniques, new ways to organize projects or build them out and inheriting an old site leaves little room to improve upon those foundations. Taking catalog of all the existing URLs, taking backups of the current site, exporting CMS collections or using Whalesync to help with migrations are all ways we can help mitigate the labor and effort of an old site, while still being able to build a new foundation. The other factor not mentioned is how old the current website is. If its 2-3 years old, then I would definitely rebuild without a doubt. The time saved by using the Relume site builder and importing those pages - even if its just the wireframes, would likely eat up a good chunk of whatever time was spent having to migrate. Just my two cents on it.
Matt J.
·
·
Another thing I wanted to mention is that I think your client is really lucky to have somebody like you working with them on their website. You sound like you have spent a good amount of time considering what is best long-term for their business and how to spend their dollars wisely. I really love how you are thinking about this migration - not compromising the new system, but still retaining valuable content that the business had invested into previously - really nice work Sean!
Sean R.
·
·
Matt J. Website was built Sept 2023, so likely on an older version of Relume. That alone pushes me toward a clean rebuild. Given the shift in direction, content will probably change quite a bit anyway — so trying to preserve 1–2 collections doesn’t feel worth optimizing around. Leaning toward:
Fresh build
Recreate only what’s still relevant
Migrate content intentionally where it makes sense
Feels like the cleaner long-term play vs inheriting anything outdated. Thanks so much for your input.
Matt J.
·
·
yeah, I agree with that direction - that feels pretty good. Just ensure that the current site can stay as a staged site for reference later - even post-launch. I would expect to keep the old (current) webflow project around for at least 90 days after launch. Personally, I would never delete it but that's just me. The number of times I was like "oh shoot, what was that one heading we had on the old site?" or some other piece of content etc.
Sean R.
·
·
Matt J. Smart. We'll keep that on hand in case of emergency

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