Build a website by texting

Move your old website to mrdoodle by sending the link

Published September 3, 2026 · 6 min read

To rebuild an old website, send mrdoodle its public link, say what must stay and what should improve, then review the new phone-first preview before you publish it.

Why rebuild from a link with mrdoodle?

An old website is not a blank page. It may already contain years of useful material: service names, a business story, staff bios, opening hours, addresses, and the phrases customers use when they call. mrdoodle can read that public source while building a fresh site, which saves you from copying every paragraph into a new editor.

The rebuild still happens in WhatsApp. There is no migration dashboard to learn, and later changes are messages in the same chat. The result can include working forms backed by stored data, not just a visual copy. It is free to build and preview; you pay only when you choose to deploy the replacement live.

What should you send with the old website link?

A bare link leaves the important decisions unstated. Add three short lists:

• Keep: the facts, pages, colors, photos, or wording that still work.
• Change: anything outdated, hard to read, slow, or confusing.
• Add: the action the old site never handled, such as a booking request or quote form.

For example:

This is my plumbing company’s site: [link]. Keep our service list, license information, phone number, and blue color. Remove the old coupons and staff page. Make it easy to read on a phone and add a quote form that asks for the ZIP code, type of problem, urgency, name, and phone number.

If the site belongs to someone else, do not ask to copy it. You may point to a site as visual inspiration, but reuse only content and media you own or have permission to use.

What can carry over from the old site?

Public text and visible structure make good source material. mrdoodle can use business descriptions, service names, locations, contact details, frequently asked questions, and the overall order of information. It can also take visual direction from public brand colors and the images you are entitled to reuse.

Some material needs extra care. A phone number shown in several places may disagree. Holiday hours may be stale. An image may be too small for a large header. A page that mattered five years ago may now distract from the one action customers need.

Treat the old site as evidence, not unquestionable truth. In your message, call out the source of record: “The hours on our Google profile are correct,” or “Use the prices in the attached menu, not the old site.”

What will not move automatically?

Private dashboards, customer accounts, third-party booking histories, analytics, email inboxes, payment records, and anything behind a login are not public webpage content. They do not transfer just because you sent a URL. Domain ownership and email service also live outside the page itself.

A feature can often be rebuilt, but that is different from moving its old data. If your current site accepts reservations, explain the exact new workflow and whether historical records matter. If it uses a third-party service you want to keep, send the public booking link and ask mrdoodle to connect to it rather than inventing a replacement.

The current deploy flow gives the new site an address under mrdoodle.chat. Do not cancel the old host or change business listings until you have checked the new live address and decided how visitors will reach it.

How do you make the rebuilt site better on phones?

Start with the job a customer is trying to finish. A restaurant visitor wants the menu, hours, directions, and perhaps a reservation. A contractor’s customer wants proof of past work, a service area, and a quote request. The new version should put those answers before the company history.

Ask for specific improvements:

• replace a PDF menu with real, readable page text;
• keep the phone number and main action visible near the top;
• shorten the navigation to the pages customers use;
• stack cards and fields comfortably on a narrow screen;
• use compressed, well-cropped versions of large photos;
• make form labels and error messages easy to understand;
• remove popups that cover the page on a phone.

Read how to build a website by texting before the final review.

What should you check in the first preview?

Open the preview beside the old site and compare facts, not pixels. Verify the company name, phone, email, address, service area, hours, prices, staff names, and policies. Test every link and submit each form with sample information. Check that you can retrieve what the form saves through the owner workflow you requested.

Then judge the experience. Can a new visitor tell what you do from the first screen? Is the main action obvious? Does the site still make sense if someone never opens the menu? Does a gallery show your strongest work first?

Send corrections one at a time or as a numbered list. “Change the Saturday hours to 9–2; move Emergency service above Drain cleaning; make the call button say Call for same-day help” gives mrdoodle clear work to do.

Will rebuilding hurt search visibility?

A rebuild can lose useful search signals if important text disappears or addresses change without a plan. Keep the business name, core services, service area, and contact information accurate and consistent. Preserve the substance of pages that already answer valuable customer questions. If old URLs have external links or steady traffic, keep a list of them before leaving the old platform.

mrdoodle’s blog and marketing pages are not a substitute for a full migration audit. For a small brochure site, the practical priorities are correct content, a fast phone experience, a crawlable live page, and consistent links from places such as your Google Business Profile. For a large site with many ranked pages, ecommerce, member accounts, or regulated content, bring in an SEO or migration specialist.

When is a link rebuild the wrong choice?

Hire specialist help when the old site contains a complex store catalog, custom integrations, medical or financial workflows, large member databases, or search traffic spread across hundreds of URLs. A chat-built rebuild is strongest when the public site is modest, the business information is understandable, and you can personally verify the result.

For that kind of site, the simplest first step is also the safest: send the public link and ask for a preview. Starting is free, and mrdoodle does not charge anything until you approve the result and deploy it live. Keep the old site running while you compare.