Your website is often the first impression potential customers will have of your brand. It’s where trust is built, curiosity is sparked and sales are made.
Yet, despite its importance many businesses fall into common design traps that can affect their online presence and bottom line. We’ve seen it all – from cluttered homepages that confuse visitors to sites with an outrageous amount of popups that make their users rage quit and leave.
Fortunately, these mistakes are entirely avoidable.
The Cost of Poor Website Design
Before we jump into the specifics, let’s talk about what’s at stake. A poorly designed website doesn’t just look unprofessional – it actively drives potential customers away.
Research from Google and the University of Basel shows that users form an opinion about your website in just 0.05 seconds. This split-second judgement is based purely on visual appeal and can influence whether visitors trust your brand before they’ve even read a single word.
Poor design can also lead to high bounce rates, low conversion rates, and lost revenue. In contrast, a well-designed website builds trust, guides users towards action, and ultimately grows your business.
Let’s dive into the five most common website design mistakes we encounter and, more importantly, how you can steer clear of them.
1. Overloading your homepage with too much information
The mistake: Your homepage tries to tell your entire brand story, showcase every service, and include every piece of information about your business.
When everything is important, nothing is important. Visitors become overwhelmed and leave without taking any action. Your homepage becomes a dead end rather than a gateway to your business.
How to avoid it: Treat your homepage like an essay introduction or book cover – it should entice, not overwhelm. Focus on your core value proposition, a brief overview of what you do, and clear calls-to-action that guide visitors to dedicated pages with more detailed information.
Keep it simple, keep it focused, and save the detailed content for your service pages, about page, and blog.
2. Poor navigation that leaves users lost
The mistake: Complex menu structures, unclear labels, and navigation that works differently on mobile than desktop. If visitors can’t find what they’re looking for within seconds, they’ll leave.
Worst of all, poor navigation increases bounce rates and reduces the likelihood of conversions.
How to avoid it: Create clear, intuitive menus with descriptive labels that immediately tell users what they’ll find. Design mobile navigation specifically for touch interfaces – our full popup mobile menu is a perfect example of making navigation thumb-friendly and comprehensive.
Keep your main navigation to seven items or fewer, use familiar conventions (like putting contact information in the header or footer), and always include a search function for larger sites.
Remember, good navigation is invisible – users should never have to think about how to get where they want to go.
3. Ignoring mobile users in 2025
The mistake: Treating mobile as an afterthought, using designs that don’t scale properly, or creating mobile experiences that feel like cramped desktop versions.
It’s 2025, and mobile traffic often exceeds desktop traffic. Google uses mobile-first indexing, meaning your mobile site determines your search rankings. Ignoring mobile users is like closing your website to half your potential users.
How to avoid it: Embrace responsive design from the ground up. Ensure buttons are large enough for thumbs, text is readable without zooming, and loading times are fast on mobile connections. Test your site on various devices and screen sizes regularly.
What looks perfect on your laptop might be completely unusable on a smartphone. Make mobile optimisation a priority, not an afterthought.
4. Inconsistent branding that confuses your audience
The mistake: Your website looks different from your social media, your logo appears in various versions, and your tone of voice changes from page to page.
Your brand identity becomes fragmented and confusing. Inconsistent branding erodes trust and makes your business appear unprofessional. It confuses customers and weakens brand recognition.
How to avoid it: Develop and religiously follow a comprehensive brand guide. This should cover your logo usage, colour palette, typography, imagery style, and tone of voice. Every touchpoint (your website, social media, marketing materials, email signatures) should feel like they belong to the same brand family.
Create templates for different types of content and train anyone who creates brand materials on your guidelines. Consistency builds trust, and trust drives conversions.
5. Slow loading speeds
The mistake: Using massive, unoptimised images, bloated code, and unnecessary plugins that make your site crawl.
Users expect websites to load in under three seconds. For every additional second of loading time, you lose potential customers. Slow sites also rank lower in search results.
How to avoid it: Optimise images by compressing them without losing quality, clean up your code regularly, and remove unused plugins or features.
Choose a reliable hosting provider and consider using a content delivery network (CDN) for faster global loading times. Regular maintenance is key – your website needs consistent attention to stay in peak condition.
Building websites that work
A high-performing website is a powerful asset – one that works around the clock to showcase your brand and connect you with your audience.
The difference between a website that drives business growth and one that drives visitors away often comes down to these fundamental design principles.
By avoiding these five common mistakes, you’ll be well on your way to building a site that reflects your brand’s quality and fuels your growth.
Remember, your website is often your first opportunity to make an impression – make it count.
Ready to transform your website from problematic to profitable? Let’s chat about creating a digital presence that works as hard as you do.
