When you’re in the business of building something that represents another person’s business, it’s easy to forget how deeply human the process of web design really is. Websites aren’t just collections of links and hover states — they’re digital storefronts, service brochures, credibility markers, and sometimes full-blown customer experiences. And just like any other key piece of a business, when a website is built on a shaky foundation, everything else suffers. I’ve worked with dozens of small-to-mid-sized businesses who came to me with sites that either weren’t converting, weren’t ranking, or worst of all, weren’t even getting seen. Often, the root problems are the same.
Website mistakes are rarely catastrophic in isolation. Like small leaks in a roof, it’s the combination over time that causes damage. And while there’s plenty of inspiration online about what good websites look like, there’s less honest conversation about where websites go wrong — particularly from someone who isn’t trying to push a product in the process. Whether you're a business owner trying to DIY your site or a fellow designer trying to sharpen your eye, this will guide you through some of the most common website design mistakes I see and how to avoid them.
This might be the most common — and most human — mistake I see. We assume we know what our users want because that's what we want. Or worse, we design to impress our peers rather than serve the people the website is actually for.
One client of mine, an upscale dog grooming studio, had spent $5k on a WordPress site with custom animations, abstract shapes, and a dark color scheme that looked like it belonged to a music producer. It was sleek, sure, but the problem? Their target audience was suburban moms looking for trust and cleanliness. The bounce rate told the full story — people were landing and leaving almost immediately.
When you design through the lens of your audience’s expectations and pain points, you start making strategic design decisions, not just aesthetic ones.
A website isn’t a business card. It’s not something you finish and forget about. Yet this “set-it-and-forget-it” mentality is embedded in how a lot of small business owners — and unfortunately, even some designers — think. The truth is, a business that grows and evolves will outgrow a static website.
I had a local chiropractor whose business exploded after a TikTok clip went semi-viral, but his website hadn’t been updated in over three years. He still had photos of the old location, half of the team members had moved on, and the booking form was buried three clicks deep. He was losing out on thousands in possible conversions, all because the site hadn't been designed with adaptability in mind.
Think of your homepage as your current digital pitch — it should reflect where your business is now, not where it was two years ago. Revisit your site every quarter to evaluate and tweak.
I like using the property analogy with this one. Think of website templates as “developer homes.” They give you the layout, the walls, the general paint scheme — but if you want it to feel like your home, you’ve got to furnish and remodel. The problem is when people move in and do nothing except hang a few pictures.
One of my clients, a health coach, came to me after complaining that no one was contacting her through her site. She was using a popular Wix template, but it still had the original stock photography and placeholder testimonials. It didn’t speak to her audience of women in midlife transformation. Worst of all, it positioned her as just another “coaching site.” There was nothing distinct or memorable because nothing about it was actually hers.
A template is fine as a starting point, particularly for smaller budgets. Just make sure it ends up reflecting you, not the 973 people who came before you.
This one’s sneaky because if your site feels fast to you on your home Wi-Fi, it’s easy to assume it’s fast for everyone. But performance isn’t a vanity issue — it's a conversion issue and an SEO signal. According to Google Web Vitals, load speed directly affects bounce rate and ranking. A delay of just one second can result in a 7% drop in conversions.
I worked with a local e-commerce boutique in Franklin whose homepage took over 6 seconds to load — mostly because of uncompressed full-screen imagery and a half dozen tracking scripts. Not surprisingly, their bounce rate on mobile was over 80%. They were paying for ads to send people to a website that was creating friction instead of flow.
If your site feels like it takes longer than an Uber Eats order to load, your visitors are probably moving on. Fast-loading sites respect your users’ time — and earn their trust in return.
More than 60% of web traffic is mobile, according to Statista. And yet, many business owners only check their sites on their laptops. The result? Navigation menus that don’t work, text too small to read without pinching, or buttons that are too close together.
One client, a therapist in Nashville, was wondering why none of her inquiry forms were getting filled out. On desktop it looked great. But on mobile, the form extended past the viewport, and the submit button was literally cut off on some devices. Once we restructured it using Webflow’s flexible layout tools, submissions nearly tripled.
Mobile design is no longer a secondary layer — for most businesses, it’s the primary experience. Treat it that way from the start.
If your visitor has to ask, “What should I do next?” — you've already lost them. Your website should guide them like a GPS, not leave them stuck on a side street trying to figure out the next turn. I often tell clients that every page needs to have a goal, and every section a direction.
A housing developer I worked with had a beautiful Squarespace site with stunning high-res drone imagery of their communities — but there were no clear buttons or CTAs on the homepage. Just scroll and hope you click the right thing. Once we added prominent “Schedule a Tour” and “Request Pricing” buttons above the fold, their engagement from homepage to contact form increased by almost 38%.
Good design gives users confidence. Clear action points remove friction and help people feel smart and decisive while they interact with your brand.
In design, hierarchy is how you say, “Hey, pay attention here first.” Without it, users skim without understanding. I’ve seen homepages with 4 different fonts, all-caps body copy, and contradictory color schemes that make you want to click away just to give your eyes a break.
One downtown Franklin café had wonderful in-person vibes — rustic lighting, cozy communal tables — but their website felt like a ransom note. No consistent heading styles. Menu buried in PDFs. No imagery beyond a grainy logo. We restructured their content to tell a simple story: Who we are, see our menu, visit us today. And traffic to their site-destination pages increased 52% in one month.
Good hierarchy acts like a spotlight — it tells users where to look and in what order. When you get it right, even complex sites feel simple and welcoming.
At the heart of this conversation is one core idea: your website is not just a digital presence — it’s an active part of your marketing ecosystem. It should guide, convert, reassure, reflect, and adapt. Most of the mistakes we've explored aren’t due to laziness or lack of care. They happen because it’s easy to get tunnel vision, or to fall in love with how something looks rather than how it works.
Just like therapy helps reveal what’s going on beneath the surface, good web design requires intention, process, and a strong grasp on both psychology and usability. Ask what your audience needs, how they want to feel, and what decision they’re trying to make. Then create paths for them to take that are clear, concise, and genuinely helpful.
If you can avoid even a few of these common mistakes, you’ll be building not just a site that looks good — but one that works hard, builds trust, and grows with you.
Copyright © Zach Sean Web Design
