Most of the time, when someone reaches out to me about designing a new website, it’s not because they just want something prettier. It's deeper than that. It's because their current website isn't doing its job—it’s not converting, it doesn't reflect their business, or it simply feels like a source of stress. What’s frustrating is that many of these issues come down to a handful of very common, fixable design mistakes.
As someone who builds for Webflow, Wordpress, Wix, and Squarespace, I’ve seen these pitfalls show up across platforms and industries. Whether you're a solo service provider, a brick-and-mortar shop, or a rapidly growing startup, the foundation of a strong website is the same. And yet, it’s easy to miss the mark when you're too close to your own business or lost in the weeds of DIY design tweaks.
So today, I’m unpacking the most common website design mistakes I’ve encountered and helped fix—along with real-world stories, strategies, and what you can do right now to avoid these traps. Whether you’re building a new site or trying to salvage an old one, this guide is meant to be both a lens and a blueprint.
It's okay to want a beautiful website. I do too. But when visual aesthetics come at the cost of business functionality, conversions crash. A pretty site that doesn’t drive action is like a fancy car without an engine. Flashy, but stuck in the driveway.
I once had a client in the fitness industry who had spent over $10,000 on a custom-designed WordPress site. It was slick: animations, high-res hero videos, parallax scrolling—the whole Pinterest-perfect package. But here’s the problem: site traffic was solid, bounce rate was over 80%, and conversions were almost non-existent.
When we dug in, we discovered there was no clear value proposition above the fold, the CTA (call to action) buttons were buried, and they weren’t guiding users through a journey. The site looked amazing but had the informational layout of an abandoned museum.
Research backs this up. A Sweor study found that visitors form an impression of your site within 0.05 seconds, but whether they stay is based on clarity and utility—not colors or scroll effects.
We say it all the time: "Make it mobile-friendly." But what that means is evolving. Responsive is no longer enough. It needs to feel native on mobile—fast, intuitive, and thumb-friendly.
A local Nashville bakery approached me after noticing a huge discrepancy between desktop and mobile inquiries. Digging in, their mobile version had long dropdowns, tiny font sizes, and forms that were nearly impossible to fill without a stylus.
When we redesigned the mobile UI in Webflow to function more like an app—with larger input fields, collapsible menus, click-to-call buttons, and sticky CTAs—we saw a 48% increase in mobile lead generation within two months.
When someone lands on your site, they should have zero questions about where to go. If you make them overthink, you lose them. This isn’t a treasure hunt. It's wayfinding.
A coaching consultant I worked with had 14 items in their top menu—some of them drop-downs with 6-7 entries. Logical to them. Total chaos for visitors who were just trying to find out how to work with them.
We implemented a simplified structure, grouping services under one tab, linking value-rich subpages via clean inner navigation, and emphasizing a “Get Started” button in a sticky header. Bounce rate dropped by 30%, and average session duration shot up.
A logical site structure doesn’t just improve usability—it also benefits SEO. Google crawlers prefer clean, crawlable menus and site architecture. Clean navigation helps visitors and bots alike.
Most people assume SEO comes months after launch. But in reality, good on-site SEO should inform the initial build like studs behind drywall.
A Franklin-based home improvement service built their first site in Wix and launched it proudly. But for months, they couldn’t find themselves even on page 5 of Google. When I took a look, there was no metadata, no H1 optimization, no internal links, and images were labeled like “IMG38456.jpg.”
After a strategic overhaul—renaming image files, creating an intentional heading hierarchy, structuring meta titles with keyword focus, and interlinking blog content—we began seeing ranking movement within weeks, with several keywords eventually breaking into the top 3.
If you’re serious about growing traffic over time, foundational SEO can no longer be tacked on later. Your competitors aren’t waiting to show up in Google Maps—you shouldn’t either.
You might be proud of your process, your history, or your proprietary “8-step framework.” Totally fair. But here’s the thing most sites get wrong: customers don’t start by caring. They start by looking for help.
A Nashville interior designer had a gorgeous Squarespace site, with elegant fonts and curated portfolio shots. The homepage, however, was all “me”: my passion for design, my education, my story… but no direct connection to the visitor's problem. And her traffic wasn’t converting.
By shifting the language to address visitor pain points (“Tired of design overwhelm?”, “Want your space to feel relaxed, not chaotic?”) and then aligning it with experience, we saw a clear improvement in click-through to service pages.
This doesn’t mean we abandon credibility or personal story. But those things should validate trust, not carry the entire first impression.
Stock images have their place. But when a user scrolls your site and it looks like a brochure for a generic European call center, they notice. Authenticity builds trust instantly; fakery breaks it just as fast.
One local financial planner I worked with used overly bright, corporate stock visuals—think smiling models shaking hands in glass offices. The clients he was trying to attract were semi-retired homeowners looking for human, approachable advice. The imagery just didn’t match.
We replaced key visuals with photos of him meeting clients, casual but clean branding shots around Franklin, and illustrations that highlighted his client journey. Time on site improved, inquiries picked up, and clients often mentioned, “It felt like I already knew you from your website.”
Remember: users interpret visuals faster than text. If they distrust the imagery, they won’t stick around to read the words you worked so hard on.
This one is sneaky. You may have beautifully written pages, fantastic testimonials, and compelling content—but then no clear next step. That’s what I call “conversion drift.”
A therapist client had an elaborate site hosted on WordPress. Every service had a standalone page, and her blog content was rich and deeply personal. But users were wandering—reading without booking.
We mapped paths: every service page now ends with a direct booking calendar. Blog posts include internal links to service topics or discovery calls. And we designed a simple quiz funnel for hesitant visitors (“Not sure what service fits? Take this 2-minute quiz.”)
Most people aren't confused—they're just unsure. Your job is to make their next choice feel obvious, safe, and beneficial.
Launching a site without integrating analytics is like flying a plane without instruments. And yet, it happens all the time. You won’t know what’s working if you don’t have the tools to track it.
One yoga studio rebranded and rebuilt their entire site through Squarespace. It looked harmonious. Vibrant. Aligned. But traffic felt sluggish and conversions were static. I asked how users were flowing through the site. They had no idea—Google Analytics hadn’t been set up.
Once we installed proper analytics and Hotjar heatmaps, we realized users skipped the home page entirely (coming from Instagram), but landed on a class schedule that buried booking links three screens deep. Just seeing that helped us restructure non-performing content in a more intuitive way.
Your website is a living system. It evolves best when you can observe what people are doing—not just what you hope they’re doing.
Your website is your digital storefront, your front lines of communication, and often a prospect’s first impression of your brand. But it’s also more than that—it’s a container for your message, your energy, how you think about helping people. That needs to come through in more than font choice and palette.
To build a site that actually works, focus less on trends and more on human behavior. Be specific about what you want people to do. Make mobile a first-class citizen. Write like you’re sitting across the coffee table from your dream client. Show up as yourself through visuals and copy that match your values. And don’t sleep on SEO—what’s hidden can’t help anyone.
When we avoid these common pitfalls—when we’re intentional, strategic, and empathetic about our web presence—not only do we serve better, we grow faster.
Something better really does begin when your website starts working with you instead of against you.
Copyright © Zach Sean Web Design
