Web design, at its core, is a strange mix of psychology, technology, and storytelling. It’s equal parts architecture and art. If you've ever walked into a house that just felt “off”—maybe the ceiling was too low, the lighting flickering, or the layout made you nervous to turn a corner—you can relate to how users feel when they land on a poorly designed website. Websites aren’t just digital brochures, they’re living expressions of your brand’s identity. And in my work at Zach Sean Web Design, I’ve noticed that the best sites come not from extra features or flashy animations, but from clarity, focus, and intentional design choices grounded in understanding.
In this post, I want to walk through several common website design mistakes I see again and again. These are patterns that hurt your SEO, confuse your users, and sabotage the trust you’ve worked so hard to earn. Whether your site is built on Webflow (which I highly recommend), WordPress, Squarespace, or Wix, you’ll want to avoid these mistakes—or correct them before they quietly erode your credibility online.
One of the most common yet subtle mistakes I see is business owners designing what they like instead of what their customers need. They default to their favorite colors, choose images they think look “cool,” and write first-person copy that centers their personal story over customer outcomes.
I once worked with a client, a passionate yoga instructor in Franklin, TN, who had a beautiful website filled with stunning photos of their retreats—but there was no clear way for users to actually book a class. Her homepage was 90% slideshow and ambient imagery, with CTA buttons buried in a fade-in on scroll. The experience was like walking into a yoga studio filled with incense and soft music, but with no front desk.
The mindset shift here is simple in theory but profound in practice: your website is not about you; it’s for your users. If they aren’t sure what you offer, how to get it, or what problem you're solving, they’ll move along—no matter how much time you spent perfecting that looping video background.
Ultimately, good UX is empathetic UX.
This might sound obvious in 2025, but you’d be surprised how many sites I audit that are still clunky, slow, or broken on mobile. Mobile-first design isn't just a buzzword—it’s the way people interact with websites now. According to Statista, mobile accounts for over 58% of global website traffic. That number climbs even higher for local businesses, especially ones in service niches like salons, restaurants, and home services.
I worked with a general contractor in Nashville who had used a DIY site builder. On desktop, things looked decent. But test it on a phone and the site became a confusing nightmare of overlapping text, zoomed-out images, and menu buttons that wouldn’t tap. Leads were dropping and bounce rates were sky-high. Once we fixed the mobile experience—making the CTAs larger, simplifying layout, optimizing page speed—we saw form submissions double within three weeks.
Make it a habit to audit your site monthly on various devices. Tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can be a quick pulse check, but nothing beats simply browsing your site like a real customer.
Here’s a rule I often repeat in my strategy sessions: “If everything is important, nothing is.” This is especially true when it comes to website navigation. When I see homepages with 9+ menu options, I already know users aren’t sticking around. You’re forcing people to think and interpret when they should be flowing naturally through your site.
Navigation overload is a silent conversion killer. A local coffee shop I helped initially had links like: “Our Mission,” “Beans from Columbia,” “The Team,” “Sustainability Pledge,” and “Testimonials” all in their top menu bar. None of these supported conversion flow. With some gentle consulting, we condensed the nav to: “Menu,” “Order Online,” “Visit Us,” and “About.” We then nested the storytelling elements beneath “About.” Sales went up, bounce rate declined, and user behavior tracked much more cleanly.
Good navigation is like a helpful concierge. It’s not flashy—it just quietly makes your journey easier.
This one comes more from a place of mindset than mechanics. Many businesses invest heavily into their website at launch, and then leave it untouched. Months or even years go by without updates, SEO tweaks, or performance checks.
The reality? Websites are like gardens. If you don’t tend to them, they decay. Plugins become outdated, content gets buried by newer competitors, and tracking tools stop working. Worst of all, your site no longer reflects the evolving state of your business.
Take the case of a retail boutique in Brentwood I spoke with. They built a gorgeous Squarespace site in 2022 and hadn’t touched it since. No blog posts. No meta tag updates. No new product photos. Meanwhile, their Instagram was thriving. But their organic search traffic had fallen by 60%. We implemented a monthly update schedule, added schema markup, and started optimizing core pages for long-tail searches relevant to their products. Over six months, traffic and orders steadily recovered.
If your business is alive, your website should be too.
A website without a clear path forward is like a store with no checkout line. Users get confused or lazy and they leave. Every page of your site should answer the question: “What should the visitor do next?”
CTAs aren’t just “Book Now” buttons. They’re directional cues in the conversation you’re having with your reader. I see sites with 500+ words of copy and no next steps. You can’t assume users will scroll up or hunt around for your contact info. You have to guide them.
A dentist office I worked with had the words “Schedule Here” buried in a paragraph five scrolls down. We tested replacing this with a strong CTA button above the fold, linking to a dedicated booking page. Appointment requests from the website increased by 67% that month.
Conversion is a journey. CTAs are the signs that keep people moving toward the next destination.
I’ve met many business owners who think SEO is some kind of dark art, or something they’ll “get to later.” But ignoring SEO is like writing a brilliant book and hiding it in a locked drawer. A well-designed website that no one sees is like an unused gym membership—you feel good knowing it’s there, but it’s not serving you.
One of the most basic but common issues I still see? Sites that use H1 tags multiple times, or none at all. Or title tags that say “Homepage” instead of describing what the business actually offers. These seem small, but in aggregate, they wreck your discoverability.
A Webflow client I helped had all their service pages titled “Services” with no keyword variation. We restructured everything with better page titles, added alt text to all images, submitted their XML sitemap to Google Search Console, and started creating internal links between main site content. In four months, they hit page 1 for two major local keywords.
You don’t have to become an SEO expert—but integrating the basics into your site design makes a massive difference over time.
Templates can be a great place to start. Especially on platforms like Webflow, Wix, or Squarespace, they provide structure and aesthetic polish. But too often, I see businesses slap in their logo and call it a day. The result? A site that feels generic and unmemorable.
Think of it like buying a model home. Everything technically works, but none of it reflects your actual life. Every brand has quirks, character, priorities—and a well-designed website should feel tailored, not templated. I helped a law firm that had chosen a one-size-fits-all WordPress theme. With a few changes—custom illustrations, stronger headlines, clearer calls to action—their average time on site improved by nearly 40%.
Templates are tools—not identities. Make them yours.
The instinct to say everything all at once is hard to fight. I’ve sat in dozens of strategy calls where the business owner asks, “Can we also include our warranty terms, Google reviews, a video testimonial, schedule calendar, and mission statement—all on the homepage?” The answer: probably not above the fold.
Above the fold—that first visible screen of your site without scrolling—is prime real estate. You want clarity, not clutter. A local realtor I supported had so much content stuffed above the fold that users were overwhelmed. We stripped it down to three elements: headline, subheading, CTA. Engagement rates improved dramatically within days.
Use the rest of the page to tell the full story—but remember that stories unfold. One screen, one emotion, one decision at a time.
Good UX respects the user’s time. Good design helps them stay longer without needing to process everything instantly.
Your website is more than just a design project—it’s an ongoing conversation with your audience. Every decision you make, from the text alignment to the imagery you choose, shapes how users feel, what they remember, and whether they trust you enough to take that next step.
The mistakes we covered above may sound small in isolation, but collectively, they can make the difference between a site that quietly leaks opportunity and one that builds momentum every time someone visits. The truth is, no site is perfect—and that’s okay. What matters is being willing to look at your site through your customer’s eyes and see where the real disconnects are.
At Zach Sean Web Design, we believe great design starts with listening—with understanding the psychology of your brand, the needs of your users, and the story you want your site to tell. And from that foundation, everything else flows: structure, color, navigation, content, and yes, SEO.
So if there’s a takeaway here, it’s this: build websites that are clear, human, and intentional. Don’t chase trends for the sake of appearances. Design for the people you serve.
Copyright © Zach Sean Web Design
