There’s a moment in every project when a client pauses and says something like, “We love the design, but… we’re just not getting the results we hoped for.” That “but” is everything.
Conversions are the goal. Whether it’s a lead form, a product sale, a phone call, or even an email newsletter sign-up, it all boils down to whether people are taking action on your site. The most common culprit behind underwhelming conversions? The website’s layout. Not necessarily the whole design—sometimes the overall look and feel are solid—but the way information is structured, prioritized, and presented can quietly sabotage your results.
This post focuses on one of the most deceptively powerful aspects of your website: layout. It’s not just about where things go. It’s about guiding someone through a story, capturing attention where it counts, and removing friction wherever it appears. Whether you're using Webflow, Wordpress, Wix, or Squarespace, layout choices have a measurable impact on your business outcomes. Let's explore how.
I’ve worked with dozens of small businesses, from local service providers in Middle Tennessee to startups with distributed teams, and the number one missed opportunity I see on their websites is poor layout hierarchy. It’s not always flashy or immediately obvious. But the effects ripple everywhere.
Every site visitor is on a timeline between discovery and action. Layout is how we manage that timeline. Attention spans are short—studies suggest it takes just 10-20 seconds for users to decide whether a page is worth their time. The way you lay out your homepage, product pages, or service descriptions determines if someone keeps exploring or bounces.
One client I worked with—a home renovation contractor—had beautiful photos, glowing testimonials, and competitive pricing. But inquiries were low. When I reviewed their homepage layout, everything was crammed into a single scannable block: services, company background, recent work, reviews, and CTAs. Nothing stood out. It was like walking into a fully furnished house where every item was in the same room.
After we restructured the layout (primarily by breaking content into clearer sections and adding strategic use of whitespace), their conversion rate on lead forms increased by 46% over the next 60 days.
Visual hierarchy is all about how you guide someone through the page logically. Ideally, you have a primary message, a secondary reinforcement, and a tertiary option. Think of it like triaging a dinner party: the main dish, the side dish, and the optional wine pairing. You wouldn’t serve everything in equal portions all at once—it would be overwhelming.
Eye-tracking studies suggest that most Western users scan websites in a “Z” or “F” pattern—first across the top, then diagonally or vertically down the left side. Your layout should respect this natural behavior by placing your logo, navigation, and key headline in those focal zones.
One client in the mental wellness space had “Book a Session” buried in the footer. After we moved that CTA to the top-right corner and repeated it mid-page following testimonials, session bookings doubled within three weeks.
In museums, exhibits are intentionally spaced to give attention to each artifact. Your web layout should follow a similar logic. Group similar items together, but give them breathing room. Avoid overwhelming visitors with too many focal points.
When redesigning an e-commerce store for a Franklin-based apparel brand, we shifted from a busy grid layout to a deliberate series of styled collections (hero image, featured outfit, product carousel). Cart abandonment fell by 38% post-launch.
It’s true that the area "above the fold" (what users see before they scroll) matters a lot—but it’s not everything. Mobile has changed the game. On mobile screens, “above the fold” is tiny. People are used to scrolling. The question is whether your layout encourages exploration or produces friction.
In one case, a Nashville chiropractor had a hero section with stock imagery and the classic “Providing Quality Care Since 2003” tagline. Once we updated it to “Feeling Stiff, Sore, or Tired? Let’s Fix That in Just One Visit,” appointment requests increased by nearly 70% over 6 weeks.
This is where your layout should become more narrative. Use scannable blocks: testimonials with photos, feature boxes, FAQs, pricing breakouts, and case study summaries. Each section should have one job, not five.
A Squarespace site I built for a dog trainer in Brentwood used a scroll-friendly layout that introduced each service, included a real owner testimonial, and closed with a staged photo of a happy dog. Engagement rates on her “Service Details” page tripled after the redesign.
Good layout isn’t just about where things are—it’s about how much space exists between them. Padding, margins, dividers, and whitespace can subconsciously convey professionalism, polish, and thoughtfulness. Or the lack of those things.
Designing in Webflow, I often have clients who want to “fill every corner” with content: awards, badges, trust icons, you name it. But when everything is shouting for attention, nothing earns it. Strategic whitespace allows the brain to rest—and absorb.
Consider the layout strategy used by Airbnb. Their landing pages often use a minimalistic structure with wide gutters and generous spacing between elements. It feels elevated. Like a boutique hotel lobby with just enough to make you curious, not crowded.
On a Wordpress site for a local home inspection business, I took disorganized blobs of text and refactored them into digestible blocks with headers and bulleted lists. Within a month, visitors began spending 42% more time on the “Why Choose Us?” page.
The most beautiful website in the world won’t help if the layout doesn’t guide people toward the action you want them to take. CTAs should feel like the natural next step, not detours or interruptions.
Define one main CTA across the site (book, purchase, subscribe). Then give users secondary engagement paths: “learn more,” “watch a demo,” or “view packages.” Layout your page so that the primary CTA is never more than one screen away.
For example, on a Wix site for a personal coach, we placed large primary buttons for consultations at the top and middle of the page, and offered “read more” under each program description. Users who landed on any page could act without scrolling too much.
Hotjar’s scroll maps are a great way to test where people stop reading. Use that data to adjust your CTA placement. Read more about how scroll maps work at this article.
I can’t say this enough: most clients I work with still review their sites on desktop, even though over 60% of their traffic is mobile. Layouts need to work brilliantly on phones—especially when it comes to spacing, touch targets, and vertical stacking.
Simplifying the mobile layout for a vegan meal prep company based in Nashville led to a 90% reduction in cart abandonment from phones. Bigger buttons, fewer distractions, clear photography, and focused copy made all the difference.
Test your mobile layouts manually, but also consider tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to identify usability issues quickly.
I used to design based on “what looked good.” It worked sometimes—but missed a lot. The more I’ve incorporated data from tools like Google Analytics, Hotjar, and A/B tests, the more effective my layout decisions have become.
Heatmaps can show you where people click, and scrollmaps show you how far they read. Combine this with funnel analysis in Google Analytics to see what pages lose customers. Then tweak the layout to fix those friction points.
A coffee subscription business I work with was losing traffic halfway down their product description page. We discovered the layout had buried the pricing options below an unnecessary video. Simple fix: moved pricing up into a tab system. Conversions jumped 38%.
You don’t have to guess. Tools like Google Optimize or VWO let you test one layout versus another. Headlines, button placement, image formats—all fair game.
One of my favorite examples: an HVAC company ran two hero layouts. One with a static banner and bullet-point services. The other used a quick quote calculator embedded directly in the hero. The calculator version performed 65% higher in completed leads, even though the visual design was simpler.
When we think about making our websites “convert,” we usually jump straight to copywriting tricks, pricing models, or flashy animations. But time and again, layout proves to be one of the most powerful tools at our disposal. It’s how we present everything else. It’s how we earn attention, build trust, and simplify decision-making.
Improving your layout doesn’t always mean starting over. Sometimes it means guiding visitors more intentionally. Using more space. Saying less. Highlighting the right thing at the right time. Moving a button. Breaking up a block of text. Leading people through a better story.
So next time you’re looking at your homepage or landing page or service page, ask yourself this: does this layout help someone take the action I want them to take? If not, there’s likely a clear and fixable reason buried in the visual structure of the page.
Copyright © Zach Sean Web Design
