5 Website Mistakes That Are Turning Customers Away

Is your website not bringing in the customers you expected? You’re not alone.

Many small business owners make common website mistakes that can drive potential clients straight into the arms of your competitors. But don’t worry – the good news is, these mistakes are easy to fix.

Let’s dive into the five most common website mistakes and how you can turn your site into a customer magnet.

1. Slow Website Load Time

We live in a world of instant gratification. If your website takes more than a few seconds to load, you can bet your visitors will bounce. Like, bounce bounce. Studies show that over 50% of people will leave a website if it takes more than three seconds to load. Yeah, not ideal.Google PageSpeed Insights

The Fix:

• Optimise images: Resize them to a reasonable file size without sacrificing quality. Images straight off your camera are waaay to big to stick straight on your site. Resize them on your computer to be well under 1MB in size (ultimately around 500kb). If you’re not sure how, you can use a handy free site called iloveimg where you can reduce the size of your image (2000px wide is perfect) and compress your images making their file size smaller and hence quicker to load on your site.

• Minimise large scripts: Fancy animations and widgets can slow your site down, so make sure they’re essential.

• Use a fast, reliable hosting service: If your server’s slow, no amount of tweaking will help. I love to use Squarespace for my client’s websites. Its economical, reliable and fast.

Pro Tip: You can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to test your website speed and see exactly where the bottlenecks are.

2. Poor Mobile Optimisation

Think everyone’s browsing your website from a desktop? Think again! Over 50% of global web traffic now comes from mobile devices. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you’re missing out on a huge chunk of potential customers.

The Fix:

• Make sure your website is responsive — that means it adjusts to fit any screen size, from a tiny phone to a massive desktop monitor.

• Check that your buttons, text, and navigation are easy to click and read on mobile.

• Don’t forget about speed: A mobile-friendly site should load just as quickly on your phone as it does on your computer.

Pro Tip: Test your site on multiple devices and browsers to make sure it looks great everywhere. Better yet, ask a few friends to test it for you!

3. Lack of Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)

What do you want your website visitors to do? Call you? Book an appointment? Buy your product? If your website doesn’t clearly tell them what to do next, they’ll probably just leave without taking any action.

The Fix:

• Make your CTA buttons obvious and easy to click: Use clear action words like “Book Now,” “Contact Us,” or “Shop Now.”

• Place your CTA in strategic locations (e.g., above the fold (the part of a page that is visible before scrolling), at the end of a blog post, or after a product description).

• Keep it simple: Don’t overwhelm your visitors with too many options. Focus on one clear next step.

Pro Tip: Test different CTAs to see what works best for your audience. Sometimes, just changing the wording or colour can make a big difference.

4. Outdated or Hard-to-Navigate Design

An outdated website can make your business look unprofessional. We’ve all seen those sites with neon graphics, autoplay music, or fonts that make your eyes hurt. If your site feels stuck in 2005, it might be time for a refresh and if your “latest news” post is from 2019, it’s definitely time to give your website some love.

The Fix:

• Clean, simple designs are in. Focus on a layout that’s easy to navigate, with clear headings and sections.

• Use modern typography and high-quality images that reflect your brand.

• Organise your content in a way that’s easy for customers to find, with menus that aren’t too cluttered.

Pro Tip: A clean, user-friendly website doesn’t just look better; it also boosts your credibility. People are more likely to trust a professional-looking site.

5. No Easy Way to Contact You

If a potential customer lands on your website and can’t figure out how to contact you, chances are, they won’t stick around for long. You’ve worked hard to get people to your site, so don’t lose them because your contact info is buried in some obscure corner.

The Fix:

• Place your contact info somewhere easy to find—preferably in the header or footer so it’s visible on every page.

• Include a contact form, phone number, email, and links to your social media profiles.

• If you offer online booking, make sure that’s easy to find too.

Pro Tip: Test your contact form regularly to make sure it’s working and doesn’t throw up any errors.

Let’s Fix Your Website!

Don’t let these common website mistakes hold your business back. By fixing these issues, you’ll create a more user-friendly, engaging website that will keep customers coming back.

Is your website guilty of any of these? Don’t worry, I can help! Let’s chat and get your site working as hard as your business does.