Designing a website for your business? Avoid these 5 mistakes

Your website is your brand’s digital business card. It can help you generate business or become a constant source of headache. To make sure it’s not the latter, here are a few observations on some of the most common mistakes that small businesses in the professional services industry make.

1. Failing to optimize for various screens

It’s 2025. This shouldn’t be a thing. Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past decade, you know first-hand how frustrating it is to open a website on your mobile or tablet just to see it in a distorted format. The top menu is all over the place. Images don’t align with the text. The fonts are massive.

Source: statcounter

Here is a quick tip when designing your site. If you want to check what it looks like on screens of different sizes, open the designed page in Chrome, right-click, and select ‘Inspect’. This will allow you to preview your page in any screen size you’d like – see below.

2. Overwhelming users with motion effects and transitions

We get it. Motion effects and transitions between pages can be fun. However, don’t go overboard. Not only do they impact the load speed of your page, but they can interrupt your users’ experience on your site.

Rather, figure out a way to strategically add motion effects. For example, is there a specific section that you want to pop within a page? Add a motion effect to that single module and nowhere else on the page.

If you do want to add multiple effects and transitions, try to make them subtle. Think of ways that they can enhance users’ experience, not disturb it.

3. Relying too much on plugins

Plugins are great. The market for WordPress plugins is massive. You can find a plugin for literally anything. 

However, plugins also present several challenges. For example, they provide an entry point to your website, which carries with it a security risk. So make sure to only add plugins that are developed by reputable companies and have hundreds (or hundreds of thousands, depending on the plugin type) of other users. Also, keep the plugins up to date – the latest version may have security patches.

Having said that, there are a number of plugins that will make your life easier – Yoast SEO, Site Kit by Google, and WP Rocket, to name a few.

4. Not connecting analytics to the website

Speaking of the Site Kit plugin by Google: it’s a plugin that makes connecting accounts like Analytics, Search Console, Google Ads, AdSense, and PageSpeed Insights to your WordPress site a breeze. Seriously, even if you have zero experience building websites and operating their back-end, you’ll be able to set it up.

So you see, there really is no excuse to not connect your business website to Analytics. 

If you are not sure where to get started with the set-up, there are tons of guides and resources online. Here are a few free courses offered by Google.

5. Neglecting clear calls-to-action (CTAs)

Your website might look stunning, but if visitors don’t know what to do next, it’s not serving its purpose. A common mistake is leaving users without clear, actionable steps, such as booking a consultation, signing up for a newsletter, or contacting your team.

Avoid generic phrases like “Click Here” and instead use action-driven language that aligns with the user’s goals, such as “Get Your Free Quote” or “Schedule Your Consultation Today.”

Tip: Use contrasting colors for your CTA buttons to make them stand out, and ensure they’re visible without scrolling on both desktop and mobile views. A clear CTA can turn visitors into leads, and leads into clients.

Designing your business website doesn’t have to feel like rocket science – or a bad DIY project gone wrong. Avoid these blunders, and you’ll be well on your way to creating a site that doesn’t just exist but actually works for your business.  

Keep it sharp, snappy, and strategic. Make it look good on every screen, ditch the over-the-top gimmicks, use plugins sparingly, connect those analytics, and don’t leave visitors wondering “Now what?” 

Your website can be a lead-generating powerhouse or a cautionary tale. The choice is yours. Now go forth and make it shine!