Most business websites do not fail because they are ugly. They fail because of a handful of specific, fixable problems that quietly lose enquiries every week.
These are the fifteen we find most often, in rough order of how much damage they do.
Key takeaways
- Speed and clarity cost more leads than design ever does.
- Most South African traffic is on a phone, on mobile data. Test there, not on office wifi.
- One primary action per page. Competing buttons of equal weight lose more than they gain.
- Almost every item here can be fixed without rebuilding the site.
The fifteen
1. It loads too slowly
Every additional second before your content appears costs you visitors, and speed is a confirmed ranking signal through Core Web Vitals. Oversized images are the usual culprit and the easiest fix.
2. Nobody can tell what you do
If a stranger cannot say what you sell and who it is for within about five seconds of landing, the page has failed. Clever headlines are a common cause. Be plain instead.
3. It was designed for desktop
Most of your visitors are on a phone. If the layout was designed on a laptop and squeezed down afterwards, it shows: cramped buttons, cut-off headlines and forms that are painful to complete.
4. There is no obvious next step
Every page needs one clear action. Not four buttons competing for attention, and not a lone "Contact us" buried in the footer.
5. The contact form asks for too much
Every additional field costs completions. Ask for what you genuinely need to respond, and get the rest during the conversation.
6. No proof
Claims without evidence read as marketing. Reviews, client names, case studies, real numbers. Anything a stranger can verify.
7. Contact details are hard to find
Phone number, email and location should be reachable in one tap from anywhere on the site. On mobile, the phone number should be tappable.
8. No analytics installed
You cannot fix what you cannot see. If nothing is recording traffic and conversions, every decision after this is guesswork.
9. Stock photography that says nothing
Generic images of people in glass offices add weight to the page and credibility to nothing. Real photographs of your work, your team or your premises outperform them consistently.
10. Walls of text
Long unbroken paragraphs get skipped. Short paragraphs, subheadings and lists let someone scan and still get the point.
11. Talking about yourself instead of the customer
Copy that opens with company history rather than the visitor's problem loses attention immediately. Lead with what they are trying to solve.
12. Missing or thoughtless page titles
Titles and descriptions are what appear in search results. Auto-generated or duplicated titles waste your best chance to earn the click.
13. Broken links and outdated content
A 2023 price list or a dead link signals nobody is looking after the business. Small thing, real damage.
14. No pricing guidance at all
You do not have to publish a full price list, but total silence on cost makes people assume expensive and leave. A starting-from figure or a range filters enquiries in your favour. We publish our own website pricing for exactly this reason.
15. Nobody follows up
The most expensive mistake on this list is not on the website at all. Enquiries that sit unanswered for three days are lost regardless of how good the page was.
How to find yours
- Open your site on your own phone, on mobile data, and time how long until you can read something
- Ask someone unfamiliar with your business what you do, after five seconds on the homepage
- Complete your own enquiry form and see how long a reply takes
- Check that analytics is recording, and look at which pages people leave from
That last check is usually the revealing one. The page people abandon is rarely the page you expected.
Want us to find yours?
Send us your URL. We will tell you the three things costing you the most enquiries and roughly what each would take to fix, whether or not you work with us.
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