7 Common Web Design Mistakes UK Businesses Make (And How to Fix Them)
by Greg Johnson, Owner / Developer
Your website is often the first impression potential customers have of your business. Yet many UK businesses are unknowingly making critical design mistakes that drive visitors away, hurt their search rankings, and cost them sales.
After working with hundreds of businesses across the North West, we've seen the same problems crop up again and again. The good news? They're all fixable.
Here are the seven most common web design mistakes UK businesses make—and how to avoid them.
1. Making Your Website About You, Not Your Customers
The mistake: Leading with "We are a family-run business established in 1985..." instead of focusing on what customers actually want.
Why it hurts: Visitors don't care about your company history—they care about solving their problems.
The fix: Start with your customer's needs. Instead of "We provide accounting services," try "Stressed about your business taxes? We'll handle them so you can focus on growing your business."
Top tip
Use the "you" and "your" language more than "we" and "our" throughout your site.
2. Ignoring Mobile Users
The mistake: Designing for desktop first (or worse, only) when 60%+ of UK web traffic comes from mobile devices.
Why it hurts: Google uses mobile-first indexing, and frustrated mobile users bounce immediately.
The fix: Design for mobile first, then scale up. Professional web design ensures text is readable without zooming, buttons are thumb-friendly, and forms work seamlessly on phones.
Top tip
3. Hiding Your Contact Information
The mistake: Burying contact details in small footer text or making visitors hunt for phone numbers and addresses.
Why it hurts: Creates mistrust and makes it harder for ready-to-buy customers to reach you.
The fix: Put your phone number in the header, add a contact button in your navigation, and include your location prominently if you serve local customers.
4. Using Generic Stock Photos
The mistake: Filling your site with obvious stock photos of people pointing at laptops or shaking hands in conference rooms.
Why it hurts: Makes your business look generic and untrustworthy. Visitors can spot stock photos instantly.
The fix: Use real photos of your team, workplace, and actual customers (with permission). If you must use stock photos, choose authentic-looking ones and avoid overused clichés.
Top tip
Photos of real people improve trust and conversion rates significantly.
5. Overwhelming Visitors with Too Many Choices
The mistake: Cramming every service, product, and piece of information onto your homepage.
Why it hurts: Decision paralysis—when faced with too many options, people often choose nothing.
The fix: Focus on your primary goal for each page. Use clear headings, white space, and guide visitors toward one main action (call, email, book consultation).
6. Neglecting Page Speed
The mistake: Loading sites with massive images, unnecessary plugins, and heavy animations that make pages crawl.
Why it hurts: Google penalises slow sites, and 40% of visitors abandon pages that take more than 3 seconds to load.
The fix: Optimise images, choose faster hosting, minimise plugins, and regularly test your site speed using Google PageSpeed Insights.
Top tip
7. Forgetting About Local SEO
The mistake: Not mentioning your location or service areas anywhere on your website.
Why it hurts: You miss out on "near me" searches and local customers who need your services.
The fix: Include your town/city in page titles, mention areas you serve, claim your Google Business Profile, and create location-specific content. Consider local SEO services to maximise your visibility.
The Bottom Line
These mistakes are common, but they're not inevitable. A well-designed website should work as your best salesperson—building trust, answering questions, and making it easy for customers to choose you.
The key is thinking like your customers, not like a business owner. What do they need? What problems are they trying to solve? How can you make their journey as smooth as possible?
If you're seeing any of these issues on your current website, don't panic. Most can be fixed without a complete redesign. Start with the biggest impact items (mobile optimisation and contact information) and work your way through the list.
Need a second pair of eyes on your website? We offer free website audits for UK businesses. Get in touch and we'll identify exactly what's holding your site back—and how to fix it.