Top 5 Most Common Issues With Website Designs

Web design is one of our core services at Digital Treasury. Over the years, we've redesigned websites for dozens of Australian businesses, across almost every industry you can think of.

One thing has stayed consistent through all of that work: the same handful of problems keep showing up, on the same handful of business types, over and over. Different logos, different products, same underlying issues.

We've picked out the five we see most often. For each one, we'll show you what it looks like in practice, why it costs you visitors, and the fix that solves it.

1. Bad Navigation

Bad navigation is one of the most common problems we see when businesses come to us for a website redesign.

Navigation isn't just your menu. It's the entire journey visitors take through your website. Every page should make it obvious where they are, what to do next, and how to find related information. If people have to stop and think, you've already introduced friction.

A common mistake is trying to fit every page into the main navigation. The result is a menu packed with dropdowns, vague labels like "Solutions" or "Resources", and important pages hidden several clicks deep. Another is organising the site around the business's internal structure instead of how customers actually search for information.

It's also worth remembering that many visitors won't enter through your homepage. They arrive on a service page, blog post, or landing page from Google. Every page should help visitors understand where they are, what your business offers, and where to go next, rather than assuming they've already explored your website.

The fix: 

• Start with a clear information architecture before thinking about menus. 
• Keep your primary navigation focused on the pages people use most, group related content under logical categories, and use descriptive labels that immediately tell visitors what they'll find. 
• Make your primary calls to action, such as Contact, Request a Quote, or Book a Consultation, visible throughout the site, and use internal links to guide visitors naturally to the next step instead of leaving them at a dead end.

2. Poor SEO Practices

A website can look great and still struggle to attract new customers if it isn't built with SEO in mind.

One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is treating SEO as something that happens after the website is launched. In reality, many design decisions affect how easily people can find your business through Google.

For example, large image files and unnecessary features can slow your website down, causing visitors to leave before the page loads. A confusing site structure can also make it harder for search engines to understand your website and show the right pages in search results.

Website redesigns can create problems too. We've seen businesses lose valuable traffic because important pages were removed, links were broken, or existing URLs were changed without a plan. A fresh design shouldn't come at the cost of the search visibility you've already built.

The fix:

• Think about SEO from the beginning, not after your website goes live.
• Keep your site structure simple and easy to follow.
• Compress images and avoid unnecessary features that slow pages down.
• Preserve the pages that already perform well in search results.
• If you're redesigning an existing site, make sure old pages properly forward to their new versions.

3. Poor Mobile Responsiveness

In 2026, mobile devices accounted for 51.48% of global website traffic. There's a good chance more than half of your visitors will view your website on a phone before they ever open it on a desktop. Despite this, many websites are still designed for desktop first and then squeezed down to fit a phone screen as an afterthought.

This approach causes two specific problems.

First, mobile versions built this way often end up feeling bare and disjointed, because a layout designed for a large screen doesn't translate naturally to a small one.

Second, content can be a problem too. Pages that work well on a desktop often become overwhelming on mobile, forcing visitors to scroll through long blocks of text just to find the information they're looking for. When people can't quickly find your services, pricing, or contact details, they'll usually leave rather than keep searching.

The fix:

• Design every page with mobile users in mind, not just desktop visitors.
• Break up long sections of content so key information is easy to scan.
• Use clear headings, short paragraphs, and enough spacing to improve readability.
• Make buttons, menus, and forms easy to use with a thumb.
• Optimise images so pages load quickly on mobile connections.
• Test your website on different phones and screen sizes before it goes live.

Also read: What Are the Top Responsive Web Design Principles?

4. Designers Don't Understand Your Business

Your business is unique. So are your customers. A design that worked well for another business in your industry won't necessarily work for you because your customers make decisions differently, care about different things, and expect a different experience. That's why understanding your business should come before designing a single page.

This has become an even bigger challenge with AI website builders now widely available. Anyone can generate a website from a prompt, and you'll likely come across low-cost offers built this way. While these websites may look professional, they aren't built around your business or your customers. Without the right context, they often end up saying the same things as every other business in the industry, making it harder for customers to see why they should choose you.

The fix:

• Choose a designer who asks about your business, customers, and goals before discussing design.
• Be cautious of cheap, fast offers that skip the discovery process.
• Make sure your website reflects what makes your business different, not just what's common in your industry.
• Design every page around your customers and the actions you want them to take.

5. Weak or Missing Calls to Action

Even if your website attracts visitors and answers their questions, it still has one more job to do: encourage them to take the next step.

A common issue is a page that reads well but ends without direction. The visitor finishes reading and has to figure out for themselves whether to call, email, fill out a form, or leave. 

Another version of this is having a CTA, but making it generic, like a plain "Learn More" button, gives no sense of what happens next or why the visitor should click it. 

And on longer pages, the CTA sometimes only appears once, right at the top, so a visitor who scrolls through the whole page has to scroll all the way back up to act on what they just read.

The fix:

• Give every page a clear purpose and a logical next step.
• Make contact, quote, or booking buttons easy to find.
• Use clear, action-focused language instead of vague phrases like "Learn More."
• Avoid cluttering pages with too many competing calls to action.

The Next Step for Your Website

These five issues are the ones we see most often when businesses come to us for a redesign. Individually, each one can cost you enquiries. Together, they can quietly hold a business back for years without anyone realising why the website isn't performing.

The good news is that most of these issues can be fixed without starting from scratch. Reviewing your website against the points above is often enough to identify where visitors are dropping off and what improvements will have the biggest impact.

If you'd like an expert opinion, we offer website design and SEO services built around your business, your customers, and your goals. Contact us today to discuss your website.