After working on and reviewing a lot of websites, a pattern becomes pretty clear. Most sites aren’t broken, outdated, or beyond saving. They usually suffer from a handful of small issues that add up to a confusing or frustrating experience for the person visiting.
The problem is that these issues are easy to miss when you’re close to your own business. You know what you offer. You know where everything lives. So the site feels functional to you, even when it’s not clear to someone seeing it for the first time.
Below are some of the most common website issues I see from a design perspective, along with practical ways to fix them without starting over.
- It’s Not Clear What the Business Offers
This is the issue I run into more than anything else, and it almost always lives at the top of the homepage.
You land on a homepage and there’s a headline, but it doesn’t really say anything. It sounds nice, it fits the brand, but you still don’t know what the business actually does. You have to scroll to figure it out, and even then it’s not totally clear.
Most people don’t stick around for that. They’re not trying to be impatient. They’re just deciding quickly whether a site feels relevant. If they can’t tell what you offer right away, they assume it’s not for them and move on.
This usually happens because the person who owns the site already knows what they do, so it feels obvious. From the outside, it isn’t.
Fix: One clear line that says what you do and who it’s for. Not everything, just enough to orient someone. Once that’s in place, the rest of the page makes more sense. Without it, even good copy feels a little disconnected. - Fonts That Are Difficult to Read
I see this a lot on websites that are otherwise really well designed.
The fonts are pretty, but they’re thin, too small, or hard to read once you actually start scrolling. Sometimes there are too many font styles. Sometimes it looks fine on desktop but feels uncomfortable on a phone.
People don’t usually think, “this font is hard to read.” They just stop reading.
When that happens, it’s not because the design is bad. It’s because readability wasn’t the main priority. Making fonts easier to read usually means simplifying. Fewer fonts, slightly larger text, and clearer separation between headings and paragraphs.
If you’re not sure, open your site on your phone and read a few sections straight through. If you find yourself skimming or losing your place, that’s probably what visitors are doing too.
Fix: Simplify your typography. Use one easy-to-read font for body text, and keep the total number of fonts limited. Slightly increasing text size and checking how it reads on a phone often fixes most of the issue. - Poor Color Contrast
This one usually shows up when someone is prioritizing how a site looks over how it works.
Light text on light backgrounds. Buttons that blend into the section they’re sitting in. Colors that technically match the brand, but don’t give anything enough separation.
It looks fine until you actually try to read it.
People don’t always notice what’s wrong here. They just scroll faster, miss things, or skip sections entirely. If something is hard to see, it might as well not be there.
Fix: Text should stand out clearly from the background. Buttons should look like buttons. If you have to squint or hover to figure out where to click, the contrast isn’t doing its job.
A quick way to check is to look at your site on a dim screen or step back from your monitor. If things start to blend together, that’s what visitors are dealing with too. - Broken Links or Pages That Go Nowhere
This is one of those issues that builds up quietly.
A service changes. A page gets removed. A blog post is unpublished. Over time, links stop leading where they’re supposed to.
Most people won’t tell you when they hit a dead end. They’ll just leave.
Broken links make a site feel neglected, even if everything else looks current. It signals that no one has been paying attention, which affects trust more than people realize.
Fix: The easiest fix is also the least exciting one. Every few months, click through your site like a visitor would. Check your navigation, your buttons, and older content. If something no longer applies, remove it or redirect it somewhere useful. - Too Many Images Without Enough Context
I see this a lot on creative sites. The visuals are strong, but they’re doing most of the talking. There are photos everywhere, yet very little context to help someone understand what service they’re looking at or how it relates to the actual services.
When you’re close to the work, that gap is easy to miss. You know the project, the process, and the outcome. Someone landing on the site for the first time doesn’t have that background, so without a bit of explanation, the page can feel vague even when the work itself is solid.
Fix: Images work best when they’re supported by a little context. A few sentences explaining what someone is seeing, what kind of project it was, or how it fits into your work helps ground the page.
Without that, people are left to guess. And guessing usually leads to disengagement. - Too Much Text With No Breaks
The opposite problem shows up just as often.
All the information is there, but it’s presented in long paragraphs with very little spacing. No clear entry points. No visual structure.
It’s not that people don’t want to read. It’s that they don’t want to work that hard to do it.
When everything looks the same, nothing stands out. Important details get skipped simply because the page feels heavy.
Fix: Break content up. Shorter paragraphs, headings, and white space make the same information easier to scan and absorb. You usually don’t need less content, just better structure. - Outdated Content
This one catches a lot of people off guard.
Bios that no longer reflect how the business actually works. Services that have changed. Messaging that feels slightly out of sync with where things are now.
It doesn’t mean the site is bad. It usually just means it hasn’t been revisited in a while.
The problem is that visitors don’t know that. They just see information that feels a little behind and start to question whether the business is still active or current.
Fix: Review your content once or twice a year and update anything that no longer reflects your current offers or direction. Small updates keep a site feeling current and intentional. - Weak or Confusing Calls to Action
A lot of sites don’t clearly tell people what to do next.
A page will have plenty of information, but no clear sense of what someone is supposed to do with it. Buttons all say the same thing, usually “Learn More,” or there’s no real next step at all. The page just ends.
When someone is interested but unsure how to move forward, they usually don’t take a guess. They pause, then leave.
Fix: Be clear about the next step. If you want someone to look at your services, say that. If the goal is to book a call, make that obvious. Simple, specific language makes it easier for people to move through the site without having to stop and think about where to go next. - A Poor Mobile Experience
Most people are visiting your site on their phone. If the mobile experience is frustrating, the site isn’t doing its job.
Text that’s too small, buttons that are hard to tap, layouts that feel cramped or awkward all add friction quickly.
This is easy to miss if you mainly work on a laptop.
Fix: The best way to catch these issues is to actually use your site on your phone. Scroll, tap, and read the way a visitor would. If something feels annoying or awkward, it probably is. - The Site Looks Good but Doesn’t Feel Finished
This is more subtle, but it shows up a lot.
Spacing that’s slightly inconsistent. Sections that feel rushed. Pages that don’t quite line up with each other.
Nothing is obviously broken, but the site feels unfinished.
People might not be able to explain what feels off, but they notice it. These small details affect how polished and trustworthy a site feels.
Fix: Do a final consistency pass. Check spacing, alignment, and flow across pages. Treat the site as a whole system rather than a collection of sections.
Final Thoughts
Most website issues aren’t dramatic. They’re practical. And they usually come from a site growing alongside a business without being checked in on very often.
When your website is clear about what you offer, easy to read, and straightforward to navigate, it does its job quietly. People understand what you do without having to think too hard about it. They feel more comfortable clicking around. Reaching out feels easier because nothing feels confusing or unfinished.
Fixing these kinds of issues doesn’t mean starting over or redesigning everything from scratch. In most cases, it’s about refining what’s already there. Tightening messaging. Improving readability. Cleaning up small details that add up to a better experience.
If you’re reading through this list and recognizing a few things on your own site, that’s normal. It usually just means your business has evolved and your website hasn’t quite caught up yet.
If you want help getting your site to a place where it feels clearer, more intentional, and easier to use, that’s exactly what I do at Dainty Creative Co. Whether that looks like website strategy, design support, or starting from a solid foundation with templates, you don’t have to figure it out on your own.
