Your Website Might Be Your Biggest Liability
Most business owners think their website is "good enough." It exists, it has the basic information, and it loads eventually. But "good enough" is a low bar, and in 2025, customers expect more. If your website has any of these seven problems, it is actively costing you business.
The tricky part is that you might not notice these issues yourself. You know your own site, so you navigate around its quirks instinctively. Your customers do not have that luxury. They arrive, form an impression in seconds, and either stay or leave. Here is what drives them away.
1. Slow Load Times
The problem: Your website takes more than 3 seconds to load. Research from Google shows that 53% of mobile visitors abandon a site that takes longer than 3 seconds. Every additional second of load time increases bounce rate by roughly 32%.
Why it happens: Unoptimised images are the most common culprit. A single 5MB hero image can add seconds to your load time. Other causes include too many plugins, render-blocking JavaScript, no caching, and cheap hosting that cannot handle traffic spikes.
The fix: Test your site with Google PageSpeed Insights. Compress and convert images to WebP format. Enable browser caching. Minify CSS and JavaScript. If your hosting is the bottleneck, consider upgrading to a platform like Vercel, Netlify, or a quality managed WordPress host. Aim for a mobile performance score above 80.
2. No Mobile Optimisation
The problem: Your website looks broken, cramped, or unusable on a phone. Text is too small. Buttons overlap. Horizontal scrolling is required. In the UK, over 60% of web traffic comes from mobile devices. If your site does not work perfectly on a phone, you are alienating the majority of your visitors.
Why it happens: The site was designed desktop-first and never properly adapted for smaller screens. Or the site uses a responsive theme that was not tested thoroughly across different devices and screen sizes.
The fix: Test your site on multiple devices (or use Chrome DevTools device simulation). Check that text is readable without zooming, buttons are large enough to tap, forms are easy to complete, and navigation works with a thumb. If your site is fundamentally not mobile-friendly, it may be time for a rebuild rather than a patch.
3. Unclear Calls to Action
The problem: A visitor lands on your homepage and has no idea what to do next. There is no clear next step, no obvious button, no compelling reason to go deeper into the site. They read a bit, feel uncertain, and leave.
Why it happens: Many business websites try to say everything on every page. The result is visual clutter and decision paralysis. Alternatively, the site has calls to action, but they are buried below the fold, styled to blend in, or use vague language like "Learn More."
The fix: Every page should have one primary call to action that is immediately visible without scrolling. Use action-oriented language: "Get a Free Quote," "Book a Table," "Start Your Audit," "Call Us Now." Make the button visually distinct with a contrasting colour. Repeat the CTA at natural points throughout the page, especially at the bottom.
4. Outdated Design
The problem: Your website looks like it was built in 2015 (because it was). Stock photos from the early 2010s. Tiny text on a white background. A sidebar stuffed with widgets. Animated GIFs. Visitors notice, and they draw conclusions about your business based on your website appearance. An outdated website suggests an outdated business.
Why it happens: The website was built once and never revisited. Or small changes were made over the years without a cohesive design strategy, resulting in a Frankenstein of different styles and eras.
The fix: You do not necessarily need a complete rebuild. Start by updating your imagery to high-quality, authentic photos (your own business, team, and products wherever possible). Modernise your typography with clean, readable fonts. Simplify layouts. Remove unnecessary elements. If the underlying code and structure is too dated to salvage, invest in a proper redesign. It pays for itself through improved conversion rates.
5. Missing or Hard-to-Find Contact Information
The problem: A potential customer wants to call, email, or visit you, but cannot find your contact details. The phone number is buried on a "Contact" page three clicks deep. There is no email address, just a generic form. The physical address is missing entirely.
Why it happens: The business owner assumes customers know how to find them, or prioritised other content over contact accessibility. Sometimes contact information is present but hidden in the footer in small grey text.
The fix: Put your phone number and email in the header of every page. Make the phone number clickable (use a tel: link) so mobile users can tap to call. Include your full address on the contact page and in the footer. Add a Google Maps embed if you have a physical location. Consider adding a sticky header or floating action button with your phone number on mobile. Make it impossible for someone to be on your site and not know how to reach you.
6. No SSL Certificate (or Security Warnings)
The problem: Your site shows "Not Secure" in the browser address bar, or worse, displays a full-page security warning. This happens when your site does not have an SSL certificate (HTTPS) or when the certificate has expired. Chrome and other browsers now actively warn users about insecure sites.
Why it happens: The SSL certificate was never installed, was allowed to expire, or the site still loads some resources over HTTP (mixed content), triggering warnings even though a certificate exists.
The fix: Install an SSL certificate. Most modern hosting providers include free SSL through Let's Encrypt. Ensure all pages and resources load over HTTPS. Set up automatic certificate renewal so it never expires. Check for mixed content issues using a tool like Why No Padlock. Google also uses HTTPS as a ranking factor, so this is an SEO issue as well as a trust issue.
7. No Analytics or Tracking
The problem: You have no idea how many people visit your site, where they come from, what pages they look at, or where they drop off. Without analytics, every decision about your website and marketing is a guess.
Why it happens: Analytics was never set up, or Google Analytics was installed years ago and nobody has looked at it since. The business owner does not feel confident interpreting the data, so it gets ignored.
The fix: Install Google Analytics 4 if you have not already. Connect Google Search Console. Set up basic conversion tracking (form submissions, phone clicks, booking completions). Then commit to reviewing the data at least once a month. You do not need to become a data analyst. Start with five metrics: total visitors, traffic sources, top pages, bounce rate, and conversions. That alone gives you enough insight to make informed decisions.
The Compound Effect of Multiple Issues
Any one of these problems reduces your website effectiveness. But most underperforming websites have three, four, or even all seven. The effect compounds. A slow site with no mobile optimisation, unclear CTAs, and missing contact info is not just slightly worse than a good site. It is dramatically worse. Each issue stacks on top of the others, creating a user experience that actively pushes people away.
The good news is that the fixes are well-understood and achievable. You do not need to solve everything at once. Start with the issues that have the biggest impact on trust and usability (SSL, speed, mobile), then work through the rest systematically.
Check Your Score
Not sure which of these issues apply to your site? Take the free OnOur brand audit quiz. It scores your website alongside 11 other digital presence categories and tells you exactly where to focus. It takes under five minutes, and the results might surprise you.