11 Common Web Design Mistakes & How To Correct Them

Building a website is about more than the technical specifications. Every great website starts with design. From the overall branding to the layout, design is crucial to the success of your website because it represents how users will see and interact with it.

Unfortunately, many websites share some major design flaws. From hard-to-read fonts to confusing navigation, these common web design mistakes can turn off site visitors, leading them to click away quickly. Fixing these design mistakes can help you increase conversions and meet your goals as a business or organization.

At Inclind, we can help you avoid these website design mistakes with our expert-level creative web services. We design websites that combine content, branding, and interactive elements to create engaging digital experiences that will encourage users to stay and explore your site. Reach out to our team at any time to set up a consultation with our website design and development gurus.

Why Great Web Design Is So Important

We’ve all been there. You navigate to a website, looking to make a purchase or learn something. Within just a few minutes, you close the site, frustrated by your inability to easily navigate the page or engage with the content.

These experiences are typically a product of bad web design. Just like building a house, building a great website starts with design. A contractor wouldn’t break ground before they had a plan in place for exactly what they were building - and you shouldn’t build a website until you have a carefully thought-out and meticulously-planned web design.

There are many reasons why web design is so important:

1. It sets the first impression. Studies show that 76% of consumers will check a business’ online presence before visiting a physical location. If your website looks outdated, is hard to navigate, or is unappealing in some other way, then you might lose those potential customers. Just like you want your brick-and-mortar storefront to create a good first impression, you should also want your website to impress your customers. Web design is the best way to do that.
2. It can boost your SEO strategy. Search engine optimization, or SEO, is critical for any business or organization because it dictates where your website lands in search engine results. Many design elements and practices on your website impact how search engine “spiders” crawl and index your website. A great web design will include technical SEO to increase visibility and the chances of landing on the first page of search results.
3. It builds trust with your intended audience. 25 years ago, most people didn’t necessarily expect much out of a website. Today, consumers have high expectations for websites. They expect them to look good, be easy to use, and more. If your website isn’t well-designed, people might view your business or organization as shady or less-than-reputable. A professional, well-designed site can help to build trust with your audience.
4. Your competitors have well-designed websites. If you spend some time checking out your competitors’ websites, you will probably notice that they have invested time and money in a good design. If you want to stay in competition with them, you will have to have a great design to help you stand out from the pack. 

The bottom line: web design affects your audience and your business. Whether you are a nonprofit hoping to solicit more donations or a government agency that wants to better serve constituents, your website should always start with a great design.

Common Web Design Errors and How to Fix Them

When analyzing websites, there are some design errors that we see over and over again. Below, we break down some of the most common web design errors and explain how you can correct them.

Lack of Clear Trust Signals

The goal of a website is to drive users towards your desired conversion action, but you’ll have a difficult time getting users to journey further down your funnel if they don’t trust your brand, or your product or service. One of the most common design mistakes we see in the industry is a lack of prominent trust signals worked into the design. 

Trust signals are visual or textual cues that give a brand, product, or service credibility. There are a number of different trust signals you can work into your design to show users that your business is established and that your products or services produce results. Common trust signals we make sure to work into our designs include: 

• Award badges
• Media mentions
• Customer reviews
• Case studies or case results
• Security seals (like Norton or McAfee)
• User-generated content

Another mistake web designers will make is burying all of the trust signals towards the bottom of the page. The average scroll depth for most sites is about 53%, which means that many of your users aren’t getting to the bottom half of your pages. Placing some trust signals either in the hero or directly underneath the hero can help instill trust in users quickly and drive increased conversions. 

Trust Signal Design Do’s 

• Put trust signals near the top (hero or directly below) to reduce hesitation early.
• Use specific proof: star ratings with counts, named testimonials, verifiable stats, real client logos.
• Use contextual proof on service/product pages (relevant reviews, relevant case studies).
• Add “process” and “what happens next” messaging to reduce uncertainty.
• Keep proof fresh and maintainable (rotate outdated awards, update testimonials).
• Make trust elements accessible (alt text for badges/logos, readable contrast).

Trust Signal Design Don’ts 

• Don’t bury all the proof at the bottom of the page.
• Don’t use vague claims (“Best in the industry”) without evidence.
• Don’t use fake-looking stock testimonials or anonymous quotes with no context.
• Don’t show logos you can’t legally use or claims you can’t substantiate.

Poor Navigation Structure

Navigation isn’t just a menu at the top of the page; it’s the decision engine of your website. If users can’t quickly answer “Where am I?” “What can I do here?” and “How do I get to what I need?” they bounce. And the tricky part is: most navigation problems aren’t obvious to the people closest to the organization, because you already know where everything is.

When navigation is weak, you’ll see patterns like:

• High bounce rates on high-intent pages (services, pricing, contact) because users can’t find the next step
• Users looping between the same pages (home → about → home) instead of progressing
• Over-reliance on the homepage as a “reset button”
• Mobile frustration from giant menus, tiny tap targets, or buried calls-to-action
• Internal terminology that makes sense to you but not to a first-time visitor (“Solutions,” “Capabilities,” “Programs” without clarity)

Navigation issues don’t just impact UX. They also directly affect conversion rate, SEO crawlability, content discoverability, and trust. A confusing menu communicates “This organization isn’t organized,” even if your products and services are excellent.

A strong navigation system is built around user intent, not your org chart. Consider your highest-intent and highest-value pages and make those your top-level navigation items. As a general rule, all of your most important pages should be no more than three clicks away from your homepage. 

Navigation Design Do’s 

• Prioritize the top user tasks and make them reachable in 1 to 3 clicks.
• Use clear, specific labels that match user language (not internal jargon).
• Keep one primary conversion action visible in the header (e.g., “Get a Quote”).
• Use consistent navigation patterns across templates (same header + footer structure).
• Design the mobile menu to be scannable (short top-level list, meaningful grouping).
• Add breadcrumbs and hub pages if your site has deep content or categories.

Navigation Design Don’ts 

• Don’t mirror your org chart in the menu.
• Don’t use vague buckets like “Solutions” or “Resources” as catch-alls without structure.
• Don’t overload the top nav with every page
• Don’t hide key pages behind multiple dropdown levels.
• Don’t ship a mobile menu that’s a long, unstructured wall of links.

Cluttered Layouts and Difficult to Read Typography

Clutter isn’t just “too much stuff on the page.” It’s too much competition for attention. When every element tries to be loud (multiple buttons, banners, animations, bold colors, icons, sidebars, popups), your visitor’s brain does the simplest thing possible: quit.

Typography is the other half of the same problem. If users have to work to read, they don’t. Even if your offer is great, poor readability creates friction that kills trust and conversions.

These two problems are very common in web design, and they can result in: 

• Lower conversion rates (CTAs get lost, users don’t reach key sections)
• Higher bounce rates (pages feel overwhelming or “sketchy”)
• More support/sales friction (people miss answers that are technically “on the page”)
• Accessibility issues (contrast, font sizing, line spacing, tap targets)

A clean design isn’t empty, but is instead intentional. Your page layout should make it obvious what the page is about, who the page is for, and what the user should do next. The typography you choose should also disappear into the background so that the user focuses on your message and not the font. 

Making a layout less cluttered goes beyond adding more white space. Good design utilizes white space and design elements to create a visual hierarchy that guides users towards your desired destination. Most high-performing pages follow a specific rhythm: 

• Hero (clear headline + short supporting copy + 1 primary CTA)
• Proof (logos, metrics, testimonials)
• What you offer (3–6 scannable points)
• How it works (steps)
• Deeper details (FAQs, comparisons)
• Close (strong final CTA)

Following this rhythm and simplifying your layout can work wonders for the performance of your website. 

Page Layout Design Do’s 

• Use a clear visual hierarchy: headline → supporting copy → proof → CTA.
• Give key elements room to breathe with intentional, consistent spacing.
• Chunk content with subheads, short paragraphs, and bullets.
• Keep body text readable: 16–18px+, comfortable line height, reasonable line length.
• Maintain strong contrast for text, buttons, and links.
• Use consistent component styles (cards, sections, buttons) to reduce visual noise.

Page Layout Design Don’ts 

• Don’t cram multiple CTAs, badges, sliders, and popups into the same viewport.
• Don’t use thin, light-gray text on white backgrounds.
• Don’t use script/display fonts for body copy (save them for limited headline use).
• Don’t let paragraphs run full-width across large screens.
• Don’t use decorative backgrounds/patterns behind text that reduce legibility.
• Don’t treat “white space” as empty, but instead use it to guide attention.

Desktop-First Design

Many designers often start with designing the desktop layout for a site first, often because they’re working on a desktop. Desktop-first design is one of the most expensive design habits because it treats the mobile experience like an afterthought. It used to be that sites would receive more traffic from desktop than mobile, but that has not been the case for many years. In fact, mobile accounts for the majority of web traffic globally (51.76%). 

Designing for mobile isn’t just about resizing elements to fit better on a smaller screen. Mobile users behave differently: they scan faster, have less patience, and interact with their thumbs, not a mouse. When designing with a mobile-first approach, we recommend putting together a list of the top one to three things the user needs to do on your site and building your layouts so that those actions are effortless on a mobile device. 

A good mobile-first design includes sticky CTAs, easy tap targets, and no hover-based interactions. With less screen space, you also need to rethink your above-the-fold content to make sure that all of the important elements of your hero are visible on load. 

Mobile Design Do’s 

• Design mobile layouts around the mobile critical path (the top 1 to 3 user goals).
• Make tap targets thumb-friendly and spaced to prevent mis-taps.
• Keep the hero simple on mobile: headline + short support + one CTA.
• Optimize mobile performance: compress images, reduce scripts, and avoid heavy sliders.
• Ensure menus, forms, and modals work with touch and small screens.
• Test your design on real devices (different sizes + older phones).

Mobile Design Don’ts 

• Don’t rely on hover interactions, tiny text, or dense multi-column layouts.
• Don’t bury the CTA below huge hero images or oversized banners.
• Don’t use popups that hijack the entire mobile viewport.
• Don’t stack desktop sections on mobile without re-ordering for clarity.
• Don’t ship mobile pages that load slowly due to oversized images or third-party bloat.

Inconsistent Design Elements

Inconsistency is one of those issues that’s hard to quantify but easy to feel. Users might not consciously think “their buttons don’t match,” but they do register that the site feels stitched together, less trustworthy, and harder to use. And it’s not only a “brand” problem. It’s a usability problem.

When design elements shift from page to page (fonts, colors, spacing, button styles, form fields, icon styles, photo treatments), users lose the sense of predictability that makes a website feel easy. Predictability is a huge part of perceived professionalism.

The best approach is to not only create a brand kit that guides your design, but also standardize your core site components. Elements like buttons, forms, cards, and navigation should all look and function similarly across the site to create a cohesive experience. 

Site Appearance Design Do’s 

• Define a lightweight design system: colors, typography scale, spacing, and components.
• Standardize buttons (primary/secondary), forms, cards, and navigation patterns.
• Use a consistent icon style, image treatment, and border radius/shadow rules.
• Set global styles in your CMS/theme/page builder so consistency is automatic.
• Create editor guardrails (limited heading styles, consistent link styles).

Site Appearance Design Don’ts 

• Don’t mix multiple fonts, button styles, and color variations across pages.
• Don’t create one-off styles for every new section.
• Don’t let different templates invent their own heading sizes and spacing.
• Don’t style non-actions like CTAs (or actions like plain text).
• Don’t ignore hover/focus/active states.

Weak Calls to Action

A CTA isn’t just a button with action words. It’s the moment you convert attention into intent. Weak CTAs happen when a site does a great job educating or building interest, then gets vague or timid at the exact moment the visitor is deciding what to do next. If a user thinks, “Okay… now what?” you’ve created friction. And friction is where conversions die.

To fix the problem, start by going through your website and identifying the action that you want visitors to take on each page (such as filling out a quote form). You can then create clear CTAs for each page. The CTAs should be designed for visibility, using things like high-contrast colors on buttons and action-oriented text. 

CTAs should also be placed at natural decision points and communicate value to your users. For example, “contact us” doesn’t tell visitors much - but “click for a free consultation” lets users know that they can get something of value when they click. Finally, we recommend A/B testing different CTA designs and text to figure out what works best for your audience.

CTA Design Do’s 

• Give each page one primary goal and one primary CTA to support it.
• Use specific, value-driven copy: “Get a Free Estimate,” “See Pricing & Availability.”
• Place CTAs at decision points (after benefits, proof, and objection handling).
• Use a CTA ladder: low-friction (download), mid (quote), high (book call).
• Reduce perceived risk with microcopy (“No obligation,” “Takes 2 minutes”).

CTA Design Don’ts 

• Don’t use generic CTAs like “Submit,” “Learn More,” or “Click Here.”
• Don’t put 3 to 4 primary buttons in the same section competing for attention.
• Don’t hide CTAs only at the bottom of long pages.
• Don’t ask for too much information too soon (long forms for simple requests).
• Don’t change CTA styling randomly from page to page.
• Don’t ignore mobile CTA usability (tiny buttons, buried actions).

Poor Content Organization

Much like bad navigation elements, poor content organization can confuse and frustrate visitors. The end result is that users will leave your website rather than spending time trying to figure out where to locate critical information. Bad content organization often happens as websites grow and more and more content is added to the site without a review to determine how to best categorize each new piece of content.

To solve this problem, start with a map of your current content structure. You can then identify issues where the information is hard to find for users. At this point, you can create a better content structure by:

• Using proper heading structure (H1, H2, H3) to organize content logically
• Breaking longer content into shorter paragraphs and using bulleted or numbered lists for readability.
• Adding “read more” links for more complicated information to keep the page clean while allowing visitors to access more content as needed.
• Using consistent layouts to make content easier to use across your website.

Content Structure Design Do’s 

• Build pages around a clear information hierarchy: problem → solution → proof → details → CTA.
• Use proper heading structure (H1/H2/H3) so content is scannable and structured.
• Group related content into clear sections with descriptive subheads (“Pricing,” “Timeline,” “FAQs”).
• Add jump links or a table of contents on long pages to reduce scroll fatigue.
• Use progressive disclosure for truly secondary content (FAQs, specs, edge cases).

Content Structure Design Don’ts 

• Don’t present walls of text or long unbroken sections with no subheads.
• Don’t mix unrelated content types without transitions (reviews + pricing + blog cards + random CTAs).
• Don’t use headings for styling only (or skip levels randomly).
• Don’t hide critical info behind vague headings like “More Info.”
• Don’t create multiple pages that compete for the same intent (thin, overlapping content).

Lack of Accessibility

Accessibility is about usability. An accessible site works for users relying on screen readers, keyboard-only navigation, voice control, screen magnifiers, high-contrast settings, or just a phone in bright sunlight with one hand. In practice, accessibility improvements make your site easier for everyone.

It can also be a risk-management issue. In the U.S., many organizations pursue website accessibility compliance because of ADA-related demand letters and lawsuits, especially in industries like healthcare, higher ed, finance, hospitality, and ecommerce. But even if legal risk weren’t a factor, accessibility is still a smart business move: it expands your reachable audience and reduces friction across the board.

A lot of accessibility problems aren’t obvious unless you test the site the way assistive tech users do. Common accessibility issues we see on sites include: 

• Light gray text on white backgrounds
• Text placed over images without sufficient overlay
• No clear page landmarks (header, main, nav, footer)
• “Disabled” buttons that are unreadable
• Headings used for styling instead of hierarchy
• Focus indicators that are invisible
• Form inputs without proper labels
• Buttons built as div tags that aren’t real buttons
• Links only distinguished by color (no underline)
• Non-descriptive link text
• Important images with no alt text
• Videos without captions

In practice, most accessibility programs align to WCAG 2.1 Level AA (and increasingly WCAG 2.2 AA). That gives you a real framework and success criteria, not subjective opinions like “this feels readable.” 

To find and fix accessibility issues, we recommend running both automated and manual site audits. Our team can perform an accessibility audit for you to identify any potential accessibility issues and implement accessibility best practices. Things like keyboard navigation, descriptive link text, and sufficient color contrast will make a huge difference in both website design and usability for all visitors.

Accessibility Design Do’s 

• Ensure sufficient color contrast and readable text sizing.
• Support full keyboard navigation with visible focus indicators.
• Use semantic structure: correct heading order, labeled forms, and real buttons/links.
• Write descriptive link text that makes sense out of context.
• Caption videos and provide transcripts where appropriate.
• Audit with both automated tools and manual testing (keyboard + screen reader).

Accessibility Design Don’ts 

• Don’t use color alone to convey meaning (errors, links, required fields).
• Don’t remove focus outlines without replacing them.
• Don’t use “divs” as buttons or build interactive elements without proper roles.
• Don’t leave images without meaningful alt text (or add alt to purely decorative images).
• Don’t let popups/modals trap focus or become impossible to close.

Unconventional Layouts or Features

Unless you’re a major search engine like Google or a popular social media platform like Facebook and TikTok, users are probably spending more time on other sites than they’re spending on yours, according to Jakob’s Law of Internet User Experience. This means that a user’s expectations for how your site should work and function will largely be shaped by other websites. 

Most site owners want to create unique site experiences so that their brand stands out. There’s nothing wrong with a unique design or layout, but if you venture too far off the beaten path, you risk a higher bounce rate. Things like implementing a horizontal scroll instead of a vertical scroll or a decentralized menu that deviates from the norm can leave users frustrated or confused. These elements might win you design awards, but those awards could come at the expense of less business. 

Unique Design Do’s 

• Follow familiar web patterns for core behaviors: nav placement, scrolling, CTAs, forms.
• Use creativity where it adds clarity or brand differentiation (imagery, tone, micro-interactions).
• Validate new patterns with user testing.
• Provide strong cues when something is non-standard (labels, arrows, “scroll” indicators).
• Ensure any custom interaction has a fallback (keyboard, touch, reduced motion).
• Prioritize speed and clarity over novelty for conversion-focused pages.

Unique Design Don’ts 

• Don’t reinvent scrolling, navigation, or basic UI controls without a strong reason.
• Don’t use horizontal scroll for primary content (especially on mobile).
• Don’t hide navigation in clever locations that users won’t guess.
• Don’t rely on experimental interactions that break accessibility (focus traps, hover-only UI).
• Don’t ship unusual UX without analytics to confirm it’s working.

Hiding Important Content

Hiding content in elements like accordions can keep layouts looking more organized and less cluttered. Using tabs and accordions to hide content makes sense for supplementary content like FAQs. However, you can harm your conversion rate and potentially your search engine rankings by hiding important information like product details. 

There are several studies that have reported negative impacts associated with hiding content. A study conducted by Search Pilot found that organic traffic increased 12% when product information was moved out of tabs and displayed in full on product pages. Another study conducted by Reboot found that pages with content hidden using CSS or JS had significantly lower rankings than pages that showed all content. Moreover, an experiment conducted by Dan Shure also reported an increase in rankings and traffic after removing accordions from pages. 

When assessing whether or not to hide content in your design, you should consider how critical the content is to the page. You can’t expect all users to spend time opening accordions or tabs, so the information you hide in them may never be seen. 

Hidden Content Design Do’s 

• Keep core decision-making content visible: key benefits, pricing signals, specs, trust, differentiators.
• Use accordions for supplementary content: FAQs, edge cases, and long policy details.
•  
• If you must collapse content, show a strong summary first, then “expand for details.”
• Make expand/collapse controls accessible (keyboard operable, proper ARIA, visible focus).
• Use open-by-default sections when content is critical (especially above the fold).

Hidden Content Design Don’ts 

• Don’t hide the information users need to convert.
• Don’t put your only CTA inside a collapsed element.
• Don’t use accordions to compensate for poor writing or weak hierarchy.
• Don’t implement custom tabs/accordions that break deep linking or accessibility.

Undifferentiated Links

If an element doesn’t look like a link, then how would a user know to hover over it and click it? For better site usability and accessibility, links should be designed to be stylistically different from the rest of the text on a site. Current web best practices suggest making the link a different color from the rest of the text and underlining the link text. We also recommend using a different color for visited links, so that users are aware of the links they’ve visited and the links they have not. 

Differentiating your anchor text from the rest of your site text is not only better for usability, but also carries benefits for search engine visibility. Google and other search engines still utilize a reasonable surfer model that assigns different weights to links based on how likely a user is to click on the link. One of the factors that is assessed under this model is the appearance of the link. If links don’t stand out from the rest of the text, then the user will be less likely to click links, and those links won’t be given much weight. When you style your links to look different from the rest of the page, each link is given more weight, which more evenly distributes site authority and pushes more of your pages higher up as a result. 

Link Design Do’s 

• Make links look like links: underlined text links with a distinct color from body text.
• Use clear hover/focus states and ensure links are identifiable without hover (mobile has no hover).
• Differentiate visited links where it helps users navigate long resources.
• Use descriptive anchor text that explains the destination (“See pricing for X,” not “click here”).
• Keep link styling consistent across the site (ties into your design system).
• Ensure links meet accessibility contrast and are not color-only indicators.

Link Design Don’ts 

• Don’t remove underlines globally and rely on subtle color changes only.
• Don’t style body text to look like links (creates misclicks and frustration).
• Don’t use identical “Learn more” links repeatedly without context.
• Don’t bury important links in dense paragraphs when a button or callout would be clearer.
• Don’t use tiny inline links with tight spacing on mobile.
• Don’t use low-contrast link colors that disappear into the text.

Design A High-Converting Site With Inclind

A great website is about so much more than the technical coding that site visitors will never see. All good websites start with a solid design that will attract more visitors and increase search engine rankings. Implementing smart web design will ultimately help you increase your goals as a business or organization.

At Inclind, we offer both creative web design and the latest technology when building websites. We work collaboratively with our clients to help them structure, design, and create websites that work. Whether you are looking for a new website, a website redesign, or support and maintenance to keep your website up to date, we can help.

We're happy to chat if you’d like to learn more about our website design and development services. Fill out our online contact form or give us a call at 800-604-8139 to talk to one of our experts about your website.