7 Design Mistakes That Make Your Website Look Unprofessional

One of the most successful methods of online business development is having a website. A user-friendly yet sleek site can make all the difference in increasing your outreach and driving organic traffic.

But it is not the case with businesses at the early stages of establishment, as they are not that experienced in maintaining professional sites.  As a result, many times they make mistakes that may appear minor but can actually cost you consumer traffic. 

In this guide, we will break down the common mistakes that lead to an unprofessional web design and how you can avoid them.

1. Poor visual and cluttered layout

Every element in a professional-looking website should be organised according to the standards. In case your site is filled with a lot of non-relevant information and is not properly categorised, the user will find it hard to move to the right section. Overcrowded pages, irritating font color, or excessive calls to action are some examples of cluttering.

To make your web design professional, you would prefer to concentrate on the headings and have them arranged in chronological sequence and make sure that the colors and the design of your web page do not appear unpleasant to users.

2. Ignoring mobile responsiveness

In Singapore, internet penetration reached 95.8% by early 2025, with mobile devices accounting for 63% of all web traffic. Having a website that doesn’t work well on phones would be a blunder in this market.

In order to provide a smooth experience to phone users, the texts on your website should be readable and aligned according to the phone screen dimensions, and navigation should be touch-friendly.

3. Slow page load speeds

Many new websites are using images that are not optimized, and also have too many unnecessary plugins or heavy scripts that run in the background. Being impatient, many users simply give up as they become frustrated with the loading time, which could lead them to search for products elsewhere.

4. Having unclear CTAs

Clear CTAs on your website help first-time users navigate with ease. Say you liked a product on a website, but you are not able to pinpoint the business contact with ease; that would be a problem, right?

To fix this, use compelling CTAs like See Samples, Get a Quote or Email Us and offer them at logical points spread throughout your website.

5. Overlooking accessibility

A professional website must always be made to serve the people of all spheres and foster inclusiveness. Your services should be easily accessible even to the visually or mobility-challenged individuals when navigating your site. This way you will be able to expand your business across all kinds of people and increase your chances of getting referred.  

6. Outdated content and banner

Imagine visiting a website and finding promo codes that have expired, or outdated posts from years ago, or images being reused everywhere. It would instantly turn you off and make you leave the website, right?

The most represented example of unprofessional web design is outdated websites, and it is created when people simply create their first website and then leave it like that, making no efforts for maintenance and updates. To avoid this, ensure that the contents of your site, such as blog posts, listings of products, and images, are frequently updated.

Apart from the content, your website banner design should also be updated regularly since it is often the first thing users see when they visit your website.  A crusty, poor banner design of the company is bland and does not have any visual impact or convey the value of the company. Hence, your homepage should have sharp and clear banners, clear graphics, and catchy headlines.

7. Neglecting SEO foundations

Even if your website has been beautifully designed, keeping all the rules in mind, there are chances of it failing to bring traffic. When your site is SEO friendly, there are increased possibilities of the site appearing in search engines.

Applying relevant SEO aspects such as meta tags, alt tags, and keywords where necessary, you are also able to make your webpage more visible and increase traffic even in a competitive market such as Singapore.

Final thoughts

Most businesses these days hire experts to design their websites professionally. But beginners sometimes make mistakes during website design that can cost the business in various ways. To avoid an unprofessional web design, make sure to steer clear of the common mistakes we talked about in this guide.

To get your website designed professionally, check out 83 DPME (Design, Print, Marketing, Event & Exhibition) and get a quote ASAP.

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READ: WEB, TECH AND GADGETS IN SINGAPORE