Bad web design websites often suffer from slow loading, poor navigation, and cluttered layouts, pushing visitors away and damaging your brand. Understanding these common mistakes is the first step toward creating a clean, user-friendly site that keeps people engaged and coming back.
Key takeaways
Here are a few factors that cause certain sites to be labelled as bad web design websites, helping you understand what to avoid!
According to Think with Google, most users expect a website to load within three seconds, making slow-loading pages one of the top reasons visitors leave. When it takes longer, bounce rates increase, and user engagement tends to drop significantly.
Common causes include large images, heavy design, or videos hosted directly on your site. Compress images, reduce animations, and embed videos from platforms like YouTube to improve speed. You can also enable browser caching and minimise code—or work with a developer for deeper fixes.
Also Read: Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design to Avoid for an Engaging Website
Disorganized navigation is a common web design mistake that frustrates users and drives them away. When menus are unclear or pages are hard to find, visitors won’t stay long or engage with your site.
To fix this, structure your navigation clearly with logical categories and labels. Keep menus simple, prioritise important pages, and make sure every key section is easy to reach. Adding a search bar and using consistent menu layouts across all pages can also improve the user experience significantly.
Using the wrong colour combinations or fonts can damage the overall look and readability of your website. Harsh, mismatched colours often pull attention away from key content, while overly stylised typefaces can make text hard to process, ultimately weakening the user experience.
Instead, aim for a clean, balanced colour palette that reflects your brand without overwhelming the eye. Stick with simple, legible fonts and limit yourself to one or two styles across the site.
Also Read: 25 Best Fonts for UI/UX Design That Enhance Readability
Outdated, poorly written, or missing content can quickly drive visitors away and prevent them from returning to your site. It also reflects how active, trustworthy, and professional your brand appears to new visitors.
Keeping content fresh and engaging can make a big difference. Use clear, simple language, break text into shorter paragraphs, and add visuals like images or videos. Make sure everything stays relevant to the topic and is free of grammar mistakes.
A site that looks messy or doesn’t function well on a small screen often drives users away, and they’re unlikely to return later on the desktop. A poor mobile experience can make even a great brand seem outdated or unreliable.
That’s why mobile responsiveness is no longer optional. A good website should adapt seamlessly to all screen sizes. Use flexible layouts, readable text, and clickable elements that work well on smaller screens. Prioritizing mobile design helps you reach more users and keeps them engaged.
Crowded pages filled with too much text, imagery, or buttons are bad web design examples. When everything competes for attention, users are more likely to leave before understanding what your site offers.
A better approach is to simplify the layout by keeping only essential elements. Use white space to let your content breathe and guide the viewer’s eye naturally. Organized, minimal design helps users focus and makes your site easier to explore, creating a smoother experience that keeps visitors engaged.
Also Read: Reasons Why Responsive Design Matters in 2025
A website that no longer matches your brand’s current image can make your business appear outdated or inconsistent. This disconnect may confuse visitors and reduce trust in your brand.
Keeping your branding current—through colours, fonts, imagery, and tone—ensures your website reflects your brand today and maintains a cohesive, professional presence.
A website that isn’t optimised for SEO will struggle to appear in search engine results, making it harder for people to find you. Most users don’t go past the first page, so poor visibility can lead to fewer clicks and a weaker online presence.
To improve your SEO, use your site builder’s SEO settings to fill in meta titles, descriptions, and tags with relevant keywords. Try using WordPress plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math, which offer step-by-step guidance to help you optimise your site for better visibility.
Also Read: How to Redesign a Website? 6 Steps to Boost Online Presence
Avoiding bad web design isn’t just about following trends—it’s about creating a website that’s clear, fast, and enjoyable to use. From navigation and layout to content and SEO, each part of your site should work together to support your brand and meet users’ needs.To keep your design clear and engaging, Lettersiro offers an exclusive font collection that suits any brand style, helping your website stay visually appealing, professional, and easy to read. Check out Lettersiro’s exclusive font and give your website a polished, professional look!
