Your website should be your hardest-working salesperson. It doesn’t sleep. It doesn’t take breaks. But if it’s not converting visitors into customers, it’s not doing its job—and worse, it could be silently costing you sales every single day.
If you’re a small business owner wondering why your leads have slowed down or why your traffic isn’t converting, your website might be the problem. Here are five warning signs that your website is costing you sales—and what to do about it.
1. It Takes Too Long to Load
We live in a world of instant everything—Uber rides, Amazon same-day shipping, and TikTok videos that get cut off at 3 seconds. That means your website has 3 seconds or less to load before most people bounce.
In fact, research shows that 53% of users will abandon a website if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Every extra second can drop your conversion rate by up to 20%.
What causes slow load times?
- Bloated WordPress themes
- Unoptimized images
- Too many plugins
- Cheap shared hosting
What to do:
Use tools like GTmetrix or Google PageSpeed Insights to test your speed. Then work with a developer (hi, I’m Jen) to clean up your code, compress images, and move to better hosting.
🧠 Pro Tip: Don’t just test your desktop version—check mobile. That’s where most users are.
2. It’s Not Mobile-Friendly
If your website isn’t mobile-optimized, you’re losing money—period. Over 60% of website traffic comes from mobile devices, and if your layout breaks on a phone or your buttons are too small to tap, users leave fast.
Signs your site isn’t mobile-ready:
- Users have to zoom or scroll sideways
- Navigation is hard to use on a phone
- Forms don’t work properly
- Pages take longer to load on mobile than desktop
Google also uses mobile-first indexing, meaning your mobile site is what gets ranked in search. If it’s not up to par, you’re getting buried.
What to do:
View your site on your phone—multiple pages, not just your home page. If something feels off, it probably is. Use responsive design, mobile-first layouts, and properly sized images.
Don’t just “hope” your template handles it. Test it. Fix it.
3. There’s No Clear Call to Action
This one’s big: if your visitors don’t know what to do next, they’ll do nothing.
Too many sites fail here. You scroll through a homepage, see some vague descriptions, maybe a few images—and then what? No buttons. No prompts. Just a footer.
A strong website guides your visitor.
It tells them exactly what to do, whether that’s booking a call, filling out a form, or making a purchase.
What to do:
Audit every page on your site. Ask:
- Is there a clear next step?
- Is that step obvious, visible, and persuasive?
- Are your CTA buttons (calls to action) using strong, action-driven language?
Instead of:
“Submit”
Use:
“Book My Free Consult” or “Get My Website Audit”
Every major page should have 1 goal. And that goal should be painfully obvious to every visitor.
4. It Looks DIY or Outdated
Your website is the first impression. People judge your credibility in less than a second based on design alone. If your site looks DIY, uses outdated fonts, or was built in 2010 and never touched again—it’s working against you.
Even if your content is solid, poor design triggers doubt:
- “Is this business still active?”
- “Can I trust them with my money?”
- “Why does it look like my cousin built this in high school?”
Bad visuals create friction. Friction kills conversions.
What to do:
If your site hasn’t been redesigned in the last 3–5 years, it’s time. A clean, modern layout with consistent branding, mobile responsiveness, and clear navigation signals professionalism.
Don’t cut corners here. You can’t afford to look like an amateur in a competitive market.
5. You’re Not Tracking or Measuring Anything
You can’t fix what you don’t measure. If you don’t know where visitors are dropping off or how they’re interacting with your content, you’re flying blind.
Ask yourself:
- Do you know your bounce rate?
- Are visitors converting from your homepage or dropping off?
- Which pages are performing best—and which ones kill the journey?
If you can’t answer these, your site is bleeding leads.
What to do:
Install basic analytics (Google Analytics or Plausible). Set up conversion goals. Heatmaps (like Hotjar or Microsoft Clarity) can show you where people click and scroll.
Once you have the data, you can fix bottlenecks, rewrite underperforming sections, or redesign weak CTAs.
So… Is Your Website Helping or Hurting?
Let’s be honest: most small business sites aren’t built to convert. They’re built to exist. But in 2025, just being online isn’t enough.
Your website needs to:
- Load fast
- Look great on every device
- Guide users to action
- Represent your brand professionally
- Track performance
If yours doesn’t, it’s costing you sales. And the fix doesn’t have to be complicated or crazy expensive—but it does need to be intentional.
Ready for a Redesign That Actually Performs?
I’ve helped dozens of small businesses turn underperforming websites into streamlined, professional, conversion-focused sales tools. Whether you need a full rebuild or just a strategic tune-up, I’ll show you exactly what to fix and why.
Let’s make your website work as hard as you do.
