5 Design Red Flags on Your Current Website (and How to Fix Them)

Sydney Burright • April 23, 2026

You can have the best business in the world, but if you don't have a website or your current website looks really outdated, people are going to click the "X" and leave your website before they even see what you do.


As a designer, I see these same mistakes every single day. The good news is that most of your website's problems are super easy to fix. If your site has any of these 5 red flags, then it's time to build a new one or give your current site a little glow-up.

1. The "Wall of Text"

You open a page on your website and it's just... words everywhere. There are no breaks, no photos or minimal photos, and just huge blocks of text. This is a problem.


I don't know how to tell you this, but nobody cares to read all of that. Nobody actually reads the majority of information on websites anymore, we scan them. If I have to hunt through a paragraph to find out what you do, then I am leaving, and so is every other potential customer.


How do we fix this? Start using more headers. Break things up with bullet points. Give your text some "white space" and room to breathe. Make it easy for people to scan your page for the basic information and condense down the text you currently have. Your website is not meant to be a best-selling novel, it is meant to be an easy place for people to find out information quickly and contact you.

2. It's a Mess on Mobile

Your site might look perfect on your laptop, but on a phone, the text is microscopic and the buttons are so close together that you can't click one without hitting three others.


Most of us live on our phones. If your mobile site is broken, you are basically telling half your customers that you don't care about their experience. It also makes you as a business look unprofessional and less trust worthy.


How do we fix this? Check your website on your phone right now. If you have to "pinch and zoom" to read anything, you need a responsive design that automatically shrinks and grows to fit any screen size. Depending on what platform your website is built, this can be an easy fix or it would just be way more beneficial to get a brand-new website created on a newer and more modern platform.

3. Your Site is Loading at a Glacial Pace

You click a link and... wait. And wait. Maybe a giant photo slowly starts appearing piece by piece.


Our attention spans these days are shorter than ever. If your website takes more than 2 seconds to load, Google actually starts hiding you from search results because it knows people hate waiting.


How do we fix this? Shrink your images. Stop using massive JPEGs or PNGs for everything. Your website does not need a super high-res photo that would normally go on a billboard.

4. The "Who Are You?" Factor

Your website has zero testimonials, no logos of companies you've worked with, or the "about us" page is just generic corporate speak with no actual photos of your team members.


If I can't tell that real people are running the show, or that other people have actually paid you and been happy, I am probably not going to trust you with my credit card. This goes for any B2B or B2C business. It's like eating at a restaurant with an empty parking lot. It just feels untrustworthy or sketchy.


How do we fix this? Show off a little. Embed your Google Reviews and if you don't have any then start asking for some. If someone enjoyed working with you or buying a product from you then they will take the time to leave you a 5-star review. Flaunt your work and showcase exactly what you've done for your customers. Put high-quality photos of your team on the site. People want to buy from people, not a faceless logo. If you are a member of the Better Business Bureau or have specific certifications or won an award, then put those logos in your footer. It's an instant credibility boost.

5. "Mystery Meat" Navigation

Your menu buttons are trying way too hard. Instead of just saying "About Us" you use something like "The Journey," or your entire menu has so many pages it is all jumbled together making people have to hunt for what they need.


Confusion is the ultimate "vibe killer" for sales. If I have to spend more than 3 seconds figuring out how to get to your services page, I'm just going to leave.


How do we fix this? Go for clarity over "cool" every single time. Keep it simple and use labels that people actually recognize. "Services," "Pricing," and "Contact" much feel boring, but they work because everyone knows exactly what they do. Follow the two-click rule. A user should be able to get to your most important pages in 2 clicks or less from the homepage. If they have to dig through 3 sub-menus to find you, you've already lost them. Unless you're on a phone, avoid hiding the entire menu behind a "hamburger" icon (those 3 little lines). If you have space on a desktop screen, then use it!

Your website should be your #1 employee, working for you 24/7. If you noticed any of these red flags on your own site, don't stress. You can easily fix them or contact Performance Digital and we can tackle these things for you. It's time to refresh your website.

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