When you’re building your first website, whether it’s for your business, a portfolio, or a personal project, it’s easy to fall into common design traps. These mistakes can make your site look unprofessional, frustrate visitors, and even hurt your search rankings.
Here are three of the biggest beginner website design mistakes and how to avoid them.
1. Overcomplicating the Design
Many beginners feel they need lots of colours, animations, patterns, and fancy features to make their website look “impressive.”
In reality, this usually leads to:
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A cluttered layout
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Confusing navigation
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Slow-loading pages
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Visitors leaving quickly
How to fix it
Keep your design simple and consistent.
Use:
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One or two brand colours
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Clean fonts
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A clear layout with enough spacing
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Only essential features
A simple design isn’t boring—it’s professional and user-friendly.
2. Forgetting About Mobile Users
Over 60% of website traffic now comes from mobile devices, yet beginners often only design while looking at the desktop version.
This leads to:
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Buttons too small to tap
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Text too tiny to read
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Images overflowing off the screen
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Layouts breaking on phones
How to fix it
Always check your site on:
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Mobile
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Tablet
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Different screen sizes
Use a responsive theme (like those in WordPress), and ensure your content scales smoothly.
If something looks even slightly off on mobile, fix it, because your users will notice.
3. No Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
A website without a CTA is like a shop with no checkout.
Beginners often forget to tell visitors what to do next, causing people to leave without taking action.
Common missing CTAs include:
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“Contact us”
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“Book an appointment”
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“Get a quote”
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“View services”
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“Start your project”
How to fix it
Make your CTA:
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Clear
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Visible
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Repeated throughout the page
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Easy to understand
Use strong action words like “Book Now,” “Get Started,” “Send Message,” or “Request a Quote.”
A good CTA can dramatically increase enquiries and conversions.
Final Thoughts
Website design doesn’t have to be complicated.
By avoiding these three beginner mistakes such as overdesigned layouts, ignoring mobile users, and missing CTAs, you can create a site that looks professional, loads fast, and helps grow your business.
If you want help building a clean, modern, mobile-optimised website, SwiftSites can do it for you. Just get in touch and we’ll take care of the rest.
