5 Website Mistakes Small Business Owners Don’t Know They’re Making

Written by Chat GPT - prompted and edited by Morgan Lippincott

As a small business owner, your website is one of your most powerful tools—but only if it’s working for you. Too often, business owners pour time, money, and energy into a site that ends up underperforming or becoming a source of stress. The biggest issue? They don’t even realize what’s going wrong.

At Lippincott Duo Designs, put goal is to enable small business owners to fully own, understand, and manage their websites. No mystery tech talk. No gatekeeping. Just clean design and clear guidance. If your site isn’t helping your business grow—or you’re not sure—it might be due to one of these five common (but fixable) mistakes.

1. Not Truly Owning Your Website

Many small business owners are shocked to learn they don’t really own their websites. Maybe a developer set everything up under their own accounts. Or you’re locked into a platform that limits your control. This can lead to frustrating situations—like being unable to make updates, or worse, losing your content altogether.

The Fix: Always register your domain and hosting in your own name. And work with designers (like us!) who prioritize client ownership and hand everything over after launch.

2. Ignoring Mobile Optimization

Over 50% of all web traffic comes from mobile devices. But you’d be surprised how many websites look great on a desktop yet fall short when viewing from a phone or tablet.

Buttons that are too small, text that’s hard to read, and layouts that don’t adjust can cause visitors to click away and seek out other businesses to meet their needs.

The Fix: Always preview and test your site on multiple screen sizes. Platforms like Wix, Squarespace, and many others m make this easy.

3. Hiding Important Information

It happens all the time: a beautiful site that leaves visitors wondering what the business even does. Or worse, how to contact them.

If your contact info, services, hours, or location are buried—or missing—you’re making it harder for people to choose you.

The Fix: Keep key info above the fold (the top part of your homepage). Make your navigation clear and your calls to action easy to spot.

4. Overdesigning with Too Many Fonts, Colors, or Features

It’s tempting to use all the bells and whistles. But more isn’t always better. A cluttered, overly busy site can feel chaotic—and that hurts trust and usability.

The Fix: Stick to two fonts, a simple color palette, and plenty of whitespace. Let your message shine without distractions.

5. Skipping Basic SEO

“If I build it, they will come” might work for baseball movies—not websites. Search engine optimization (SEO) helps people find you, and it’s often overlooked by DIY site builders.

The Fix: Use clear headings, relevant keywords, alt text for images, and fast-loading pages. You don’t need to be an expert to get the basics right.

Wrapping Up

If you saw yourself in one (or all) of these mistakes—don’t worry. Every business owner starts somewhere, and these are all fixable with the right support.

At Lippincott Duo Designs, we are here to help support business owners in the capacity that you need. Whether you’re building from scratch or refreshing an existing site, we’re here to guide you—without the jargon.

Want to know if your site is making any of these mistakes? Contact us to learn more about how we can help make your website work for you!