You worked hard on your website, and it looks great. It may have beautiful photos, modern graphics, and all the latest design features. However, some of the most attractive websites have design choices that quietly cost businesses leads. We’ll keep this short and sweet: here are five website designs that could be costing you leads.

More isn’t always better in website design. Businesses sometimes try to put everything on the homepage. Multiple banners, pop-ups, animations, videos, graphics, buttons, offers, and blocks of text can quickly overwhelm visitors. Ask yourself what you want a visitor to do when they arrive. Do you want them to call? Request a quote? Schedule an appointment? Make a purchase? Visit your location? Once you know the goal, your design should help guide visitors toward that action.

Imagine a potential customer visits your website and decides they are interested in your services. Great! But then they cannot figure out how to contact you. That is a problem.

Your primary call to action should be visually noticeable and strategically placed throughout the website. The easier you make it for visitors to take action, the less likely you are to lose potential leads.

Mobile-friendly websites are more necessary than desktop-friendly websites today. A mobile-friendly website should make it easy for someone to read your content, navigate between pages, find your contact information, and take action. This may be stating the obvious, but your customers should have a good experience regardless of the device they use.

Beautiful design matters. However, design should support your content, not compete with it. Oversized images, elaborate animations, or large sections of empty space can push important information far down the page. Modern, yes, but they can make it harder for visitors to quickly understand the business. Websites can be thoughtfully designed and still let visitors quickly find the information they need.

This may seem obvious, but businesses still make customers work too hard to get in touch. A phone number hidden in the footer is not enough. Neither is a contact form with 15 required fields. If someone is ready to become a customer, make it easy for them. Include your phone number where visitors can find it. Make email addresses and contact forms easy to access. If you have a physical location, make your address and hours easy to find.

If your website has not been updated in several years, it may be time to take a closer look. A good test: ask a friend or family member to visit your website, or better yet, ask us! Could they find the information they needed to contact you? Can they find your physical location or understand your call to action? Ultimately, your website should make it easier for customers to choose your business—not give them a reason to leave.

A beautiful website is great. A beautiful website that generates leads is even better. Need YCS Marketing to take a look? Visit ycsmarketing.com to start the conversation.