After auditing enough small business websites, you stop being surprised. The same mistakes appear in different fonts and different colours, but the underlying patterns barely change.
The recurring offenders
- A homepage that opens with the company name instead of the buyer's outcome.
- A services page written for the owner's clarity, not the customer's choice.
- About copy that explains the founder's journey before establishing competence.
- Reviews and credentials buried at the bottom of the page or hidden on a separate route.
- A contact form that demands more information than a first conversation should.
- Mobile typography sized for the designer's screen, not the buyer's thumb.
- An invisible price range that forces the buyer to enquire just to get a number.
Reversing the perspective is the work. Once the page is composed around how a buyer actually decides — what they need to see, in what order, with what level of certainty — most of these mistakes simply cease to exist.
