Small Business Website Design Tips
The Deadly Sins (and the Bold Movement Fixes)
Your website is more than a digital business card. It’s your movement’s first handshake—and your best shot at telling prospects “we’re not like the rest.”
But if your site’s built on outdated habits or copy-paste templates, you’re leaking trust and repelling opportunity.
The Un_Standard perspective: Clarity and action matter more than pixels. Let’s dig into the Deadly Sins—and how to replace them with bold, clarity-driven moves.
Sin #1: The TMI Trap (“Everything, Everywhere” Sites)
Ever landed on a homepage that lists twenty services, two dozen testimonials, four CTAs, and three navigation bars? If your site is a wall of text, menus, awards, and pop-ups, visitors freeze—then bounce.
Why it hurts: You overwhelm decision-makers. They click away confused or exhausted—never reaching your best offer.
Bold Fix: Get ruthless about focus. Decide: “What’s the single outcome or story this site must deliver in 8 seconds?” Arrange your home page so the key message, proof, and most direct CTA are unmissable. Bonus: Above the fold, feature ONLY the core why and action. Everything else is scroll or menu-driven.
Sin #2: The Obvious Template (“We Look Like Everyone Else”)
If your website could be swapped with a competitor by changing logos, you’re not standing out—you’re sinking into irrelevance.
Why it hurts: No prospect remembers generic. “Safe” templates signal you’re playing small, recycling clichés, or unsure of your value.
Bold Fix: Push for visual identity rooted in movement.
- Use the Un_Standard color palette, oversized kinetic fonts, story-driven brand photography, and custom icons that reinforce clarity.
- Drop a mini-manifesto in your hero—something that no competitor could copy and believe.
Small Business website design tips number two: make sure your contact information is clearly accessible on the home page.
A recent survey indicated that over 75% of small businesses dont have an email link on their homepage. And nearly three-fifths dont have a telephone number. Customers like having options on how to contact particular companies, so ensure that this information is easy to access. If you’re asking your customers to dig around for ways to get in touch with you, then they’re going to give up and take their business elsewhere.
Join The Movement
Sin #3: Vague/Vanilla Calls to Action
“Submit.” “Read More.” “Contact Us.” Yawn. These limp CTAs leave your audience directionless—if they bother to act.
Why it hurts: You’re missing the moment to move visitors into your funnel with a bold, focused action.
Bold Fix: Every CTA should finish this phrase: “If you only take one action here, make it ___.”Examples:
- “Book a Clarity Call”
- “Join the Movement”
- “Get My Workshop Seat” Be explicit about both the action and the payoff. Make buttons oversized, high contrast, and hard to miss.
Sin #4: Imagery for Imagery’s Sake
A sea of stock photos, awkward handshake shots, or “multicultural group around laptop” is instantly forgettable.
Why it hurts: You look like everyone, say nothing new, and miss the emotional connection.
Bold Fix:
- Use real images: Show your actual team in dynamic motion, workshop shots, or real customers.
- If you must use stock, layer on bold design shapes, text callouts, or overlays that align with your movement vibe.
- Every image should reinforce your clarity, story, and what calls people into your brand.
Sin #5: Font & Color Mayhem
Web pages with more fonts and colors than a toddler’s painting lose all professional (and trust-building) vibe.
Why it hurts: Visual clutter slows comprehension, makes CTAs blend in, and lowers conversion.
Bold Fix: Invest in a tight style guide—2–3 fonts max, 3–4 colors anchored by your Un_Standard movement palette. Use whitespace creatively: what you don’t show draws focus to what matters.
Sin #6: Slow Loads, Dead Links, Stale Pages
Few things kill momentum like a spinning loader or a link that 404s.
Why it hurts: People leave before your story even loads; search engines downrank you. A blog that hasn’t been touched in a year or pages with “coming soon” erode credibility and excitement.
Bold Fix:
- Check speed regularly with free tools (like Google’s PageSpeed Insights).
- Use a site audit checklist to purge or update links quarterly.
- Build an editorial calendar to keep the “Latest” section active—share customer stories, bold wins, and movement milestones.
Movement Ritual: The Website Clarity Jam
- Run a quarterly team jam: everyone answers, “What’s confusing on the site? Where do we look like the competition? What action do we make easiest?”
- Immediately assign updates. Treat fixes as movement urgency, not “backlog someday.”
Proof from the Movement
A scaling service business ditched 50% of its homepage copy, swapped generic images for “team at work” photos, and cut page load time by two seconds. Outcome? Bounce rate dropped 40% and bookings doubled.
Un_Standard Takeaway
Your website is the movement’s storefront. Every section, every visual, every CTA must call prospects to act and believe. Don’t blend in. Don’t default to busy. Bring clarity, focus, and energy—and watch results follow.
Book a Website Clarity Audit With Un_Standard →
About the author
David Garrard
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David Garrard
Agent Provocateur & Chief Creative Officer at Un_Standard. David helps ambitious brands unearth clarity, break the rules that hold them back, and co-create movement-level growth. When not challenging the status quo, he’s in the kitchen inventing new flavors or chasing after his three cats: Hallie Tosis, Lester Een, and Jim G. Vitis. #BeUnStandard
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