7 Signs Your Website Is Costing You Money

Here's a painful truth: most business owners have no idea their website is broken. It looks fine. It loads. The logo is in the right place. But underneath, it's bleeding money.

I've audited hundreds of small business websites. The same problems show up again and again. Here are the seven biggest ones.

1. Your Site Takes More Than 3 Seconds to Load

This is the silent killer. You can't see it unless you test it, but your visitors feel it.

Here's what the data says:

• 53% of mobile visitors leave if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load
• Every additional second of load time reduces conversions by 7%
• Google uses page speed as a ranking factor

How to check: Go to PageSpeed Insights and enter your URL. If your mobile score is below 50, you have a problem.

Common causes: Unoptimized images, cheap hosting, too many plugins, bloated themes.

2. Your Contact Form Is Broken (Or Goes to Spam)

I can't tell you how often I see this. The business owner thinks no one is reaching out. Turns out, their contact form has been broken for months. Or worse, submissions are going straight to spam.

How to check: Submit your own form. Right now. Use a different email address and see if it comes through. Check your spam folder.

I've seen businesses lose thousands of dollars in leads because of a broken form. One client discovered their form had been down for 6 months. Six months of potential customers hitting a wall.

3. Your Site Isn't Mobile-Friendly (For Real)

Yes, your site might resize on mobile. That doesn't mean it's mobile-friendly.

Mobile-friendly means:

• Text is readable without zooming
• Buttons are big enough to tap with a thumb
• Forms are easy to fill out on a phone
• The menu works properly
• Nothing is cut off or overlapping

Over 60% of web traffic is now mobile. If your mobile experience is frustrating, you're losing more than half your potential customers.

How to check: Actually use your site on your phone. Try to find information, fill out a form, navigate around. Is it frustrating? Your customers think so too.

4. Nobody Knows What You Actually Do

You have about 5 seconds when someone lands on your site. In those 5 seconds, they need to understand:

• What you do
• Who it's for
• What to do next

Most small business websites fail this test. They lead with vague slogans, stock photos, and corporate jargon. "Synergizing Solutions for Tomorrow's Challenges." What does that even mean?

How to check: Show your homepage to someone who doesn't know your business. Give them 5 seconds. Ask what you do. If they can't answer clearly, you have a problem.

5. Your Site Isn't Secure (No HTTPS)

If your URL starts with "http://" instead of "https://", you have a problem. Browsers now show a "Not Secure" warning for sites without SSL certificates.

This matters because:

• Visitors see a scary warning and leave
• Google penalizes insecure sites in search rankings
• Any form submissions are sent unencrypted (bad for you and your customers)

How to fix: Most hosting providers offer free SSL certificates now. If yours doesn't, switch providers or install Let's Encrypt.

6. Your Call-to-Action Is Invisible (Or Missing)

Every page on your site should have a clear next step. What do you want visitors to do?

• Call you?
• Fill out a form?
• Book an appointment?
• Buy something?

If your call-to-action is a tiny link buried in the footer, it might as well not exist. If it's not on every page, you're losing conversions.

How to fix: Make your primary CTA a button. Make it a contrasting color. Put it above the fold. Repeat it throughout the page.

7. Your Content Is Outdated

Nothing says "this business might be dead" like:

• A copyright year from 3 years ago
• A "Latest News" section from 2021
• Products or services you no longer offer
• Staff photos of people who don't work there anymore
• A blog with no posts in the last year

Outdated content makes people question whether you're still in business. And if you are, it makes them wonder if you pay attention to details.

How to fix: Audit your site quarterly. Remove or update anything that's outdated. If you have a blog, either post regularly or remove it.

The Real Cost

Let's do some quick math.

Say you get 1,000 visitors per month. If your site has problems that drive away 30% of them (a conservative estimate for slow, confusing sites), that's 300 people leaving.

If even 5% of those would have contacted you, that's 15 lost leads per month. If your average customer is worth $500, that's $7,500 in lost revenue. Every month.

Over a year, a broken website can cost you $90,000. For many small businesses, that's the difference between thriving and struggling.

What To Do About It

You have three options:

Option 1: DIY
Go through this list, check each item, fix what you can. For technical issues like speed and security, you might need help.

Option 2: Hire Someone
Get a professional to audit your site and fix the problems. This is faster and usually catches issues you'd miss.

Option 3: Start Fresh
If your site has too many problems, sometimes it's cheaper to rebuild than to patch. A modern, well-built site can transform your business.

Whatever you choose, don't ignore these issues. Every day your website has problems is a day you're losing customers.