10 User-Friendly Web Design Fixes That Grow Revenue

A dental practice in Austin spent $4,000 on Google Ads last month. The front desk checked the analytics. Plenty of clicks. Almost no new patient bookings.

The ads were doing their job. The website was undoing it.

The site took six seconds to load on mobile. The "New Patient" form sat below three paragraphs of the practice's history nobody reads. And the services page was a PDF that required pinching and zooming on a phone screen. Every dollar they spent driving traffic was wasted the moment visitors landed on a page that made it hard to do the one thing they came to do: book an appointment.

We build and rebuild websites for businesses like hers constantly. And the pattern is always the same: the owner invests in marketing, drives real traffic, and watches the numbers stay flat because the site itself pushes visitors away. The encouraging part? The fix is almost never a complete redesign. It's usually five or six specific changes that, combined, make the difference between a website that loses customers and one that converts them.

This guide breaks down those changes, organized by what to do first and what each tier of fix actually costs.

What's in This Article

• What "User-Friendly" Actually Means for a Business Owner
• The 10 Fixes, Organized by Cost and Impact
• Score Your Website
• When to Fix vs. When to Rebuild
• How to Talk to Your Web Designer About This
• Frequently Asked Questions

What "User-Friendly" Actually Means for a Business Owner

Most business owners hear "user-friendly" and picture something vague: clean layout, nice colors, looks modern. That's not wrong, but it's not what moves the needle either.

User-friendly means a visitor can accomplish what they came to do, fast, without friction. For a dental practice, that's finding services and booking an appointment. For a plumber, it's getting a phone number. For a consultant, it's understanding what you offer and scheduling a call.

Steve Krug put it best in his book Don't Make Me Think: "Your objective should always be to eliminate instructions entirely by making everything self-explanatory, or as close to it as possible." That was written about web usability, but it's really about respecting your customer's time.

The business case is concrete. Research from Deloitte and Google found that a 0.1-second improvement in page speed increased retail conversions by 8.4% and average order values by 9.2%. Not a redesign. Not a new brand. A tenth of a second.

Vodafone tested this directly: a 31% improvement in loading speed led to 8% more sales, 15% more leads, and 11% higher cart rates. Same website, same products, just faster.

Here's what gets overlooked: 94% of first impressions are design-related, and visitors form those impressions in about 50 milliseconds. That's faster than you can blink. If your site looks dated or confusing at first glance, the visitor has already decided you're not trustworthy, and no amount of great content below the fold will change that.

I'll be honest, I used to think first impressions were overstated. Then I started watching session recordings. People make snap judgments that are almost impossible to reverse. If a business owner showed me a 78% bounce rate on a site with strong reviews, I'd pull up their homepage on my phone. Nine times out of ten, the answer is visible in two seconds: the site looks like it was built in 2014.

The 10 Fixes, Organized by Cost and Impact

Not all website improvements deliver equal value. I've organized these into three tiers based on the return they typically generate relative to what they cost. Start at the top.

Tier 1: Quick Wins ($0-$500)

These are changes you can make this week, often without hiring anyone. They tend to deliver outsized returns because they remove the most basic friction points.

1. Speed up your site.

This is the single highest-ROI change for most small business websites. Google's Core Web Vitals set three benchmarks: your largest content element should load in under 2.5 seconds, your site should respond to interaction in under 200 milliseconds, and your layout shouldn't shift around while loading. Most small business sites fail at least one of these.

The fix is usually straightforward: compress your images (this alone can cut load time in half), remove plugins or scripts you're not using, and upgrade to faster hosting if you're on a shared plan. Run your site through Google PageSpeed Insights right now. If you score below 50, this is your first priority.

2. Make your phone number and primary CTA impossible to miss.

70% of small business websites don't have a clear call-to-action on their homepage. That's not a design preference, it's lost revenue. Your phone number should be visible without scrolling on every page. Your primary action (book, call, get a quote) should be a button, not a text link buried in a paragraph.

Quick detour: I see business owners spend weeks debating button colors when the real problem is that the button doesn't exist. Get the button on the page first. Optimize the color later.

3. Replace your PDF menu, catalog, or price list with actual web content.

PDFs are invisible to search engines, terrible on mobile, and impossible to update quickly. If your core offering is locked in a PDF, you're hiding it from both Google and your customers. Convert it to a proper web page. This alone can improve your search visibility and reduce the friction that causes mobile visitors to leave.

4. Fix your mobile experience.

Luke Wroblewski, who literally wrote the book Mobile First, argues that designing for mobile "forces you to focus and enables you to innovate." He's right. Mobile constraints eliminate clutter, and that's good for everyone.

Pull up your website on your phone right now. Can you find your phone number in under three seconds? Can you navigate to your services page without zooming? If not, your mobile experience needs work. 53.8% of web designers say the top reason clients need a redesign is that their site isn't responsive on all devices.

Tier 2: Moderate Investment ($500-$3,000)

These changes usually require a web designer or developer but deliver meaningful improvements in how visitors perceive and interact with your business.

5. Simplify your navigation.

Steve Krug's other famous line: "Get rid of half the words on each page, then get rid of half of what's left." The same applies to navigation menus. If your site has more than seven top-level menu items, you're making visitors work too hard to find what they need.

The goal is what Jakob Nielsen calls the recognition over recall principle: visitors should recognize where to go, not have to remember or figure it out. Test this with someone who's never seen your site. Hand them your phone and ask them to find your pricing or contact page. If they hesitate, your navigation needs restructuring.

6. Add social proof where it actually matters.

Testimonials on an "About" page are nice. Testimonials next to your "Request a Quote" button are powerful. The placement of social proof matters more than the volume. Put your best review next to your highest-stakes conversion point.

Honestly, I think most business owners underestimate how much trust they need to build before someone fills out a form or picks up the phone. A short case study or customer quote at the decision point can be the difference between a lead and a bounce.

7. Rewrite your homepage headline in plain language.

Your homepage has roughly six seconds to communicate what you do and who you do it for. If your headline is "Innovative Solutions for Tomorrow's Challenges," you've wasted all six seconds saying nothing.

Write it like you'd explain your business to a stranger at a barbecue. "We design websites for restaurants and service businesses in the Philadelphia area." Clear. Specific. Done. Visitors spend about 5.94 seconds looking at your main image and 5.59 seconds reading your primary text. Make those seconds count.

Tier 3: Strategic Upgrades ($3,000-$15,000)

These are bigger projects that typically involve a professional designer or agency. They're worth the investment when your site's core problems go beyond individual fixes.

8. Redesign your service or product pages around conversion.

This is where the real money is. Rescue Spa, a boutique spa business, redesigned their website around customer experience rather than just aesthetics. Revenue increased 286% in the first year. Within the first four months of the new site, they matched the revenue from the previous eight months.

RTS Cutting Tools, an industrial supplier, redesigned their 17-year-old website with responsive design and a proper product catalog. Conversions (quotes delivered to prospects) increased 470%.

Neither of these were mega-corporations with unlimited budgets. They were businesses that recognized their website was the bottleneck and invested in fixing it properly.

9. Add basic accessibility.

This one surprised me when I first looked at the numbers. The W3C estimates that over 1 billion people globally have recognized disabilities, representing $6-7 trillion in annual spending power. Accessible websites reach a larger market, rank better in search (Google favors accessible sites), and reduce legal risk.

I could be wrong, but I think accessibility is going to become the next "mobile responsive" moment. In 2012, businesses debated whether they needed a mobile site. By 2015, it wasn't optional. Accessibility is following the same curve, and the businesses that move early will have an advantage.

The basics aren't expensive: proper heading structure, alt text on images, sufficient color contrast, and keyboard navigation support. A developer can implement these in a day or two.

10. Invest in real photography.

Stock photos are the one thing that makes a website look instantly generic. (Yes, I know custom photography costs money, but hear me out.) When every competitor in your market uses the same Shutterstock handshake image, the business that shows real people, real work, and real locations stands out immediately.

This doesn't have to be a $5,000 professional shoot. A local photographer charging $500-$1,000 can capture your team, your workspace, and your process in half a day. Those images will serve your website, social media, and marketing materials for years.

Score Your Website

Use this scorecard to rate your website across the dimensions that actually predict business impact. Be honest. This is for your eyes only.

When to Fix vs. When to Rebuild

This is the question I get asked more than any other: "Should I just fix what I have, or do I need a whole new website?"

The answer depends on what's actually broken.

Situation	Fix What You Have	Rebuild
Site is slow	Compress images, upgrade hosting, remove unused plugins ($100-$500)	Only if the platform itself is the bottleneck (outdated CMS, legacy code)
Not mobile-friendly	If your theme/template supports responsive design, enable and test it	If your site was built before 2015 on a non-responsive framework
Low conversions	Add CTAs, rewrite headlines, improve page structure ($500-$2,000)	If the site architecture itself prevents proper conversion paths
Looks outdated	Update colors, fonts, photos, and layout within existing platform ($1,000-$3,000)	If the design is more than 5 years old and no longer reflects your brand
Business has changed	Update copy and pages to reflect new services or positioning	If your entire business model, audience, or service offering has shifted

A general rule: if your site scores above 35 on the scorecard and was built in the last 5 years, targeted fixes will almost always deliver better ROI than a full rebuild. (If you're still debating whether you need a website at all, here's our take on that question.) If it scores below 25 or was built before 2018 on an older platform, a rebuild is probably the more cost-effective path.

The data says one thing, but my experience says something slightly different. I've seen plenty of 8-year-old WordPress sites that just needed faster hosting and a content refresh to start converting well again. And I've seen 2-year-old sites that needed a complete rethink because they were built without any conversion strategy. Age matters less than intent.

How to Talk to Your Web Designer About This

If you're hiring someone to improve your website, here's what to bring to the conversation, and what to watch out for.

What to share with your designer:

• Your scorecard results from above (specific numbers, not "it needs work")
• Your three lowest-scoring dimensions
• What action you want visitors to take (call, book, purchase, request a quote)
• Your budget range (helps them prioritize the right tier of fixes)

What to ask:

• "What will have the biggest impact on conversions within our budget?"
• "Can you show me examples of similar businesses you've improved?"
• "What does the timeline look like for Tier 1 vs. Tier 2 vs. full redesign?"
• "How will we measure whether the changes worked?"

Red flags:

• A designer who leads with aesthetics before asking about your business goals
• Anyone who recommends a full $15,000+ rebuild without first looking at your analytics
• "We'll make it pop" without any discussion of conversion, speed, or mobile performance
• No mention of measurable outcomes or follow-up testing

The best web designers think like business consultants who happen to work in design. They should be asking you about your customers, your revenue goals, and your current conversion rates before they ever talk about fonts or colors. And if you haven't defined your brand strategy yet, start there — a website redesign without brand clarity is expensive guesswork.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does it cost to make a website more user-friendly?

It depends entirely on what's broken. Tier 1 fixes (speed, CTAs, mobile) can be done for $0-$500, often by the business owner. Tier 2 changes (navigation, social proof, headline rewriting) typically cost $500-$3,000 with a professional. Full redesigns for small businesses range from $3,000 to $15,000 depending on complexity. Start with the scorecard above to figure out which tier you actually need.

How do I know if my website is losing me customers?

Check three things: your bounce rate (above 60% on key pages is a warning sign), your mobile vs. desktop conversion rate (if mobile converts significantly less, your mobile experience needs work), and your page speed (run Google PageSpeed Insights). If you're spending money on ads or marketing and the traffic isn't converting, your website is likely the bottleneck.

Should I redesign my entire website or just fix specific things?

For most small businesses, targeted fixes deliver better ROI than a complete redesign. A full rebuild makes sense when your site was built more than five years ago on an outdated platform, when your business has fundamentally changed direction, or when the core architecture prevents proper conversion paths. Use the Fix vs. Rebuild table above to match your situation to the right approach.

How long does it take to see results from website improvements?

Speed improvements show results almost immediately in bounce rate and engagement metrics. CTA and conversion path changes typically show impact within 2-4 weeks if you have steady traffic. Full redesigns take longer to settle, usually 2-3 months before you have reliable before-and-after data. Track your key metrics (bounce rate, time on site, conversion rate) before making changes so you have a clear baseline.

Do I need to hire a professional, or can I fix my website myself?

Most Tier 1 fixes (compressing images, adding a phone number to the header, replacing a PDF menu, testing on mobile) can be done by anyone comfortable with their website platform. Tier 2 and Tier 3 changes benefit from professional help, not because they're technically difficult but because a good designer will know which changes to prioritize for maximum business impact.