In today’s fast-paced digital world, your website is your most valuable marketing asset. Since 2019, trends like surging mobile usage, higher user expectations, and Google’s focus on user experience have raised the stakes for website quality. Many SMEs, startups, and even large corporations in Malaysia have fallen into common web design traps, leading to reduced conversions, high bounce rates, and reputational damage. Unfortunately, many SMEs, startups, and even established corporations in Kuala Lumpur or Klang Valley unintentionally commit costly web design mistakes, losing customers and credibility. Here are the worst mistakes—and how partnering with TREX House, your trusted web design and development agency, can help you avoid them.
1. Poor Mobile Optimization
With over 80% of Malaysians accessing the internet via mobile devices, having a mobile-friendly website is no longer optional – it’s a necessity - Interadsion
Websites that aren’t responsive (i.e. do not automatically adapt to different screen sizes) force mobile users to pinch, zoom, or scroll awkwardly. The result? Frustrated visitors who leave almost immediately. In Malaysia, where mobile internet usage has skyrocketed, failing to optimise for mobile “risks chasing away a large segment of customers who primarily use smartphones and tablets for browsing”. In other words, neglecting mobile responsiveness means losing out on more than half of your potential audience before they even get a chance to engage. Beyond user experience, Google’s search rankings also penalise non-mobile-friendly sites (under its mobile-first indexing and page experience updates), making mobile optimisation critical for SEO as well. Malaysian SMEs and startups that launched desktop-only sites in recent years often saw high bounce rates from mobile visitors and missed conversions, underscoring the high cost of poor mobile UX.
✅ Worries not, TREX House specialises in responsive web design, ensuring your website delivers a seamless user experience on all devices—smartphones, tablets, and desktops—helping you retain customers and boost conversions.
2. Slow Loading Times
Online consumers today are notoriously impatient – and this holds true in Malaysia’s fast-paced digital market. Slow-loading websites frustrate users and drive them away in seconds. A research by Google found that 53% of mobile users will leave a webpage if it takes longer than 3 seconds to load. Since 2019, page speed has become an even bigger factor – not only for user satisfaction but also for search rankings. Google’s Core Web Vitals (implemented in 2021) explicitly reward fast, stable websites. Slow sites therefore suffer a double penalty: high bounce rates (losing leads before they convert) and lower visibility on search engines. To avoid this, Malaysian businesses have been advised to optimise images and videos, minimise bulky plugins, and leverage content delivery networks – all to ensure their pages load snappy on both broadband and mobile data connections. The bottom line: a fast website keeps users engaged, whereas a slow site bleeds traffic (and credibility) with every extra second.
🚀 Good news! TREX House enhances your website’s speed by optimising images, streamlining code, and utilising fast, reliable hosting solutions. Our commitment is ensuring your site loads in under 2 seconds, improving user satisfaction and your Google rankings.
3. Weak or Unclear Calls-to-Action (CTAs)
A call-to-action (CTA) is typically a button or link that urges users to do something – “Sign Up Now”, “Contact Us”, “Shop Deals”, etc. CTAs are the signposts that guide visitors toward conversion. Having unclear, vague, or hidden CTAs is a serious design mistake that many businesses overlook. If a page’s CTAs are not obvious and compelling, users won’t know how to proceed – and you’ll lose potential sales or leads. For instance, simply saying “Learn more” or burying the action link in text can confuse visitors, who “will likely not click on any link they aren’t sure of,” leading to lost conversions (missing or poorly labeled CTAs = missed opportunities: users won’t take an action).
Imagine a startup’s landing page where after reading the product info, the visitor sees no obvious “Get Started” or “Request Demo” button – many will simply leave rather than hunt around. Every page should have a prominent, specific CTA (or multiple, if appropriate) that tells the user exactly what to do next. Whether it’s signing up for a newsletter, making a purchase, or contacting sales, the CTA should stand out in the layout (using color, size, placement) and use action-oriented text.
Since 2019, businesses have learned that tweaking CTA design and wording can significantly boost conversion rates. Conversely, failing to fix weak CTAs means a website might get traffic but struggle to convert interested visitors into actual customers – a costly loss for any business.
☎️ TREX House designs strategic CTAs, clearly guiding your visitors toward actions—whether signing up, making a purchase, or requesting information—dramatically increasing your conversion rates.
4. Confusing Navigation and Cluttered Layouts
A confusing website layout – cluttered pages, chaotic menus, or poorly organised information – is another major culprit behind high bounce rates. If visitors can’t quickly find what they’re looking for, they’ll give up and exit. Effective web design, especially for corporate or SME websites, requires a clear content hierarchy and intuitive navigation menus. When navigation is unintuitive or pages are overly busy, users feel lost.
walking into a store where nothing is labeled and the aisles are a mess - Parmender Rathi
The years since 2019 have seen an increasing appreciation for minimalist, user-centric design in Southeast Asia. Clean, well-structured pages with plenty of white space tend to perform better. In practice, Malaysian businesses have improved engagement by simplifying their layouts – highlighting key information and using visual hierarchy (headlines, subheadings, bullet points) to guide the eye. Logical navigation (for example, a clear top menu bar or a “sticky” menu that stays visible as you scroll) is vital so that users always know how to get to other sections. he goal is that any visitor – whether on a landing page or the company homepage – can intuitively figure out where to click next. By contrast, websites that ignore basic UX principles of layout and navigation “quickly drive visitors away” and fail to retain them for conversion.
🧭 TREX House simplifies your website’s navigation and layout, making it intuitive and user-friendly. By clearly structuring your content and menus, we ensure your customers effortlessly find exactly what they need, enhancing user satisfaction and retention.
5. Outdated Visual Design
Design trends and user expectations evolve rapidly. A website that looks stuck in the early 2010s or has an inconsistent brand presentation can severely hurt a company’s credibility. Outdated visuals might include things like old-fashioned layouts, garish color schemes from a bygone era, low-resolution images, or design elements that simply haven’t kept pace with modern aesthetics. Users often judge a business by its website’s look and feel – if it seems archaic or poorly designed, they may assume the products or services are similarly out of touch.
Websites that look like they haven’t been updated in years can give the impression that the company is not keeping up with the times or is unwilling to invest in its online presence. - WDD Malaysia
This impression can erode trust; new visitors might question the professionalism or reliability of the business. One common mistake is using generic templates or stock visuals without customization; this can make a site look bland and forgettable. In a crowded market, authenticity and a distinct design help a business stand out. For instance, simply slapping together a site with default templates might save time, but it can result in a “lacklustre online presence” that doesn’t reflect your brand’s personality. Users may just as easily browse to a competitor’s more polished site.
Mosst of the Malaysian companies have begun to invest more in refreshing their web visuals – incorporating local cultural elements, high-quality images, and cleaner layouts – to appear professional and up-to-date. The payoff is significant: a modern, visually appealing website can instantly convey credibility and encourage visitors to stay longer. Conversely, an outdated or messy design often correlates with higher bounce rates and a negative first impression that’s hard to undo. Keep it fresh – your website should signal that your business is active, relevant, and attentive to quality.
🎨 TREX House brings your brand’s identity to life through modern, visually appealing designs tailored specifically to your industry. With contemporary aesthetics and custom branding, your business stands out professionally, attracting and retaining customers.
6. Neglecting Website Accessibility
Website accessibility refers to designing and developing sites so that people of all abilities and disabilities can use them. This includes users who are visually impaired, hearing impaired, or have other challenges. In recent years there’s been a growing awareness worldwide that accessible design is not just ethical but also good for business – it widens your potential audience and can improve overall user experience. Unfortunately, many Malaysian businesses (and websites globally) still overlook accessibility basics. Examples of accessibility mistakes include missing alt text on images (so screen readers can’t describe images to blind users), poor color contrast (making text hard to read, especially for color-blind users), lack of keyboard navigation support, or video content without captions.
Since 2019, some Malaysian businesses have started adding features like screen-reader compatibility and accessible PDFs, but many sites remain behind. It’s important to recognize that accessibility overlaps with mobile-friendly and SEO-friendly design too. For example, adding alt text not only helps visually impaired users but also improves your SEO (search engines index that text). In summary, neglecting accessibility is a design mistake that not only shrinks your audience and raises bounce rates, but also could damage your brand’s reputation in an age where inclusion is highly valued.
🧑💻 Accessibility matters—ignoring it excludes potential customers and harms your brand’s image. TREX House designs accessible websites following international standards (WCAG), making your content available to everyone, including users with disabilities. We help you reach a broader audience, enhancing your reputation as an inclusive business.
7. SEO-Unfriendly Website Design
Last but not least, and the most IMPORTANT one, Search engine optimization (SEO). SEO isn’t just about keywords and content – your website’s design and structure play a big role in how easily search engines can find and rank you. Since 2019, Google and other search engines have placed even greater emphasis on user experience signals (like mobile-friendliness and speed, as discussed) as well as on clear site architecture. Common SEO-related web design mistakes include: not using proper heading tags or site structure, large image files that slow the site (hurting both UX and SEO), lack of meta descriptions or title tags for pages, and not implementing SSL encryption (which Chrome and other browsers now flag as “Not Secure,” potentially scaring away users and slightly affecting rankings).
neglecting to incorporate local SEO (geo-specific keywords, listings in local directories) can make it challenging for potential customers to find your business online - FlowCreates
Essentially, if your design or content makes it hard for Google to understand who you are and whom you serve, you’ll be virtually invisible in search results. Another design-related issue is when sites rely heavily on text within images or use Flash/old tech – search engines can’t easily crawl those, meaning important information might be missed. Poor navigation (as mentioned earlier) can also hurt SEO because if your site structure is confusing, search engine bots might not index all your pages effectively. Additionally, no indexing some content by mistake (via your site’s code or robots.txt) or infinite scroll without proper load markers can cause SEO problems.
To avoid SEO-related design flaws, businesses should collaborate between designers and SEO specialists during development. Ensure that design choices (like fancy scripts or media) don’t come at the cost of crawlability and speed. Optimize images with alt tags (helping both accessibility and SEO), use clean URLs and proper headings, and implement schema or other relevant markup when possible. Many Malaysian SMEs that launched new sites without considering SEO found themselves with beautiful websites that unfortunately had little traffic. The lesson is that form and function must go hand-in-hand: a well-designed site should also be search-friendly. By avoiding design choices that impede SEO, you increase your chances of being discovered by customers in the first place – which is step one to achieving any conversions at all.
🔎 A beautifully designed website is ineffective if customers can't find it. TREX House incorporates SEO best practices into every website we build, from optimised content and structured data to secure SSL certification. By prioritising SEO from the start, we help your business rank higher on Google, bringing more traffic and potential customers to your site.
Conclusion
Since 2019, the digital landscape in Malaysia and the wider Southeast Asian region has grown more competitive and more user-centric. Businesses can no longer afford to treat their website as an afterthought or a one-time project. The web design mistakes outlined above – poor mobile optimization, slow loading speeds, unclear CTAs, confusing layouts, outdated visuals, lack of accessibility, and SEO-unfriendly design – have repeatedly proven damaging to brands and bottom lines. They lead to high bounce rates (visitors leaving immediately), low conversion rates (fewer sales or inquiries), and a loss of trust even among those who do stick around. By recognizing these pitfalls, business owners and digital marketers can audit their own sites and make necessary improvements. Key remedies include adopting a mobile-first approach, optimizing every asset for speed, making user journeys clear with strong CTAs and navigation, keeping the design fresh and consistent with your branding, adhering to accessibility best practices, and baking SEO considerations into the site’s DNA from the start. The impact of doing so is immediate and measurable: lower bounce rates, longer time-on-site, better search rankings, and higher conversion rates – all factors that contribute to online growth.
In today’s digital-first era, your website often forms the very first impression of your business. Avoiding these common design mistakes and following modern best practices will ensure that this first impression is positive – building credibility, guiding users to take action, and ultimately supporting your business goals. In short: invest in good web design (and continuous improvements), and it will pay dividends in user satisfaction and business performance. On the other hand, ignore these lessons, and the cost will be felt in lost customers and lost opportunities online. Stay updated, stay user-focused, and your website can remain an asset rather than a liability in the years ahead.
Why Choose TREX House?
TREX House specialises in helping SMEs, startups, and corporations in Kuala Lumpur and Klang Valley build websites that convert visitors into loyal customers. Our expert team tackles every aspect of web design and development, from UX optimisation to SEO integration.
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