Building your own business website has never been easier.
Between WordPress, Wix, Squarespace, Shopify, Canva, AI and an ever-growing pile of templates, you can get something online without paying thousands of dollars for a professionally designed website.
And for a small business starting out, sometimes DIY is exactly the right decision (not that I’d like to admit it haha).
Your money might be better spent on equipment, stock, signage, insurance, a decent coffee machine to survive your first year in business… whatever keeps the doors open.
But there’s a difference between having a website and having a website that actually works for your business (does the MAHI)!
And that’s where I see DIY websites come unstuck.
Not necessarily because they look terrible.
In fact, some look really good…
The problems are often the little things you wouldn’t think about unless you’ve spent years building websites and watching how people actually use them.
So, while I’ve been working on a much bigger resource specifically for Kiwi small businesses building their own websites (thanks Maternity Leave), I thought I’d share a few of the mistakes I see all the time.
And no… I’m not going to tell you that the solution to everything is “hire a web designer“.
That would make this a very short blog post… and well… I’m all for DIY when it’s done well!
Mistake #1: You’re building the website for yourself
This is probably one of the biggest.
You choose the colours you love.
The photographs you like.
The clever headline that makes perfect sense to you.
You remove something because you think it makes the page look cluttered.
But you’re not the person the website needs to convince…
Your customer is!
A beautiful minimalist homepage might look fantastic, but if someone lands on it and can’t quickly work out what you do, where you do it or what they’re supposed to click next, that beautiful design isn’t helping much.
The goal isn’t to choose between pretty and functional.
A great website can absolutely be both!!
The trick is learning to make design decisions through your customer’s eyes rather than your own.
Mistake #2: You’re saying too much… all at once
Having plenty of useful information on your website isn’t necessarily a problem.
Making visitors dig through enormous paragraphs to find it is.
People tend to scan websites before they read them… (no doubt you just scanned this bold sentence).
They’re looking for answers:
Do these people offer what I need?
Are they in my area?
Can I trust them?
How much does it cost?
What do I do next?
Good website content creates layers. Your headings and key messages tell the basic story quickly, while more detailed information is there for the people who actually want it.
So before deleting half your website copy, try looking at the hierarchy first (come in UX designer…).
Open your homepage on your phone and scroll without reading any paragraphs.
Can you understand what the business does from the headings, images, highlighted information and buttons alone?
Interesting, isn’t it?
Mistake #3: Your website is full of generic stock (or AI) photos
You know the ones.
The suspiciously immaculate builder in a spotless hard hat… that somehow looks a little like Henry Cavill… not that I blame AI for that… it knows what we like… but it’s easy to spot.
The customer service woman laughing enthusiastically into her headset. (crying might be more realistic)
The business team having the most enjoyable meeting anyone has apparently ever attended. (someone must of told a REALLY good joke…)
Stock photography has its place.
But for a small business, real imagery is incredibly powerful.
Your actual team.
Your van.
Your workshop.
Your shop.
Your projects.
Your products.
Your hands doing the work.
It doesn’t just show people what you do, it gives them evidence that there’s a genuine business and people behind the website.
That’s particularly valuable here in NZ, where many small businesses operate within relatively tight-knit communities.
A real photograph can quietly tell someone:
We’re actually here. We work around here. These are our people. This is our work.
That’s difficult for a stock photograph to compete with.
Mistake #4: You’re hiding every hint of your pricing
Before you come for me:
No, I don’t think every business needs exact prices plastered across its website.
Some services are far too customised for that – including my own!
But your customers usually need some context.
Are we talking $200?
$2,000?
$20,000?
Instead of:
Contact us for pricing
you might be able to say:
Packages from $995
or:
Most projects range between $3,000–$6,000 depending on scope.
Or even explain the factors that determine the final quote.
Your customer isn’t necessarily asking for an exact figure.
They’re often just trying to establish:
“Is this realistically within my budget?”
Don’t make someone start a sales conversation just to find out whether they can afford the conversation.
Mistake #5: You’re telling me you’re great… but you’re not proving it.
Your website says:
Quality workmanship.
Exceptional service.
Trusted professionals.
Beautiful results.
Lovely.
But so does everyone else’s.
Where are the reviews?
Where are the finished projects?
Where are the before and afters?
Where are the customer stories?
Where are the actual results?
One of the simplest questions you can ask while reviewing your website is:
“Can I prove this?”
If you say you provide fantastic communication, show me a customer review mentioning your communication.
If you say you’ve got years of experience, tell me how many.
If you say you create beautiful renovations, show me one.
Don’t just tell potential customers you’re good.
Give them a reason to believe you.
And those are only a few of them…
This is exactly why I’ve been working on something much bigger behind the scenes at Mahi Design Learn.
I’m creating a new resource specifically for Small Kiwi Businesses who have chosen to DIY their website – whether that’s because you’re starting out, keeping costs down, enjoy doing things yourself or simply aren’t ready to invest in a professionally built site yet – I’m not judging… I want to help.
Rather than another generic checklist telling you to “make sure your website is mobile friendly”, we’re going considerably deeper…
We’re looking at 30+ mistakes I regularly see on business websites from a web designer/developer’s point of view after years of working with a range of different businesses at different stages, but explained without all the web/UX design jargon.
I’ll show you why these things matter, what your customer may be experiencing, examples of what doesn’t work and, most importantly, practical alternatives you can actually implement yourself.
We’re covering everything from design, content and photography to trust, pricing, SEO, mobile usability and turning visitors into actual enquiries or customers.
But I don’t want it to be another ebook you download, skim once and forget about.
So I’m also building interactive elements throughout the resource to help you look at your own website differently (especially after our free resource + checklist was so well used).
One of those is a branching Website Focus Quiz – shout out to my generation of Total Girl Magazine fans!
Rather than giving you some arbitrary score out of 100, it’ll take you through a series of simple questions to uncover what you’ve naturally prioritised while building your website.
Maybe you’ve created something absolutely beautiful… but haven’t thought much about whether Google can find it.
Maybe your website is an incredible showcase of everything you’ve done… but there’s no obvious path from “that looks great” to “I want to work with you.”
Maybe you’ve focused heavily on SEO and getting traffic… but haven’t given those visitors enough reason to trust you once they arrive.
Or maybe you’re doing a pretty good job across the board and just need to know what to improve next.
Your result will explain what you’re already doing well, where your potential blind spots are and which areas of the resource are most relevant to your website.
Because that’s what I want this series to do.
Not just point at things and say:
“You’re doing this wrong.”
But explain:
Here’s why it matters. Here’s what your customer sees. And here’s what you can do instead.
DIY doesn’t have to mean “that’ll do.”
There’s absolutely a place for professional web design – Hello!
But there’s also a huge number of Kiwi business owners who simply aren’t at that stage yet.
And I’d much rather help you build a better DIY website than tell you that you shouldn’t be building one at all.
Your website doesn’t need every fancy feature.
It doesn’t need to look like it cost $20,000.
It doesn’t need to win design awards.
But it should make it easy for the right person to land on it and think:
“Yep. This is what I was looking for.”
And then know exactly what to do next.
The full DIY Website Mistakes resource is coming soon through Mahi Design Learn and the five mistakes above are only the beginning… I’m currently writing in-depth about Mistake #6 but on page 48… so I may need to condense that a bit… wish me luck!
