Website Mistakes Interior Designers Should Avoid

Your website is your digital home - except unlike your actual home, you can’t shove the mess into a laundry basket before guests arrive. Visitors see everything the second they walk through the virtual door.

And potential clients? They’re harsh. They make yes/no decisions in under seven seconds. They skim. They judge. They are absolutely willing to bounce if things don’t feel right.

But here’s the good news: most of the mistakes interior designers make on their websites are totally fixable and don't involve “learn to code,” “hire a developer,” or “become a secret SEO genius.” Just simple tweaks that make your digital home feel polished, professional, and ready for clients to walk in.

Let’s get into the big ones — and how to fix them.

1. Treating Your Website Like a Pretty Brochure, Not a Business Tool

Designers are visual creatures. You want pretty. You want polished. You want the typefaces to feel like cashmere.

And while stunning visuals matter (obviously), your website isn’t just a mood board - it’s a sales tool. It needs to guide someone to where you want them to go.

The mistake: Designers often focus on the visuals and forget the functional flow. It ends up like a gorgeous home with no storage - looks great, doesn’t live well.

What to do instead: Think like a designer and a strategist. Ask yourself:

• What is the journey you want someone to take?

• Where do they need to look first?

• What decision do they need to make on each page?

• What questions do they have that you can answer upfront?

The real shift here is clarity. Not: “Look at my work.” But: “Here’s how I help people like you.”

2. Forgetting That Your Homepage Needs to Answer 5 Questions in 3-7 Seconds

Time is short and attentions spans shorter!

If your homepage doesn’t instantly communicate these five things, chances are they will be off to look for one that does:

1. What you do

2. Who you do it for

3. Where you work

4. The transformation you offer

5. What they should do next

The mistake: Designers bury this info under slideshows, massive hero images, or vague taglines.

What to do instead: Your above-the-fold section (that part of your website they see before they even scroll) is your golden real estate. Treat it like your shopfront window. Make it effortless for someone to understand exactly who you are.

Consider this format:

Headline: Clear benefit-driven statement

Sub-headline: What you do + who you help

Location: Always include it

CTA: A strong next step (“Start Here,” “Book a Consult,” or “Explore Services”)

One stunning image: Not eight sliding around like a carnival ride

3. Making People Work Too Hard to Contact You

The number of interior designers who hide their contact button like it’s a dirty secret? Wild.

The mistake: Burying your enquiry form, having inconsistent CTAs, or requiring ten clicks to get in touch.

This makes potential clients bounce before they ever meet you.

What to do instead:

• Put “Contact” in your main menu - on desktop AND mobile

• Use CTAs consistently across all pages

• Keep your form short: name, email, suburb, brief description

• Add a simple automated confirmation email so clients know you received it

4. Not Actually Telling People How Your Process Works

Your clients fear two things:

• Spending a lot of money

• Messing it up through bad decisions

If they don’t understand your process, they’ll hesitate.

The mistake: Skipping over your workflow entirely or describing it in one vague sentence (“We guide you from concept to completion.” Gorgeous, but… nope.)

What to do instead: Spell out your process in warm, reassuring language. Designers often underestimate how powerful this is. A clear process reduces fear - and fear is what stops enquiries.

Think:

Step 1: Discovery / Planning

Step 2: Concept

Step 3: Design

Step 4: Documentation

Step 5: Build / Procurement

Step 5: Delivery

5. Forgetting About SEO — Or Thinking It’s Too Hard

Here’s the truth: SEO basics are mostly about clarity and consistency, not wizardry.

The mistake: Designers assume SEO = terrifying tech mountain, so they ignore it entirely.

But ignoring SEO is like designing a gorgeous home with no driveway. No one knows how to get there.

What to do instead (simple and doable):

• Pick 5–7 keywords based on your services + location

• Repeat them naturally throughout your copy

• Add them to your page titles and headings

• Use them in your image descriptions

• Create pages that target different services

• Don’t write for Google - write for humans... because Google is increasingly behaving like a human.

  
  

6. Not Structuring Your Copy for AI Search

This is the sneaky new one. AI search (ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, google AI Overview, etc.) is changing the rules. It’s no longer about stuffing keywords. It’s about meaning, clarity, relationships between concepts, and answering questions directly.

The mistake: Designers write beautiful-but-floaty copy with no structure for AI to “grab onto.”

What to do instead:

• Answer common client questions clearly

• Use strong, descriptive headings

• Write in complete ideas, not fragments

• Make your services pages thorough, not thin

• Use location markers naturally

• Explain “why,” not just “what”

AI search reward depth and clarity. Don’t write like a brochure. Write like a helpful human.

7. Not Keeping Things Updated

Old photos. Outdated services. A blog that stopped in 2021. It makes potential clients (and Google!) think you’ve gone into hiding.

The mistake: Letting your website gather dust.

What to do instead:

• Swap out old projects

• Update service descriptions

• Refresh your bio

• Add new testimonials

• Do one small maintenance sweep per quarter

Google prioritise up to date content. A stale website is less likely to be recommended.

The Big Takeaway?

Your Website Should Work For You, Not Against You

You don’t need coding skills. You don’t need a marketing degree. You don’t need to spend your precious design energy wrestling with tech.

You just need clarity, consistency, and a website that speaks directly to the clients you want.

Small fixes = big results. Go get them!