The Dev World – Sergio Lema

Back in the early 2000s, the first website I ever built was… ambitious, to say the least. Pop-up ads, banner ads, sidebar ads… My logic was simple: more ads, more money. What I didn’t realize at the time was that all this clutter was driving users away faster than they could click the “close tab” button. The conversion rate? A joke. After analyzing a bit the metrics, I’ve decided to make a move: fewer distractions, clearer messaging, and a laser focus on what users actually needed. Unsurprisingly, results followed.

That lesson stuck with me, and today, I see a similar pattern with company websites: bloated, confusing, and ultimately holding the business back. If your site isn’t performing well, it’s likely your business isn’t either. Let’s look at three critical areas that might be slowing you down, and how to fix them.

1. The website don’t have analytics

Before you can improve anything, you need to know what’s happening on your website. Don’t guess, write the numbers down.

If you can’t answer all those question, you don’t know how your users behave:

• Where are users coming from?
• How long are they staying?
• What pages are they dropping off on?
• Are they even getting to your key conversion points?

If you’re not tracking this stuff, you’re making decisions in the dark. The first thing I do on any project is plug in an analytics tool: the basic of Google Analytics works well. From there, we get clarity. Then we take action.

2. The website is slow

Here’s the brutal truth: people hate waiting. If your site takes more than half a second to load, many users will bounce before they even see your beautifully crafted homepage. That’s not just a lost lead, it’s a bad impression, and bad impressions travel fast.

Speed killers often include:

• Too much JavaScript
• Unoptimized images
• Cheap hosting
• Over-designed layouts with too many effects

If you’re not willing to wait for your own site to load on mobile, your users definitely aren’t either. Prioritize performance, it pays off.

3. The website doesn’t have a clean design

You could have the best product in the world, but if your site looks like it hasn’t been updated since 2010, people will assume the same about your business.

Design matters. A lot.

• Do your brand colors feel modern and aligned?
• Is the typography clean and readable?
• Is your message obvious in the first few seconds?

This isn’t about making things pretty just for the sake of it. It’s about making sure the look and feel reflects the value and professionalism of your brand. Work with a designer. Test different layouts. Watch how users interact. Iterate.

First impressions matter

When someone hears about your company, your website is their first stop. Not your pitch deck, not your testimonials, not your office decor. It’s the site. So make sure it tells the right story, quickly, clearly, and confidently.

Because if your website looks slow, confusing, or outdated, people will assume your company is too.