GoKawiilMarketing veteran urges small businesses to prioritize website conversion over design
A longtime small-business marketing consultant argues that many companies build attractive websites that fail to turn visitors into customers. He recommends prioritizing clear usability, straightforward instructions and essential information over stylish but unclear design, and suggests using digital retargeting ads and direct-mail postcards to re-engage visitors who leave without converting.
GoKawiil's interpretation of the reporting above, not reported fact.
Small businesses often spend heavily on web design without measuring whether the site drives leads, wasting marketing budget on aesthetics rather than results. Combining online retargeting with physical mail follow-up offers a low-cost way to recapture visitors who don't convert on their first visit, potentially boosting return on marketing spend.
- Websites should prioritize clarity and usability over creative or decorative design
- Digital retargeting can re-engage anonymous visitors after they leave a site
- Direct mail retargeting adds a physical touchpoint by mailing postcards to past visitors
Don't Make Me Think, Revisited by Steve Krug — This is the classic guide to web usability, which is exactly the article's point: clarity and ease of use beat award-winning design when you want visitors to act. Krug walks through practical fixes for navigation, page hierarchy and calls to action, plus DIY usability testing you can run yourself. A short, readable book you can apply to your site the same week.
See Don't Make Me Think, Revisited by Steve Krug on Amazon → Affiliate link — we may earn a commission on purchases, at no extra cost to you. Product picked by AI based on this article; it is not a tested recommendation.Source: entrepreneur.com — Joy Gendusa, 2026-09-10
Published there as: “Pretty Doesn’t Pay. Here’s How to Build a Website That Actually Converts.”
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