Your website should make money. Most don't. Discover the 5 warning signs that your website is a liability instead of an asset—and what to do about it. From traffic with no conversions to slow load times, learn how to identify and fix the problems costing you real revenue.
How to Tell If Your Website Is Costing You Money (5 Warning Signs)
Your Website Should Make Money. Most Don't.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: your website might be costing you more than it's worth.
You're paying for hosting. You're paying for maintenance. You're paying for updates. You're spending time managing it.
But what are you getting back?
If you can't answer that question quickly, your website is probably costing you money.
Let's talk about the five warning signs that your website is a liability instead of an asset—and what to do about it.
Warning Sign #1: You're Getting Traffic But No Leads
This is the most common problem.
Your website gets 500 visitors a month. That sounds good. But you're getting zero inquiries. Zero calls. Zero emails.
Traffic without conversions is worthless.
Why This Happens
Your website is attracting people, but it's not convincing them to take action. This usually means:
Your messaging is unclear (visitors don't understand what you do)
Your call-to-action is buried or missing
Your site doesn't build trust (no testimonials, credentials, or social proof)
The user experience is confusing (hard to find contact info, unclear next steps)
You're attracting the wrong audience (SEO is bringing in people who don't need your service)
How to Fix It
Add clear calls-to-action throughout your site. Make your value proposition obvious. Include testimonials and credentials. Make it easy for interested visitors to contact you.
If you're getting 500 visitors and converting 0%, even a 2% conversion rate would give you 10 leads a month.
Learn more about turning visitors into customers in Why Your Website is Your Best Salesperson (And How to Make It Work Harder).
Warning Sign #2: Your Site Is Slow
If your website takes more than 3 seconds to load, you're losing customers.
Here's the math: 40% of visitors abandon a site that takes longer than 3 seconds to load. If your site takes 8 seconds, you're losing 4 out of every 10 potential customers before they even see your content.
Why This Costs You Money
Lost traffic: People leave before your site loads
Lower Google rankings: Google penalizes slow sites
Lower conversions: People who do wait are frustrated and less likely to convert
Wasted ad spend: If you're running ads, you're paying for traffic that bounces immediately
How to Check
Use Google PageSpeed Insights. Plug in your website URL. Google rates performance on this scale:
90-100: Good
50-89: Needs improvement
0-49: Poor
If your score is below 90, you have room for improvement. If it's below 50, you have a serious speed problem.
How to Fix It
Common culprits:
Unoptimized images (compress them)
Too many plugins or scripts
Poor hosting
Outdated code
A slow site is costing you real money. Fix it.
Warning Sign #3: Your Site Doesn't Reflect Your Current Business
Your homepage talks about services you don't offer anymore. Your team photo is from 5 years ago. Your pricing is outdated.
If your website is lying to potential customers, they'll go somewhere else.
Why This Costs You Money
Visitors are confused about what you actually offer
They don't trust you (outdated info = unprofessional)
You're attracting the wrong customers (old messaging attracts old customer types)
You're losing credibility
How to Fix It
Audit your website. Does it accurately reflect your business today? Update:
Service descriptions
Pricing
Team information
Case studies and testimonials
Any outdated claims or promises
If you haven't updated your site in over a year, it's probably outdated. Why Maintenance Matters More Than You Think covers why keeping your site fresh is critical for trust and performance.
Warning Sign #4: You're Manually Doing Work Your Website Should Automate
Your website collects leads, but you're manually entering them into your CRM.
Customers book appointments, but you're manually confirming them via email.
Orders come in, but you're manually updating inventory.
Every manual task is costing you time and money.
Why This Costs You Money
You're spending hours on work that should be automated
Mistakes happen (manual data entry errors)
You're not scaling (you can't handle more customers without hiring more staff)
Your customers have a worse experience (slower responses, more friction)
How to Fix It
Your website should integrate with your tools:
CRM integration (leads go directly in)
Appointment scheduling (automatic confirmations)
E-commerce integration (inventory updates automatically)
Email automation (follow-ups happen without you)
If you're doing manual work that your website should handle, you need to fix your website or add integrations.
Warning Sign #5: You Don't Know If Your Website Is Working
You don't track metrics. You don't know how many people visit. You don't know where they come from. You don't know if they convert.
If you can't measure it, you can't improve it.
Why This Costs You Money
You don't know what's working and what's not
You can't optimize (you're flying blind)
You're probably wasting money on things that don't work
You can't make data-driven decisions
How to Fix It
Set up Google Analytics. Track:
How many people visit
Where they come from
What pages they visit
How long they stay
Whether they convert (contact, call, purchase)
Review these metrics monthly. If something isn't working, fix it.
The Real Cost of a Website That Doesn't Work
Let's do the math.
Say your website gets 1,000 visitors a month. Your conversion rate is 1% (which is below average). That's 10 leads.
If your average customer is worth $5,000, that's $50,000 in potential revenue from your website.
But if your conversion rate is 0.5% instead of 1%, you're only getting 5 leads. That's $25,000 in lost revenue.
A website that's half as effective is costing you $25,000 a month.
Over a year, that's $300,000.
And that's just from poor conversions. Add in the cost of a slow site (lost traffic), an outdated site (wrong customers), and manual work (wasted time), and the real cost is much higher.
How to Know If Your Website Is an Asset or a Liability
Ask yourself:
Am I getting leads from my website? (If no, it's costing you money)
Does my site load quickly? (If no, you're losing customers)
Does my site accurately reflect my business? (If no, you're attracting the wrong people)
Is my website automating work? (If no, you're wasting time)
Do I know if my website is working? (If no, you can't improve it)
If you answered no to 2 or more, your website is costing you money.
What a Website Should Actually Do
A good website:
Attracts the right customers
Converts visitors into leads
Loads fast
Reflects your current business
Automates repetitive work
Generates measurable results
If your website isn't doing these things, it's not an asset. It's a liability.
The Bottom Line
Your website should make money, not cost money.
If you're paying for hosting, maintenance, and updates but not getting results, something is broken.
The good news? Most of these problems are fixable. You don't necessarily need a complete rebuild. You need to audit what's not working and fix it.
Start with the five warning signs above. If your website has any of them, it's time to take action.
If you're not sure whether your website is working or costing you money, let's do a free audit and find out.