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Below, the Oh Dear team shares an article highlighting common website problems that can quietly impact your sales.

You spend hours perfecting your craft. Photographing products in natural light. Writing descriptions that capture what makes your work special. But while you’re focused on creating, your website might be quietly turning customers away.

The frustrating part? These problems rarely announce themselves. You won’t get an error message or a notification. You’ll just notice that sales feel slower than they should be, and you won’t know why.

Here are five website issues that could be costing you money right now.

1. Broken Product Links

Someone finds your gorgeous ceramic mug on Pinterest. They click through, excited to buy. And they land on a page that says “Product not found.”

This happens more often than you’d think. You reorganize your shop, discontinue a product, or switch platforms. But those old links are still floating around on Pinterest boards, blog features, and Google search results. Every broken link is a customer who wanted to give you money and couldn’t.

2. Expired SSL Certificates

You know that little padlock icon in your browser’s address bar? That means your site has a valid SSL certificate, and your customers’ information is protected during checkout.

When that certificate expires, browsers show scary warnings. We’re talking big red screens with messages like “Your connection is not private.” Most shoppers will close the tab immediately. They’ll just leave and buy from someone else.

3. Slow Page Load Times

Mobile shoppers are impatient. Studies show that if your page takes more than three seconds to load, you’re losing a significant chunk of visitors before they even see your products.

For craft businesses, the culprit is usually images. Those beautiful high-resolution product photos that look stunning on your computer? On a phone with a spotty cell connection, they can take forever to load. And “forever” in internet time is about four seconds.

4. Contact Forms That Don’t Work

Here’s a nightmare scenario: A boutique owner wants to place a wholesale order. A blogger wants to feature your work. A customer has a question that would lead to a sale. They fill out your contact form, hit send, and… nothing happens.

Maybe the form broke during a website update. Maybe the confirmation emails are going to spam. Maybe there’s a typo in the email address it sends to. Whatever the reason, you’re missing opportunities you don’t even know exist.

5. Downtime During Peak Hours

Your website goes down on a random Tuesday at 2 AM? That’s not a big deal. Your website goes down during a holiday sale or right after you post to Instagram? That’s real money walking out the door.

The problem is that you’re usually the last person to find out. Your customers aren’t going to email you to report the issue. They’ll just assume your shop isn’t very reliable and move on.

What Can You Do About It?

The first step is simply knowing these problems exist. Check your own site regularly. Click through old links. Fill out your own contact form and make sure you receive it. Ask a friend with a slow phone to load your homepage and time it.

For ongoing peace of mind, website monitoring tools can watch your site around the clock and alert you the moment something goes wrong. Think of it like having a friend who checks on your shop every few minutes and texts you if anything looks off.

Your craft deserves a website that works as hard as you do. Don’t let silent problems undermine all that effort.

Mattias Geniar

Developer, Oh Dear