Business

BREAKING: 7 Popular Websites With Bad Design

Published

4 years ago

January 19, 2022

Since the 1990s, the time machine of the Internet has already come a long way. Web designing has been a phenomenon. It has since then become an indispensable element for entrepreneurs to bring their business to the top. And at present, no business organization can thrive and prosper without representing its brand on the web. That means the necessity of a website is evident. If you are a business owner, of course, you should always consider hiring a web design company which can help you in designing and creating a converting biz website.

In this blog post, you will know the popular websites with bad design. Why should you know them? The main answer lies in the fact that you have to avoid having a poorly designed site. This is not good for your business operation. If you want to be successful when it comes to your company and brand, you need to make sure that your site is able to perform well. That is why knowing those companies with bad websites is significant.

Importance of website design

Before divulging the 7 popular companies with bad website design, it is deemed appropriate to discuss the importance of website design. Is website design really important as far as business growth and success is concerned? The answer is yes. Did you know that 66% among website users usually patronize products or services being sold by a beautiful website? This is a fact, not a hoax. That said, it is really significant to ensure that your site is designed in an enticing and beautiful way. Otherwise, it can never catch the attention of the target customers.

A beautifully designed biz site usually pays off after a period of time. Let’s say, after 6 months, your business can have the return on investment (ROI). Making sure that your website is pretty looking is one of the basic strategies you must not take for granted. Once your site looks great, it can entice and engage more potential customers. Remember that in business, it is necessary to attract lots of people. This is one of the huge factors why you have to understand the essence of website design.

Keep in mind that a business website usually sets the first impression. Whatever people will see will actually linger on their mind. So, to get the nod or positive impression, it is advised that you will hire a credible website design agency and let them work for you on the aspect of creating an awesome and outstanding business website. It is through this way where you can elevate the chance of your business to go to the next level. Take note that most web users will judge a website within 5 to 10 seconds. Hence, it is vital that your site is pretty and nice.

A greatly designed website is also important for ranking purposes. Why so? The different algorithms of the search engines nowadays are filtering websites based on aesthetic value. The point is it is suggested by digital marketing experts that every business website can have enticing and luring visual content. At the same time, the content structure and arrangement must be in accordance with what the potential customers are looking for. In other words, a pretty appearing website is vital for search engine optimization (SEO), one of the fundamental strategies to boost website ranking.

Popular websites with bad design

The discussion about the importance of web design was already given in the above-mentioned context. Let us now go to the bottom line of this article. You have to know the known companies with bad web design to enlighten your mind. Also explained below are the reasons why those companies have a bad website. Through this way, you will be enlightened and you will surely know how to make your site appealing and enticing to the audience.

1. ZARA

First on the list is ZARA. Why is this company having bad web design? If you look at the design of this company’s website, you will see that the navigation is unconventional. There is a sense of difficulty for the users of this company’s site when it comes to navigating the listed products. Shopping online must come handy and easy. However, this website is not friendly and responsive to the needs of the customers. If you look at the company’s homepage, you can see that the textual content is not friendly. The texts are so small. Remember that for a business website to become great, the visuals should be responsive to the needs of the users.

Moreover, the navigation menu is also not friendly to the users of the site. Giving the users the luxury of comfort and convenience is important for success. However, this is not evident in this company’s website. Thus, the customers are left alone, having an unclear thought on what they should do next. Plus, the fact that the mobile version of this company’s website is not that great. In short, the company’s site is not mobile-friendly. If you want to help your company attain success through online marketing, make sure that your site’s mobile version is pretty great.

2. Arngren

This is second on this article’s list of companies with bad web design. Why is the website of Arngren included in this list? Try to check the company’s site which link was already given in the preceding sentence. How are you going to assess and evaluate the site? You can see the clutter and mess. The content structure and overall design are not really good for the naked eye. A business website must have proper structuring when it comes to its content. The information to be given for the users to utilize must be arranged and designed properly.

There are no empty spaces on the main homepage. Take note that one of the most important features of a great website is the orderliness of the homepage. This is a cornerstone page. That said, a particular website has to attract the users based on the content and overall design to be found on this page. When this page is messy and cluttering, there is a great tendency that the interest of the users in the business will be lost. Of course, if you are the concerned business owner, you do not want this to happen, do you? So, do not let your website be an eyesore to the users.

3. Pacific Northwest X-Ray Inc.

This is another company whose website is not that great. The design of the site needs improvement and enhancement. Pacific Northwest X-Ray Inc.’s website is so messy like the first two stated above. The URL is a shortened one, which is good; but the design itself is not that friendly (which is supposedly required). The users will have a headache when seeing the homepage’s content structure. The theme of the overall design by the way is bland and outdated. Nobody will be interested to search for the products to be found in this site because of its outdated and unexciting website theme.

To add more facts, the navigation menu of this company’s site is unresponsive to the need of the users for a great navigation menu. It is difficult to find out what to do next based on the site’s visible homepage. Why so? The texts are unfriendly, and, at the same time, the textual content is really hard to understand. After the first glance, nobody will keep his or her interest in this website. That said, it can be surmised that this company’s website is plainly a disaster. It has to be enhanced for the company to reap great results thereafter.

4. Wayfair

This is the fourth website which does have a great design. Wayfair’s website is a search engine for people who are looking for great home items. Unlike Amazon and eBay, this company is focusing just on home products in the categories of kitchen, drawers, lighting, appliances, rugs, bedding and bath, among others. They also have outdoor items such as patio furniture, outdoor decor, garden products, among other outdoor products.

The problem with this company’s site is that its homepage is not friendly to the eyes of the users. The designer of this website is trying to use almost all spaces in every web page. In short, there is a lack of visual hierarchy. To visualize your offers effectively, you have to arrange it according to the value and degree of importance of the content. This is quite important in order to bring out more intense features which will attract the users. The different website elements are not arranged properly. This is the main reason why people will lose their interest in this company’s website.

Instead of attracting the users to do the necessary action like clicking on the “Purchase Button” in a particular listing, they will have the tendency of leaving the site. They will instead look for a new site that has a great looking design. The visual elements are not arranged pretty well, plus the fact that the visuals are not attractive based on the chosen colors and icons. This is the most important strategy which you should not take for granted. For your site to become catchy and engaging, you have to prioritize visual hierarchy.

5. Lings Car

The fifth on the list – Lings Car. Click on the website and you will find out that it has a messy website homepage. This is a car leasing company that offers quality and affordable cars and other fun stuff. However, there is a problem as you look at the company’s site. Instead of expecting that the site is created in a beautiful and pretty way, you can see a site that does not have proper arrangement. A website should supposedly act as a communication platform between the users and the business website itself. You cannot find this aspect in this company’s site.

The clear factors why this site has to be enhanced are: (1) It does not have any grid; (2) It does not have a proper navigational menu; (3) The used colors are not friendly and proper; and (4) The used images are not friendly at all. Remember that the visuals of every business website must be looking great. Otherwise, the company itself will lose the full potential of its business to attract and lure more potential customers. The areas which must be improved in this company’s website are the navigational buttons, the proper use of attractive images and texts, as well as color combination.

6. Cosmoplanes

This is the 6th in this blog article. Cosmoplanes is a social media and marketplace digital platform. According to some website experts, this website is not designed by a professional web designer. Why so? If you look at it, there is nothing on the website which you can find professional and good-looking. There is no proper distancing and the empty spaces (whitespaces) are not properly utilized. Remember that you should use negative spaces for the purpose of providing ease and comfort to all website users. In the case of this website, the said spaces are improperly used.

Try to imagine that the company’s logo almost eats up the whole screen. This is not great at all. It needs to be improved and enhanced. Furthermore, the menu itself is not designed in a way that it can attract the users. As such, the overall design is poor. If you are a business person who wants to earn more money out of your website, you should avoid having a design like the design of this company’s site. It will, in any possible way, not bring your business to the top.

7. Madewell

This is the last popular website with bad design that is going to be explained concisely in this blog post. Madewell has an unclear mobile navigation. This is the main factor why this company’s website is considered poor and unfriendly. It is quite challenging to create an attractive website, Considering the users of mobile devices is a rule of thumb. It simply means when a website is not friendly to mobile users, it will lead to the decrease in the number of people who may come and visit such a website. This is what happened to this company’s site.

The main site’s interface must be decluttered more particularly for those people who are using smartphones and any other smart devices. All information that every user might need should be evident, most especially on the homepage. Why? Because this is the most important internal page to attract the target users (potential customers). So, do not let your website lack the key features which will play a crucial role in terms of customer engagement and boosting of brand identity level.

Wrapping up: Create a greatly designed website!

If you are a business owner who wants to bring your company and brand to the top, avoid the mistakes being committed by the owners and designers of the mentioned websites above. Make sure that your website will have power and authority to attract and influence potential leads (users). When the users are influenced positively, it means your business will be able to increase the conversion rates. More people will be ignited to patronize your brand. Why? Because they love and embrace your website. Every time they may need a solution, the first website to pop out of their mind is yours.

So, make sure that your website does have proper visual hierarchy, mobile friendliness features, attractive visuals, and, above all, great color usage and converting texts. All these things should be evident if you want your business to stand out from the rest of the crowd.

Business

Royal York Property Management And Nathan Levinson On Building Stable Rental Portfolios In A Volatile Market

Published

1 day ago

December 11, 2025

Matthew Wiles

Across North America, Europe, and much of the world, rental housing is caught between two pressures. On one side are tenants facing record affordability challenges. On the other side are landlords seeing operating costs, interest payments, and regulatory complexity move in the opposite direction.

Recent analysis from Canada’s national housing agency shows how tight conditions still are. The average vacancy rate for purpose-built rentals in major Canadian centres rose to about 2.2 percent in 2024, up from 1.5 percent a year earlier, but still below the 10-year average despite the strongest growth in rental supply in more than three decades.

At the same time, higher interest rates have pushed up the cost of acquiring and financing rental buildings, which has slowed transactions and made many projects harder to pencil out.

In this environment, the question for landlords and investors is less about chasing maximum rent and more about building stability. That is where Royal York Property Management and its founder, president, and CEO Nathan Levinson have drawn attention.

From a base in Toronto, Royal York Property Management manages more than 25,000 rental properties, representing over 10 billion dollars in real estate value, and operates across Canada, the United States, and parts of Europe. Levinson also sits on a Bank of Canada policy panel focused on the rental market, where he provides data and on-the-ground insights about rent trends and landlord stress.

For many smaller property owners, his model has become a reference point for how to treat rental housing as a structured financial asset rather than a side project.

Rental housing under pressure from both sides of the balance sheet

In many countries, the basic rental story is the same. Construction of new rental housing has climbed, yet demand still runs ahead of supply in most major cities. In Canada, overall rental supply grew by more than 4 percent in 2024, the strongest increase in over thirty years, while vacancy rose only modestly.

At the same time, borrowing costs have moved sharply higher compared with the pre-pandemic period. Research shows that elevated interest rates have reduced the profitability of new multifamily deals and slowed investment activity, even as structural demand for rental housing stays strong.

For small and mid-sized landlords, that tension shows up in a simple way. Mortgage payments, taxes, insurance, and maintenance rarely move down. Rents move up more slowly, and in many jurisdictions they are constrained by regulation or market realities.

Levinson’s view is that this gap will not close on its own. Landlords who want to stay in the market need more predictable income, tighter control of costs, and clearer systems for dealing with risk.

A property management model built for volatility

Royal York Property Management did not start as an institutional platform. Levinson’s early clients were owners of single condominiums, duplexes, or small buildings who were struggling with irregular rent payments, surprise repairs, and complex rental rules.

Instead of handling each property ad hoc, he built a standardized operating model that treats every door as part of a wider portfolio. Each unit sits on a centralized platform that records rent, arrears, lease expiries, maintenance tickets, and legal actions. Owners see real-time statements and performance metrics rather than waiting for year-end reports.

That structure, combined with an internal maintenance and legal team, is designed to handle stress rather than avoid it. When markets are calm, the system may look conservative. When conditions worsen, it is what keeps owners in the black.

“Execution is everything” is how Levinson often frames it in interviews.

Turning rent into a more predictable income stream

The feature that first drew many investors to Royal York Property Management is its rental guarantee program in Ontario. Under this model, landlords receive their rent even if a tenant stops paying. RYPM takes responsibility for legal proceedings, arrears recovery, and re-leasing the unit, while the owner continues to receive income.

Independent profiles of the company describe this as one of the first large-scale rental guarantee frameworks in the Canadian market, and note that the firm manages tens of thousands of units under this structure.

The guarantee itself is closely tied to local law and does not transfer directly into every jurisdiction. The underlying logic, however, is straightforward:

Treat unpaid rent as a recurring and manageable risk rather than an occasional shock.
Price that risk into a clear product instead of handling each case informally.
Use scale, legal expertise, and data to keep default rates low and resolution times shorter.

For landlords who are facing mortgage renewals at higher interest rates, having a more stable rent stream can be the difference between holding a property and being forced to sell. That is one reason rental guarantee models have started to attract interest from investors outside Canada who are watching RYPM’s approach.

Using technology to see risk earlier

Behind the guarantee and the day-to-day operations is a technology stack that tries to surface problems before they become crises. Royal York Property Management’s internal platform uses data from payments, maintenance, and tenant behavior to flag risk signals and operational bottlenecks.

Examples include:

Tenants who move from on-time payments to repeated short delays.
Units where small repair tickets point to a larger capital issue ahead.
Buildings where complaint volumes suggest service gaps or staffing problems.

Rather than treating these as isolated events, the system aggregates patterns across thousands of units. That allows management to decide whether a problem is individual, building-specific, or systemic.

Levinson has also pushed this data outward. As a member of the Bank of Canada’s rental policy panel, he provides anonymized information on rent collection, defaults, and renewal behavior, which feeds into broader discussions about financial stability and housing policy.

The same data that protects a landlord’s cash flow in one building helps central bankers understand how higher rates are affecting thousands of households.

Why the Canadian case matters for global landlords

Several recent reports underline how closely rental markets are now tied to national economic performance. Tight rental supply and high rents are feeding inflation in many economies. At the same time, higher borrowing costs are discouraging new construction, which risks prolonging shortages.

This feedback loop is especially hard on small landlords. Many own only one or two properties and have limited room to absorb higher mortgage payments or extended vacancies. Analysts in Canada and abroad have warned that some owners are at risk of default as their loans reset at higher rates.

In that context, the Royal York Property Management model offers three lessons that travel across borders:

Standardization protects both sides. Clear processes for screening, rent collection, maintenance, and legal steps reduce surprises for owners and tenants at the same time.
Risk pooling is more efficient than one-off crises. Handling arrears, legal disputes, and vacancies inside a structured system is less costly than improvising each time.
Operational data belongs in policy conversations. When policymakers have access to real rental data rather than only mortgage statistics, interventions can be better targeted.

It is not an accident that Levinson’s work now sits at the intersection of private property management and public financial policy.

What everyday landlords can borrow from the Royal York playbook

Most landlords will not build a 25,000-unit management platform. Many will never interact with a central bank. The core ideas behind Nathan Levinson’s approach are still accessible to smaller owners that manage a handful of properties.

Three practices stand out.

First, treat every rental unit as part of a simple portfolio. That means using a consistent template to track rent, arrears, expenses, and vacancy days for each property, then reviewing it on a schedule instead of only when something goes wrong.

Second, write down the rules for risk in advance. Late-payment steps, repayment plans, documentation standards, and maintenance response times should exist on paper, not only in memory. Royal York’s experience suggests that clear rules reduce conflict, because everyone knows what will happen next.

Third, invest in service as a protective layer. Multiple independent profiles of RYPM point out that faster response times and transparent communication reduce tenant turnover and protect building condition, which in turn supports long-term returns.

For landlords and investors trying to navigate today’s volatile rental markets, the message from Royal York Property Management and Nathan Levinson is surprisingly simple. You cannot control interest rates or national housing policy. You can control how organized your portfolio is, how clearly you manage risk, and how consistent your operations feel to the people who live in your buildings.

For many, that shift from improvisation to structure is what will decide whether their rental properties remain a source of wealth or turn into a source of stress.