I've looked at a lot of Hostinger websites. And most of them have the same problem: they're not bad, they're just generic. They could belong to anyone. The design doesn't communicate anything specific about the business, and nothing about them makes you want to stay.
The good news is that most of the fixes are straightforward. They don't require a complete rebuild — just deliberate choices in the areas that matter most.
The six biggest differences between amateur and professional-looking sites
1 Sort your typography first
Fonts do more heavy lifting than almost anything else on a page. Default system fonts (Arial, Times New Roman) signal that no one made an active choice. Pick two fonts that work together — one for headings, one for body text — and stick to them. A serif heading font paired with a clean sans-serif body is a reliable combination that always reads as considered. Google Fonts has hundreds of free options.
2 Use a real colour system, not random colours
Pick three colours and use only those: a background, a text colour, and one accent. The accent is for buttons, links, and highlights — things you want people to notice. Too many colours is one of the fastest ways to look amateur. Off-white backgrounds (#f5f5f3 or similar) with near-black text and one distinctive accent colour almost always works.
3 Add more white space than feels comfortable
Almost every template-built website is too cramped. Elements are too close together, sections don't breathe, and the page feels busy even when the content is simple. The fix is to be generous with padding — especially vertically. Double whatever spacing you have between sections and you'll immediately feel the difference. White space is not wasted space. It's what makes the content that remains feel important.
4 Get proper photography, or use none at all
Blurry phone photos, stretched stock images, or obvious free stock photos from five years ago all undermine credibility immediately. If you can't get good photography right now, a clean typographic design with no photos is significantly better than bad photos. When you do use images, make sure they're consistent in style, properly sized, and actually relevant to what you do.
5 Rewrite your hero section
The first thing people read is usually the hero — the large text at the top. Most small business heroes say something vague like "Welcome to [Business Name]" or "Quality Service You Can Trust." Neither tells me what you do or why I should care. Your hero should answer two questions immediately: what do you do, and who is it for? "Hostinger web design for UK small businesses, done in 1–2 weeks" is more compelling than anything generic.
6 Make your call-to-action obvious
Every page should have one clear thing it wants the visitor to do next. One. Not three buttons of equal size, not a "learn more" link buried in a paragraph. Pick the most important action — "Get a quote", "Book a call", "Buy now" — and make it visually prominent. Use your accent colour, make it a real button, and put it somewhere obvious. Then repeat it at the bottom of the page.
The honest summary: Most of what makes a site look professional isn't complicated. It's consistency — consistent fonts, consistent colours, consistent spacing. Pick a small set of design decisions and apply them everywhere without exception.
When DIY improvements aren't enough
If you've worked through these changes and the site still isn't where you want it, the issue is usually one of two things: either the template is too limiting, or the design needs a structural rethink rather than surface-level tweaks. That's when it makes sense to bring in someone who can build it properly from scratch.