4 January 2023
By Roger Kennedy
roger@TheCork.ie
Website design, at its core, really is a work of art. It gives users an experience, but at the end of the day, it’s also important to make sure that it serves a purpose. If you don’t make sure that your site is easy to navigate, interesting and usable then you may find that you end up struggling to get the results you are looking for. If you want to make sure that your site is perfect in every way then it’s helpful to start by avoiding some of the top, most common website mistakes that people make. By reading below, you can then take active steps to make sure that your site is the best that it can be, and that you are not frustrating your potential customers unnecessarily.
Your Site is Too Busy
If you want your site to look great then it is imperative that you show any information that is pertinent to your business, right away. Visitors who cannot understand what your site is about, or what you offer within the first couple of seconds will ultimately end up leaving. While this is very important for you to keep in mind, you also have to make sure that you do not cram too much information above the fold. The fold is a myth and a crowded site is never, ever a good thing. Websites that tend to have a ton of text, images and more will naturally take longer to load and it will also confuse your visitors as well. As a general rule of thumb, you need to avoid very busy designs like the plague.
Your Site is too Simple
On the flip side, you need to avoid making your site too simple. Minimalism is all the rage right now, and it does work if you can pull it off. Some smaller sites tend to be cryptic and they leave far too much to the imagination. This is a major mistake. At the end of the day, your visitors want to know what your company is going to do for them and if you rely on simple imagery without any direction then you may find that you leave people guessing and this is a major mistake.
It’s Too Confusing
In the middle of the too much and the too little spectrum is the “confused brand”. If you have a site that falls into this category then you will probably have a lot of typefaces, colour palettes and themes. You may also find that not a single one of them relates to each other. Sites like this come about for a number of reasons. It may happen when you don’t have a good idea of what narrative your brand is trying to push, or when you have too many individual components. When the time comes for you to design your site, make sure that you are choosing a single theme, one logo and also one typeface. You then need to incorporate this across your entire site.
Your CTA is Bad
At the end of the day, you have to remember that the CTA that you have is the gateway to your company. It will command your visitors to take action and do something. It’s super important that your CTA is clear and that your visitors know what action you want them to take. There is a fine line between being super helpful and being annoying though. Keep any form-filling to a minimum and also make sure that you give the people on your site a few minutes before you bombard them with the CTA message.
Poor Use of Space
Content is a very important part of your marketing campaign. At the end of the day, content helps to tell readers about your company and what you have to offer. Pay attention to the fonts that you choose and how you lay out the content on the page. Your typeface will convey the image of your brand and it will also complement the words that you write. Just make sure that you are using white space properly so you can guide your visitors around your website. Using white space is important if you want to avoid large blocks of text. Break everything up where you can and also make sure that you are using visual elements where possible. Content should always be updated too because if you don’t then your customers may be under the impression that you have gone out of business and this is the last thing you need.
Ugly Images
Graphics and photos are a super important part of your website design. Images are ideal if you want to convey complex thoughts or chunks of information. That being said, a lot of companies use images that are either low in quality or absolutely irrelevant. Images that are not high in quality will ruin your website and it will also turn your visitors off too. Irrelevant images will also make your readers wonder what point you are trying to make and this is the last thing you want.
Hidden Navigation
If you have navigability problems, then this will impact your site’s popularity. It’s important to know that the age we live in is where everything can be delivered instantaneously. Anything longer will cause people to abandon your site and this is the last thing you need. If you make your menu hard to navigate then this is a major mistake, not to mention that it will make it incredibly difficult for people to get to where they want to go.
Missing the Mark
If you are a small business owner, then you will know how important it is for you to know and understand your target audience. You may have spent hours trying to create a customer profile and figuring how to best attract attention. This is especially the case when it comes to your website design. The way that your site looks and the feel that it has will attract a very specific type of visitor. Some websites focus on being trendy, others are professional. Sometimes, a website is simply trying to speak to too many people at once. If you try and please everyone, then you may end up with a site that is muddled.
Not Building Backlinks
So many people build a site, launch and then expect people to flock to it. This is never how things work and you need to take a lot of time to make sure that you are pushing your site in the SERPS. One way for you to make sure that you are marketing your site properly would be for you to try and build backlinks. That being said, you also need to monitor them as well. Look up how you can monitor backlinks and find a solution that works for you. There are numerous tools online that can be used, but ultimately, you just need to make sure that you are actively investing in your site and that you are not purchasing spam or bad links. If you can do this then you will soon find that your site potential rockets.
Lack of Info
A lot of businesses forget to upload their contact information to their site and this is another huge mistake. The second a visitor lands on your site, you have to make sure that they can contact you if they need to. If your visitor has to trawl through your site to find out how to contact you then there is a high chance that they will get annoyed and then leave. If you want to do something about this then you need to make sure that your information is easy to find and that it is abundantly clear how people can contact you. If you can ensure that this is the case then you will soon find that things work in your favour and that you end up getting the site visitors you’re looking for.
Your Ads are Wrong
Advertising is required, in the world of website design. This is especially the case when it comes to blogs, which it is one of the main streams of income. If you have too many ads or if you have ads that flash then this will make your visitors frustrated and you may even find that you end up losing business as a result. If you want to do something about this then make sure that you are analysing the ads that you have. If they are annoying to you then they will be to your visitors. Pop-up ads are making a bit of a comeback right now as they are easy to close and most of the time they are not full-screen. That being said, you do have to make sure that you don’t have too many of them. When curating your ads, try and keep your target audience in mind and remember what your brand stands for. This will help you to show ads that are relevant and it will also stop you from frustrating your customers unnecessarily, so try and be mindful of this if you can.