If you get web design correct, it can ensure that your website performs to its maximum and in doing so allows your business to thrive. Get web design wrong, and not only will your website fail to produce anything positive, but your business may also be harmed. The solution? There are several, with the first, and most important being you entrust the creation of your new website to a professional web design agency.
Beyond that, if you choose not to use professionals for your web design, you must avoid making some common web design mistakes. These mistakes harm your website and its performance. If you want to know what the ten most common web design mistakes are, continue reading.
Poor Layout: Although the term “web design” covers many aspects of your website, one of its primary goals is to produce a layout that is visually pleasing and gives visitors landing on your website a great first impression.
Low-Quality Content: Great content within your website is essential. If you skip on this or try to save money by hiring cheap content writers you will do more harm than good. Invest in quality content, and the return on that investment will be significant.
Slow Page Load Speeds: Today’s internet users expect instant gratification, and this is why slow page load speeds are a huge problem as visitors will simply click away. In addition, if they click away immediately it is recognised by Google, which becomes a double-whammy as they penalise your rankings.
Zero Or Poor Navigation: Visitors to your website should feel in control and that is achieved by providing them with a simple menu so that they can navigate through your website pages. Omitting this is a huge web design error and another reason why vistos leave your website quickly.
Auto-Play Video And Audio: Any survey of internet users’ most hated features will confirm that videos and audio that auto-play are hated. They have little to no benefit and are yet another way to lose visitors and subsequently rankings on Google.
Zero Engagement With Users: We have mentioned several times the issue of visitors leaving your website, and one of the ways to reverse that is to engage with them. There are many ways this can be achieved such as great content, free downloads or offering free consultations.
No Social Proof: One of the most effective ways of ensuring your visitors stick around is to give them proof that you are a legitimate business that can be trusted. This can be achieved with reviews, testimonials, and proof of accreditation to professional bodies, for example.
No “Contact Us” Page: Any website that does not have a “Contact Us” page is at a huge disadvantage. They are extremely simple to include in a website’s design either with a form for the visitors to enter their details or by simply including an email address they can contact.
No “About Us” Page: Another great way to build trust and credibility is to have an “About Us” page. This can highlight your achievements and qualifications, and, if you have photos, it lets visitors know they are dealing with real people and to put faces to names.
Zero Or Weak Calls To Action: Finally, one of the biggest web design mistakes is to have poor or no calls to action within your website. It may not always be a call to purchase something but at least have some action they can take such as providing their email or calling for a quotation.