There’s a saying in design land – everyone’s a designer, and it’s true. Usually, people have strong preferences when it comes to how something should look and feel, doubly so when it is a custom job such as a website.
While a small business website should look as the company wants, there are many pitfalls that are easy to overlook. Designing for business is very different from designing for personal use, after all. Here are a few web design mistakes that are easy to commit, but can end up being costly!
#1 Not Optimizing the Site For Mobile Devices
More people browsing the net on their mobile devices than laptops and desktops. In which case, you no longer have any excuse to exclude mobile from your web design strategy. Mobile devices being smaller than laptop or desktop require websites to be properly optimized differently for them. In fact, a study found that 30% of all mobile users will abandon a purchase if the shopping cart is not mobile optimized.
Responsive and Adaptive web design are two popular ways of getting a site to look good on mobile. Both design types adjust to new screens. Responsive designs can automatically realign to any screen, while adaptive sites fit to a particular screen size. Check out this article to learn more.
#2 Unorganized, Cluttered Content
Internet users today rarely have the time to read an entire page full of content unless they absolutely have to. Even when they commit to going through a page, they will typically scan the text to find interesting information. Large blocks of text appear intimidating and/or confusing and will deter people from reading further.
To make your content work online, it needs to be “snackable.” Instead of writing down large, intimidating paragraphs, create small, bite-sized pieces of content that are easy on the eyes. Make use of subheadings and bullet-points wherever possible.
#3 Stuffed, Illogical Navigation
Website navigation is where a lot of mistakes happen. Oftentimes, categories that can be clubbed into one are not, leading to different pages with more or less the same content. For instance, if you run a catering business, then “menu” and “store” need not be two different pages.
Likewise, giving your readers far too many choices can lead to confusion. Focus on creating a simple site structure. Top level site navigation should ideally have 4-6 items. Also, drop down menus should be used sparingly as they can overwhelm people quickly.
#4 No Call To Action
Just telling your readers about your product or service’s features will not get them to opt into your list. You have to actively get people to engage with the next step which may either be signing on to your list or making a purchase.
A different CTA (Call To Action) needs to be implemented depending on the nature of content it follows. On a product page, CTAs usually attempt to sell, while if it’s a service, you will want them to call or mail you first. Finally, if it’s on a content page, then a CTA will attempt to get the person to opt in as a subscriber. Here’s an awesome article on how to create great CTAs.
#5 Ignoring SEO
While SEO has been in the news since forever, it is still somewhat shrouded in mystery and is therefore often either ignored or implemented wrongly. There is a lot that comes under SEO, but generally speaking, here are a few rules that you should follow, (straight from Google)…
- Make pages primarily for users, not for search engines.
- Don’t deceive your users.
- Avoid tricks intended to improve search engine rankings.
- Think about what makes your website unique, valuable, or engaging. Make your website stand out from others in your field.
If you will like to get into the nuts and bolts of it, then here’s the complete SEO Starter Guide by Google that details what the search engine looks for.
As we have been helping businesses set up stellar web presence for a while now, we know what to look out for, and will be glad to help you out. Contact us and let’s figure out how you too can get the presence you are looking for!