According to Google, 97 percent of consumers search online for services and products…
However, 58 percent of businesses do not have a website!
If you own a business, a website is critical to your success…
When wanting to build a successful website design that sells, its extremely important to present your products and services effectively, answer all of your visitor’s questions and create a great user experience.
Initial mistakes with your website design can easily cost you a lot of money. And lose you even more revenue of over the long term.
That’s why I put together this list of top website design mistakes for you. So you can create a successful website design that turns more visitors into leads and sales.
Make sure you avoid these top 10 website design mistakes…
Table of Contents
1. Targeting everyone
It is important to know who your target market is and focus on them…
If your website tries to appeal to every potential visitor that might stop by, it could end up not appealing to anyone.
Determine who your perfect customer is and concentrate on creating the best potential experience for him or her.
If you try to please everyone you’ll end up pleasing no one.
2. Rushing rather than understanding your perfect customer
While you might want your website to be up and running as soon as possible, it’s important to understand exactly who your target customer is in your specific market…
Then, use what you have learned to design the perfect website for your perfect customer.
For example, if your products are intended for the younger generation, it is a good idea to be sure your website design and integrated social media accounts appeal to that particular demographic.
Likewise, if your products are geared toward an older crowd, you want to make certain your sales copy is targeted towards them and that your font size is larger than normal and very easy to read.
3. Cluttered or extravagant design
While you might think that busy, flashy designs will draw more attention to your site, this isn’t really the case…
For your website to be successful, it is important to design your site in a way that it is easy to use and navigate. If your website is so busy and customer cannot determine where to go, they will leave.
Additionally, busy websites don’t look good on tablets or mobile phones. Pew Internet Research found that 63 percent of Internet users do so using a mobile device.
“63% of adult owners use their phones to go online”
Pew Internet Research
Keep in mind that visitors to your site usually know what they are there for. If they cannot figure out where to go within 3 seconds of accessing your homepage, it is time to rethink your website design.
4. Incompatible with mobiles and tablets
Mobile device users prefer the benefits of a mobile-friendly website…
And Google penalises sites non-mobile websites because of this.
Yet 96 of people percent report they’ve visited sites that are not designed for mobile devices.
This could be easily resolved if site owners took step to build a responsive website design that dynamically adapts to the users device.
A huge number of people are accessing the web via their smartphones and tablets and stats show this will only increase. If you down have a responsive web design it’s very likely your missing out on traffic, sales and sales due to usability issues and Google driving visitors away.
But to be sure a redesign is worthwhile, make sure you install and use Google Analytics to track and determine the percent of visitors accessing your website with mobile devices.
5. Old, Outdated Content
Your website should only have the latest information about your company, products, and services…
If it doesn’t, a potential customer may believe you’ve gone out of business or simply aren’t as innovative as your competition.
Make certain your content addresses your customers needs and keep it frequently updated. If you choose to have a blog, be sure to regularly update it to keep search engines happy and visitors coming to your site.
6. No clear call to action
What is the purpose of having users visit your site?
Do you want them to subscribe to your newsletter, contact you, or buy your products?
Be sure to have a clear cut call to action to make visitors aware of what their next step should be.
Also ensure your content answers the question, “What’s in this for my customer?” Then, use your call to action to direct them to what to do next.
Cough…
7. Broken links
Consider how frustrated you have been in the past when trying to click through to a page only to find an incorrect or broken link…
This is how your customers feel too! They will be left wondering what’s wrong with your site.
In addition, you will miss an opportunity for your customers to learn more about your business and possibly like or follow your pages.
Make sure to regularly check all your links to be certain they are working correctly. This can easily be done for you entire site in one go using a tool such as the W3C link checker.
8. Self Made
In many cases, your website is a potential customer’s first experience with your brand…
If your not a professional web designer and you have no clue about website design, do you really think you are going to do that great a job?
First impressions are everything. Do not allow potential customers to assume things about your business because your website is poorly designed.
9. Paying too much or too little
Blowing you whole web design budget with an overpriced agency is often not the best idea…
While they may do an excellent job, they are also unlikely to give a business the personalised attention and direct communication with a designer it needs. And leave little budget left marketing and ongoing website maintenance that is needed to create a successful website and keep it running smoothly.
Of course, going with the cheapest alternative is not any better…
Cheap website design cuts corners and will not deliver the great user experience needed to effectively convert more visitors to leads and customers. Even if you don’t realise it straight away the results and performance from a cheap website are likely to be horrible!
Do your research before choosing a website designer to make sure you receive the best possible website.
What Web Design Mistakes Do You Hate?
Now it is your turn. What are some website design mistakes that drive you up the wall?
Leave your thoughts in the comments below or get your complementary web design discovery call now.
