Over time, I have noticed the flaws in many websites that fail to get enough traffic. To stop more designers and business owners from making these common website design mistakes, I have compiled a list of 20 website mistakes to avoid.
Your websites should look great and be jam-packed with unique features and exceptional functionality to beat your competitors. There are valid reasons for the time and effort you should put into your websites, the most important of which is attracting visitors.
The best way to get a good website is probably looking for an Digital marketing agency which has tons of experience in creating user friendly and search engine friendly website. Until then, here’s a list of 20 common website design mistakes you need to avoid to beat your competition.
20 Common Website Design Mistakes you Need to Avoid
Table of Contents
- 20 Common Website Design Mistakes you Need to Avoid
- 1. You’re not centering your website around the user
- 2. Your website isn’t the same on mobile devices
- 3. You’re making your user wait
- 4. Your navigation bar is difficult to find
- 5. Your fonts are too big, too small, or too complicated.
- 6. There’s no CTA on your website
- 7. You are ignoring SEO and analytics
- 8. You’re still using slideshows on your landing page
- 9. Lack of blogs for your website
- 10. You’re jeopardizing the quality of your content
- 11. You are probably over using keywords
- 12. You’re not linking your social media handles on your website
- 13. Your videos never stop
- 14. You’ve made grammatical errors
- 15. You haven’t paid attention to your internal pages
- 16. Error 404!!
- 17. You’re not telling your audience everything
- 18. You haven’t secured your site
- 19. Your website is just too long
- 20. Your website is too technical (and salesy)
- Key Takeaways
- Conclusion
1. You’re not centering your website around the user
While talking about website design mistakes, the biggest one is not making your website user-centered. The more user-friendly your website is, the more trust you will instill in each customer who visits it. If consumers believe your website was created with them in mind, they will remember it and return to it whenever they have a need that you can meet.
In fact, the next Google ranking factor will rank you based on how user-friendly your website is. Two more critical factors decide the user-friendliness and ranking of your website – mobile-friendliness and speed:
2. Your website isn’t the same on mobile devices
You are losing a lot of traffic if you do not have a mobile-friendly website that is responsive and adapts well to a smaller screen. This is because mobile device consumers will abandon your page if they cannot view or read its material effectively.
Mobile phones account for 52.2 percent of all internet traffic. That indicates that more than half of your visitors expect you to provide a decent experience on their mobile devices. Therefore you should make sure you can match their expectations if you want to keep this large percentage of users engaged with your content.
3. You’re making your user wait
If your site is taking too slow to load, you might reconsider key design components. The quicker your website loads, the better the experience your visitors will have. Several tips are available for speeding up your website, so we’ll focus on the fundamentals that will get you started.
You can try optimizing the pictures on your website, particularly the front page. Nothing repels visitors faster than a landing page with photos and graphics that take forever to load. So, you can optimize your content and reduce the size of your images.
Broken elements are the most prominent website mistakes to avoid.
4. Your navigation bar is difficult to find
Your website design should allow for quick and simple navigation so that a user is never lost. If a user becomes dissatisfied, you will undoubtedly lose them as a potential customer. There are certain design norms that people are used to. You must adopt these acceptable norms first and then include your brand identity in them.
Website mistakes to avoid include complicated navigation. Have straightforward navigation that the customers can spot immediately. Ensure that your navigation is apparent when viewed on any device.
5. Your fonts are too big, too small, or too complicated.
Your content may be perfect, but that doesn’t matter if your audience cannot read it. You must utilize the best colors and fonts for optimum readability so that your users can make the most sales out of your site with the least amount of work.
Using unclear, too many fonts or conflicting fonts are all website design mistakes. This will shoo away your customers and your sales. If a mobile user cannot see the font or does not automatically change to the proper size and formatting, you will lose them before they complete your Call to Action.
So, don’t make these website design mistakes and give more importance to typography.
6. There’s no CTA on your website
Users have discovered your website, but the struggle is far from finished. What do you now expect from them? You must explicitly urge them in the direction of the next step, whether it’s a purchase, a lead, or a subscription.
If they’ve made it this far, the design and content of your website will have piqued their attention. Nevertheless, you must add a progression to the next level of engagement by providing a definite call to action – a straightforward next step in your connection with the visitor. So, remember that lack of CTA is the biggest of all website design mistakes.
7. You are ignoring SEO and analytics
Your website looks incredible, is simple to use, and provides a pleasurable browsing experience. If you haven’t considered SEO in your website design, your lovely site is likely to become stranded in the vast seas of the internet.
SEO should be incorporated into the design of a website from the start. A SEO company in Chennai will assist you with the discoverability of your website and incorporate it into its design. Consider SEO to be the foundation of your website. Avoiding it is one of the significant website mistakes to avoid.
8. You’re still using slideshows on your landing page
Slideshows may be visually appealing, but that’s about it, and they are ineffective when it comes to conveying a message. The information is undeniably present, but don’t expect a viewer to look at the slideshow from the moment the page loads.
They might look at it and start reading it, only to have the slideshow move on to the next segment. It’s unlikely that the viewer will go back and read the item. Hence, it’s best to avoid using this method of displaying information. These common website design mistakes can dilute your overall message.
9. Lack of blogs for your website
The blog on your website is an integral part of your overall success. A blog allows you to personalize your site and thus distinguish yourself from your competitors. It’s where you can add new and exciting content that engages potential conversions in ways that a simple e-commerce platform cannot. Your blog should be updated regularly with relevant and well-written content.
10. You’re jeopardizing the quality of your content
You must have heard this a hundred times before, and I’ll mention it anyway: Quality over quantity, always. Inexperienced content marketers create content that focuses on their company and how great they are. This content disregards the desires, goals, fears, frustrations, and problems of visitors.
This reduces credibility and makes it more difficult to convert visitors into customers. Moreover, make sure that you post clear pictures and videos and keep pixelated or blurry images away. These are prevalent website design mistakes that stop you from beating your competition.
11. You are probably over using keywords
Keyword stuffing appears to be logical but is considered as website mistakes to avoid. To achieve a higher page ranking, do not stuff a page with keywords. Google’s algorithm is highly effective at detecting pages that add unnecessary keywords to content. In some cases, this can result in the page being removed from Google search results.
12. You’re not linking your social media handles on your website
You’re letting go of potential traffic if you’re not active on social media. This is one of the substantial website mistakes to avoid.
Your website requires a well-maintained social media presence with links to it. Social media is one of the ways to reach new customers, many of whom would not find your page through a traditional search.
13. Your videos never stop
Website mistakes to avoid include making long videos. On-message videos that are well-made can undoubtedly improve your website. Even if the video is well-made, it may become redundant if it is too long. Making long videos are website design mistakes that you should stop. The purpose of the video is to engage your audience, not to test their patience. Hiring a best website development agency in Coimbatore can help you in producing professional videos for your websites.
If you have a lengthy message that you believe needs to be conveyed to your audience, consider breaking it up into shorter, episodic videos. Videos with a logical narrative structure, such as an instructional video, can be as short as a few minutes. Anything else should only last 60 to 90 seconds.
14. You’ve made grammatical errors
We’ve all made grammatical errors at some point in our lives. That’s understandable, and most website visitors will forgive you. When grammar becomes a habit, it becomes a problem. It erodes the credibility of your website, creates a poor first impression, and costs you money.
15. You haven’t paid attention to your internal pages
It isn’t just about the homepage! Do your internal pages have relevant titles and content? Internal pages must be information-rich, as these individual pages can affect your search engine rankings. These internal pages are essentially useless due to a lack of usable information. Include relevant information about your brand and optimize your internal pages better.
16. Error 404!!
404 pages are traffic killers that go unnoticed and are the biggest website mistakes to avoid. According to a survey of 3,475 users, most users do not even attempt to take positive action to resolve the problem. The majority of users will simply hit the back button, leaving your site for good. So, naturally, this is another one of the common website design mistakes you need to avoid to beat your competition.
17. You’re not telling your audience everything
Visitors want to learn more about business and brand. If you don’t have them listed on your website, you’re missing out on valuable traffic.
For example, if you own a business, you must provide your customers with business hours and essential information such as store locations and contact information.
If you want to attract visitors to your physical location, you should definitely consider incorporating Google Maps for your brand.
18. You haven’t secured your site
A website is not secure if it does not have a valid HTTPS certificate. HTTPS certificates are required for modern browsers to consider you safe. If these are not in place, users will receive messages in their browsers informing them that your website is unsafe.
HTTPS ensures that your website is encrypted and private and prevents cybercriminals from intercepting valuable information. HTTPs can be found in up to 70.4 percent of search results. As a result, make sure that your website is secure.
19. Your website is just too long
It’s crucial not to ask too much of your audience’s attention, and pages that are too long can annoy them. A long page with a lot of text can be too much work, which means you won’t be able to keep your audience’s attention long enough to deliver your intended message. Don’t make these small website design mistakes that can cost you your sales.
Your text should be well-written and presented in digestible chunks. It may be beneficial to divide the content into appropriate subgroupings, which can then be assigned their own pages.
20. Your website is too technical (and salesy)
Look at your website and ask the following questions – What distinguishes you? A simple website that simply provides the product or service in question will fail to distinguish itself from its competitors. What distinguishes your website (and, by extension, you and/or your company)?
Consider branding, and don’t be afraid to inject your personality into your web-based business. Personalization creates a far more memorable experience for the consumer.
Key Takeaways
- The more user-friendly your website is, the more trust you will instill in each customer who visits it.
- Having a user-friendly website includes being compatible with mobile devices and ensuring high speed.
- Ensure that your fonts are readable.
- Give in to the acceptable design norms and ensure your navigation bar is easy to find.
- Add a CTA to your website.
- SEO is the foundation of your website. Build it accordingly.
- Avoid displaying information through slideshows.
- Be more consistent while blogging. It helps demonstrate your expertise and instill credibility and pathos for your brand.
- Choose quality over quantity.
- Don’t overuse keywords and keep your videos short.
- Keep your videos free of grammatical errors and ensure that your internal pages have relevant content.
- 404 pages are traffic killers that go unnoticed and are the biggest website mistakes to avoid.
- Give out all the necessary information about your brand on your website.
- Keep your website short and secure it with HTTPs
- Give a unique identity to your website.
Conclusion
Many website owners have yet to master these fundamentals, which means they are potentially losing out on new customers and fans, which could seriously impact their business. If any of these issues sound familiar, make some changes as soon as possible; you’ll be glad you did.
I hope you enjoyed reading my blog on the 20 most common website design mistakes. I know you can easily avoid making these mistakes on your website when you know what to look out for.
Did you discover any of these errors on your website? Let me know in the comments below!
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