Your website is a main key to your marketing strategy and the locks of your brand’s identity. Your website must be able to offer products, services, information or both. Otherwise, visitors won’t stay long. A Taylor & Francis Online peer-reviewed article found that visitors form an opinion about your website in 0.05 seconds. It takes just 0.05 seconds for an average visitor to judge your website and decide whether they will stay or go. If you have to make a lasting impression with your site in a matter of seconds, then you will need to get all the information you can to understand what you should do. Or, rather, what to avoid.
Why is my site under performing?
Many companies make common web design errors that lead to lost revenue and poor customer service. These mistakes can be avoided so that you don’t get the same results. Let’s take a look at the main reasons your website may not be performing to its maximum potential.
Your website is too busy
Avoid clutter on your website, particularly your homepage. Visitors should see as much information as possible about your services so they can make an informed decision. However, if you bombard them with images and other data, it will cause them to be overwhelmed. Too many visuals can make your site feel overwhelming and unwelcoming. The visitor is unable to distinguish the text, graphics, and menus and leaves your site. Your company information and business goals are important, but the site doesn’t need to be overwhelming or cluttered.
Your website lacks any substance
You can see the point. There are both positive and negative consequences for too much activity. Too much white space or too many empty spaces doesn’t make a good impression. These empty spaces look strange and make visitors not take you seriously. After all, why aren’t there more information on your website? Do you use cryptic language to trick your customers? Is your website being taken down because you are no longer in business? Do you not want to invest in quality website? Although it is unlikely that you can answer to these questions personally, it will give off a negative impression and turn people to your competitors.
There are bad calls to action
CTAs (Calls to Action) are essential for any business website. You’ll get fewer sales, inquiries, quotes requests, and sales without them. They must be concise and clear. The visitor must be able see what your CTA is, and where it will take them. It should be as short as possible with words like “Get a Quote Today!”, “Connect with a Free Call”, “Get $25 off now”, etc. It doesn’t have to be complicated – there are no lengthy sentences, distracting graphics around the CTA button, nor long forms of information. Do not make your visitors work hard for your services. They need you more than you do so make it as easy and quick as possible.
Your website is just confusing
Your website design includes everything, including the layout of images, location and video, color choices, page options, locations of pages, fonts, themes, and location of those pages. Websites can look messy if they have clashing colors, poor fonts, pages that are difficult to find, or a theme that isn’t relevant to their industry. Visitors will quickly leave if they are greeted with anything that looks like a chaotic, brightly lit mess. They won’t be able to find even the About Us page. Your website should be professional looking. It should have a consistent theme, pages that are easily found, pages with clear labels, and a limit on how many colors it uses. Your website should reflect your professionalism.
Your using images that just don’t convert
Images are essential for your website. However, they must be high quality. Each part of your website provides a visitor with a purpose. This includes information about you or your contact details, videos, images that highlight your business and goods,or services. It is a bad idea to use random or miscellaneous images. Don’t think that you have too many white spaces and don’t need to fill in a gap. You can always find an alternative. Stock images that aren’t used for a clear reason, such as for marketing purposes, can confuse visitors and lower the quality of your website.
People can’t figure out how to reach you
It’s not possible for companies to fail to include their contact information on their website, even though you wouldn’t believe it. They don’t give enough. It’s not enough to leave a phone number or leaving just an email address or even links to social media. Customers want everything, so you have to offer it all. Every website should have a Contact Us Page. Your phone number and a short contact form are required for this page. People will contact you more if you provide more options. Some people don’t like talking on the telephone so if you give them only a number they will not use it. Some people can’t navigate email easily and will need a number to call. Each visitor has different needs and preferences. You need to ensure that everyone can contact you.
Your menu navigation is lacking
Your website will have multiple pages so you must ensure that your visitors are able to navigate the site easily and can switch between pages when they need. You will have problems if your menus are difficult to find or not easily accessible. If someone is looking for information about your company and services, but can’t find it, they won’t waste their time clicking around trying to find the right thing. Clear and simple navigational functions such as search bars and menus must be available. Don’t forget to give your potential customers what your competition cannot. We understand that there are many factors involved in designing and formatting your website but menus are an important thing you need to consider and optimize for your customers.
You are talking to the wrong crowd
Each website is unique because each one speaks to a different audience. You cannot compare the design of a website selling shoes to one that sells a chiropractor service. These are totally different products / industries that target a different market. Site design and layout must appeal to the right audience. If you are selling pool cleaning services, the Apple Store’s look may not be the right fit for your website. It is important to know who your target audience is and what they want to see on your website. You must know your audience to make sure they are not confused about your company.
Images must be optimized
Images are likely to consume the most data on your website. They are also the most likely to slow down your website. People are not ready to wait, so if images on your site are preventing pages from loading quickly, then you need to fix it immediately. For those who want to get to the bottom of things, we can tell that you must use the correct file type according to the image contents. You should adjust the image dimensions while keeping quality. Also, ensure you do not lose the original image’s quality.
The site doesn’t use a 404 error page
It doesn’t need to be boring. You don’t need a page that displays an error message and doesn’t take you anywhere. Make the page different, just like Google’s dinosaur page. It’s small enough that people can remember it. If they remember your error page, you will be ahead of the pack. This page can be used to link to other relevant pages or to display any information that you wish them to see. This page is a great way to increase your SEO. Google doesn’t like broken links. However, if people can redirect to your 404 pages this will reduce the negative SEO effects.
Site Content is Old and Stale
Content is an important part of most websites. Content can include information about services, contact information for companies, prices, blog posts or any other information that visitors will see. Many people make the error of adding too much information to their website and then gradually forgetting about it. If they don’t update the information, blog posts are less frequent and details about services and products no longer have relevance. People notice when this happens. Visitors will be distrustful of any information that is not correct if the basic information is incorrect. A blog that hasn’t been updated for several months can give the impression that your company is not operating as it once did. Make sure to keep your blog current so that people know you are still in business.
There’s an old quote in Web Design, “Content is King!” and it is simply the most accurate statement in all of Website Design and Marketing.
That’s about it so be sure to check these things off your list in order to bring your site back to its glory!
We have listed all the most common mistakes in website design so you will know what to avoid. These common errors are easy to avoid. They are simple things that anyone can remember when designing their website that will make a big difference. The bottom line is that the better your site is, the more people you will attract and the more you make.
The good news is even if updating all of this still seems like to much MBDEV Boston is here to help you and do it all for you. We are able to fix all of these issues and add some much needed tweaks to bring you up to your A game. Connect with us today below.