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Common Web Design Mistakes That Can Hurt Your Site

Designing your own website has never been easier.

It used to be, that when a business wanted its own website, it had to hire a developer to build one from the ground up, which ended up costing thousands of dollars for many businesses. Luckily, those days are in the past, and there are plenty of affordable options out there, with the most affordable being a DIY website.

The Websites 360® website builder gives businesses a better way to build websites, and best of all, it’s so easy to use that anyone can do it. However, not everyone knows how to get it right.

Having just any website is not enough. You want a website that converts and gets you results, and there are a lot of web design mistakes that you could make along the way that could hinder that potential.

5 common web design mistakes

Mistake #1. Not making it clear what you do right away

The average internet user’s attention span is even shorter than a goldfish’s, and when you only have six seconds to prove to a visitor why they should stick around, you shouldn’t lollygag.

If visitors can’t tell right away what kind of business you are, what you have to offer, and why you’re the best candidate for the job, chances are, they’re going to hit the back button. Believe it or not, a whopping 46%bof consumers will leave a site immediately if it’s not clear what the business does.

Not only does this translate into lost opportunity and revenue for your business; when a high percentage of your visitors immediately click the back button, it increases your bounce rate, which, in turn, hurts your site’s organic rankings in the SERPs (search engine results pages).

Make it a point to ensure that any visitor to your website can immediately tell who you are and what you do.

Mistake #2. Having features that aren’t mobile-friendly

Having a mobile-friendly website is more important than ever before. Why? Because most searches happen these days on mobile phones, and if you can’t provide people with the kind of mobile experience they need, they’re going to move on to a competitor who can.

When you build your website with Websites 360, you’ll get a website that is not only easy to edit and drives results, but one that’s fully responsive. This means that, no matter what device the site is being viewed on, it has the same content and information. The only difference is the way that’s it’s displayed. But having a responsive website is just the first step toward having a mobile-friendly website.

In order for a website to be truly mobile-friendly, it needs to have the same functionality when viewed on a mobile device as it does on a desktop computer, which means that the text should be large and broken up into smaller paragraphs, buttons should be big enough to click with a finger and images and other large assets that can slow down site speed should be compressed.

Mistake #3. Using cheesy stock images

You’ve probably heard the phrase, “A picture is worth 1,000 words,” time and time again. And, as overused as this saying is, it also happens to be true, especially when it comes to web design. In fact, images are one of the most important aspects of your website.

Think about it — most of the other elements of a web page, like text and videos, take a few seconds to really be absorbed. After all, you have to read text and watch a video. With an image, however, the point is understood much quicker, but only if you get the image right.

Stock footage is commonly used across business websites, and it can be a tremendous option when the choice is between using stock images or having no images at all. But, the bad news is that a cheesy stock photo can be spotted from a mile away.

If you have a good alternative to stock footage, use it! Check out my previous blog — Beyond Stock Photos: Image Ideas for Your Website — to get some ideas for how to find great images to use on your website that aren’t stock photos.

If you don’t have a good alternative to stock footage, it’s still better than having no images at all, and you’ll be glad to know that there’s plenty of good stock photos out there. They aren’t all cheesy! Just be careful about which ones you select.

Mistake #4. Making your contact information hard to find

Visitors come to your website for all kinds of reasons. Some of them are there to learn about who you are and what you have to offer. Some are there to learn from your expertise in your blog. Some are there because they want to work with your business and are looking for a way to contact you, and when they do, you should make it easy for them to find it.

The last thing that you want to do is make your contact information hard to find. If your visitors have to hunt for that information, the likelihood that they’ll turn to one of your competitors only increases.

That’s why it’s important to make it easy for people to get ahold of you by displaying your contact information prominently and in multiple places on your website.

Mistake #5. Failing to make a clear call to action

The most effective experience a visitor can have on your website is one that tells them what to do, how to feel and where to go. And, one of the best ways to accomplish this is with a call to action (CTA). Without one, it leaves users that are ready to convert unsure of what to do next, which could lead them to turn to a competitor instead.

With a clear CTA, your visitors will know exactly what their next step is when they decide to work with your business.

Your CTA doesn’t have to be too complicated or fancy. In fact, when it comes to CTAs, simple is usually better. CTAs, like “contact us today” and “sign up now” are direct, simple and straight to the point — all things that make for a strong CTA.

Now that you know about a few of the most common web design mistakes people make, you can avoid them while building your website with Websites 360. Get started today!

Originally published on 1/17/20