Have you made these seven top website design mistakes? Two out of three people prefer beautifully designed websites and content. Meanwhile, your site’s design has a significant 75% influence on a website’s credibility. Unfortunately, making mistakes with your site could cost you leads and sales.
Without credibility, consumers would not trust your brand. They will turn to your competitors instead, who understand brand focus.
Here are the seven top website design mistakes you should strive to avoid when updating your website. Avoiding these mistakes can turn your site into a lead-generating machine.
Today, discover how to set your business up for success with effective small business website design!
1. Lack of Focus
Lack of Focus is the first of the Top Website Design Mistakes. Every page on your site should have a singular, unique purpose. Otherwise, it won’t help you accomplish your marketing goals. Consumers who arrive on the page might feel confused, too.
They will leave if they do not know what action you want them to complete. So as people start leaving your site without exploring, your bounce rate will increase. A high bounce rate can hurt your search engine rankings. It can also tell Google you’re offering a negative user experience (UX).
Instead, take a moment to determine the goals you want to accomplish with your custom website design. Then, make sure each page aligns with a specific purpose.
Specify the page’s purpose by aligning the elements on the page, including the following:
- Title
- URL
- Headline
- Imagery
- Body text
- Call to action language/button
Aligning these elements with a similar message will help visitors remain focused on the page’s underlying purpose.
Don’t try to direct them to complete multiple actions on a single page. Otherwise, you might miss the chance to win a lead or sale. Instead, consider encouraging people to complete a form, contact you, or shop on your site.
Determining the action you want the visitor to complete can help you choose the page’s purpose.
Make sure your headline is focused, attention-grabbing, and compelling, too. Otherwise, highlight the value you’re offering the visitor in your headline. Focusing on the value you’re offering can help you grab and maintain their attention.
2. Brand Inconsistency
About 59% of consumers prefer shopping from familiar brands. The more people recognize and believe in your brand, the more they’ll buy. However, 90% of consumers expect brands to remain consistent across all platforms and channels.
Without brand consistency, consumers might not recognize your brand at a glance.
It takes over five impressions with a single consumer before generating brand awareness. However, with repeat exposure, you can turn awareness into recognition. Then, you can remain top-of-mind with consumers, leading to future sales.
Take the time to establish your brand guidelines, such as your:
- Voice
- Tone
- Personality
- Logo
- Color palette
- Font styles
- Imagery styles
Make sure these elements remain consistent across every page.
Visual branding, including a signature color, can boost brand recognition by up to 80%. In addition, an eye-catching graphic design website can help set your brand apart from competitors.
Don’t allow poor image quality to hurt your brand, too.
Try to avoid stock photography, making your brand look inauthentic or boring. Instead, invest in professional photography and custom website design. Then, you can wow consumers with your products, services, and business to encourage them to convert.
3. Neglecting Mobile Visitors
Neglecting mobile visitors is a significant issue in the top three of the Top Website Design Mistakes. As you work to avoid these top website design mistakes, consider running your site through Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test. Is your site mobile-optimized?
Nearly 60% of consumers won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed mobile site. Meanwhile, people spend about 171 minutes every day on their phones. About 70% of all web traffic occurs on mobile devices.
If your site isn’t mobile-friendly, you could miss the chance to appeal to a vast percentage of your target audience.
80% of smartphone users are more likely to purchase from companies with mobile sites. In addition, over 50% have discovered a new company or product when searching for their phones.
Though mobile optimization is a web development concern, it can affect the appearance of your site. Consider working with an experienced website design agency. They’ll ensure your site is mobile-friendly.
Google also looks at the mobile version of your site first to determine your organic rankings. So mobile optimization can benefit your search engine optimization (SEO) and digital advertising efforts.
4. Hard-to-Find Contact Info
Make it easy for potential customers to reach out and ask questions. If it’s difficult to contact you, they’ll leave and take their business elsewhere. So instead, make sure it’s easy to find your contact info.
First, make sure your Contact Us page is apparent within the navigation.
Consider adding your contact details to the site’s footer, too. That way, it’s easy to find on any page. You can even add a condensed form to the footer.
5. Missing CTAs (Call to Action)
Missing Call to Action buttons and text is also a significant issue in the top three of the Top Website Design Mistakes. Call to action buttons can help you generate fresh leads and sales. Make sure each CTA stands out on the page. You should use contrasting colors between the text, button, and background. Otherwise, the CTA might fade into the background.
Make sure each CTA aligns with the page’s goal, too. Then, use compelling, action-oriented language to boost conversions.
Add a little urgency to the CTA as well. For example, you can use “Now” or “Today!”
6. Difficult Navigation
If your website’s navigation bar features too many pages, visitors won’t know which way to turn. So instead, try to condense your navigation. Feature significant pages you want visitors to explore.
Instead of adding sub-pages to the navigation bar, consider adding these pages to a sidebar on the parent page.
You can work with your website design agency to determine the best way to organize your site.
7. Long Load Times
Custom website design that is not optimized for speed can also impact your site’s load times. Long load times can affect the UX.
Run your site through Google’s PageSpeed Insights to determine if your site is lagging. If it is, consider minimalistic design trends. For example, removing unnecessary elements from a page could boost your load times.
Improving your load times can also benefit your search engine optimization and mobile strategy.
Avoid These Top Website Design Mistakes: Hire a Pro Today
Don’t let these top website design mistakes cost you leads and sales. Instead, invest in custom website design this year. With help from an experienced agency, you can create a wow-worthy small business website.
Then, you can use your website to generate more sales than ever before. Eager to get started? We’re happy to help. Contact us today for website design Raleigh NC to discuss your website design and SEO and PPC management needs with our team!