5 Common Website Design Mistakes You Should Avoid

A poorly designed website can give users the impression that your brand might be untrustworthy.

Think about some of the worst websites you have ever come across. Most likely, the design of those websites made you feel less confident in making a purchase.?

As a business owner, you want to ensure that your website gives your customers confidence and security in purchasing your products/services. So here is a list of common website design mistakes you should avoid:

Common Website Design Mistakes You Should Avoid

Crowded Design

Just as social media platforms are always evolving, it is the same for web design. Many website designers may become overwhelmed with the number of new features and design trends. This sometimes can result in a perplexing design that might drive users away.?

A website with too many elements can also appear outdated. It is critical that you are only including the features and design trends that are in line with your brand and target consumer.?

TIP: Use enough white space to keep web pages from looking cluttered and messy. White space between paragraphs, lines, characters, page elements, and even the header and footer is critical for the overall appearance of the page. Keep in mind incorporating too many elements on one page can confuse your visitors - meaning they may leave faster.?

Not Enough Interesting and Quality Content

Did you know that 38% of users will abandon a website if it is unattractive or lacks interesting content? Even if you have a well-oiled SEO strategy in place, it will be useless if your website does not retain visitors.

The concept of “quality” is especially important in any industry. Your website reflects your work credibility as well as your values.

Quality content will engage your audience and encourage them to take the next step in the purchase decision process. This includes all content that your business publishes including: emails, social media content and captions, and messages that you send to your customers.

Zero Mobile Optimisation?

85% of adults expect a company's website to look just as good on their mobile device as it does on their desktop. As a result, 57% of users say that they will not recommend a company that does not have a well-designed mobile site - interesting, right?

Mobile phones have become one of the main devices people use to surf the web, but many websites are designed for desktop computers only. This means if a website is not optimised for mobile use then you are undermining the primary goal of a website - generating leads and sales.

Many websites now employ a responsive design. This means that the page’s elements can change depending on the width of the user’s screen. When a smaller screen is detected, the site may hide parts of the page, change the fonts, or remove certain backgrounds.

Slow Website Speed

Slow website loading speed, provides poor user experiences and ultimately leads to a lower ranking in search engine results - which can lead to your visitors developing a negative impression.

One of the easiest things to do to improve your site speed is to change the size of the images on your site.

Another tip is to enable your cache as it significantly improves the loading time of your site for returning visitors. If you have too many plugins installed on your site, you could be slowing it down. Optimise and reduce the size of your images to help your site load faster. If you are using a content management system (CMS), such as WordPress, you can install a plugin that will automatically reduce the file size of your images.

A CDN distributes your website's files across a network of global servers. Even having all of your CSS and Javascript files in one location will help.

Having Bad Links

Bad links are low-quality backlinks that harm Google’s perception of your website. Such links are considered spammy, toxic, and unnatural. Sites with a high concentration of the former will undoubtedly perform poorly in SERPs.

Any website that has broken links will appear unprofessional. Nobody wants to waste their time clicking on a link and be taken to a “404” page. Always test your website and click on every link to make sure that it works before making it live.

In a nutshell

A poorly designed website squanders the opportunity to establish trust and credibility right away. When a potential customer leaves your site due to broken links, information overload, or confusing navigation, they are less likely to return.

A well-designed website that not only looks good but is also simple to use will result in more sales. And, if you don’t know how to optimise your website on your own, hire a professional website design company to help you update your website.

We can help you with that! Because Elephant in the Boardroom is a full-service digital marketing agency that is well-versed in web design and development. We have a team of experts for your website’s every need.

Contact us today!