9 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid

If you've read my previous article, you already know how to look into Google Analytics data and draw your own conclusions on what to improve on your website.

But, in this article your going to learn how to avoid having to do drastic improvements on your website by making it right the first time.

The truth is, it takes a lot more than a beautiful website to make it great. Unfortunately, there are a lot of web design mistakes that I see being made, over and over again, that make your visitors leave your website. And this is leaving money on the table.

So, if you're looking to improve your sales with your website, I suggest that you avoid these 9 mistakes.

1) Too much to look at

Did you know that when given too many options, the human brain will get so anxious that it won't be able to choose anything? If you have too much going on on your website, your visitors won't know where to look and their attention will be scattered.

You want to make sure that they are focused on seeing your content clearly.

Plus, if visitors can't understand what your website is all about in the first few seconds on getting there, they will leave.

2) Not enough to look at

On the other side of the spectrum, you have websites with nothing to look at. I don't know why but I see this happening a lot in architecture websites. And minimalism is a great design trend, but it has to be done right.

And, like I've said before if your website doesn't explain clearly what you do, and what are the problems you solve, your visitors will leave.

3) No (or terrible) Call-To-Actions

The amount of websites with no CTAs still surprises me. Without CTAs your visitors won't know what you want them to do. You should incentivize them to contact you, to get your lead magnet, to read your content, subscribe to your newsletter and so on.

However, make sure that your CTAs are clear about the main benefit that they're getting by following it. Don't just say "Subscribe to our newsletter" or "contact us". Say something like "Get all our offers first by subscribing to our newsletter" and "get all your questions answered by us" instead.

3) No suggested next steps

 Let's say your visitors finish reading a piece of content that you've wrote. Or browse through a project you've recently made. Are you suggesting any related content for them to proceed?

If not, you've ended their journey, and they have now a window to leave your website. And they likely will.

4) Bad use of the 404 page

The 404 is the page where your visitors will land in case they click an invalid link. So how does your 404 page looks like? 

In the same way that you suggest content at the end of your articles, you should suggest it as well on the 404 page. And, if you own an e-commerce store you can also offer a special discount to incentivize your visitors to proceed shopping.

5) Links to external content

Do you include links on your website to external sources of information? First, let me tell you that this is actually a very powerful way to increase your SEO. But, if when clicked, it simply redirects the user to the external website, you've managed to make a visitor leave your website. And that's bad. What you want to do instead is simply open the link in a new window. This way, the visitor will stay on your website and the new content is opened in a separate tab.

6) Contacts are hard to find

If the goal of your website is to sell, then your visitors should be able to find your contacts easily to reach out to you. 

So make sure that your "Contacts" page is just one click away at all times, and that your main contacts are always available either in the heather or in the footer.

7) The website copy is unclear 

One of the main culprits of a website not converting is obviously the copy within. If your copy is too general or it uses too many generic terms, or worse, if your visitors have to scroll to find copy, they will have difficulties finding out what they can gain with your services.

So make sure that your copy explains clearly exactly what you do, and what your clients can benefit from your products or services.

8) Bad looking content

I've stated this in past articles but I will do so again. Did you know that 48% of consumers admit that they judge the credibility of a company based on its website design alone? And that 37% of users leave a website due to bad design?

So, when it comes to your online presence, it almost doesn't matter if your company has a great reputation or has the best services around.

We have redesigned websites for companies with an amazing experience, but their customers complained about the design and lack of updated content on their website.

A good website will be beautiful to look at and create a sense of trust and authority on your visitors. And you simply can't achieve that with poor, outdated content.

9) It's company focused

Of course, it might seem obvious that when developing your website your main focus is your company. But, in fact, your website must be customer-oriented!

You shouldn't make your website all about your, quality, or your experience or how great your company is. Instead, focus on explaining what problems you solve or what benefits does someone get by being your client.

Avoid writing sentences like "we do this" and start writing "you will get this".

Conclusion

These are the most common mistakes that I see being done currently when it comes to web design, and if your website ticked a lot of boxes, then you might want to consider a redesign. If you have any questions or need any suggestions regarding web design feel free to reach out!