The top designers have websites that not only look great but are also filled with unique features and superb functionality, as well. There are sensible reasons for the effort that they put into their website design, the main one being that it attracts visitors. If your website is not entirely well built or thought out, then you might have noticed that the traffic has never really met your expectations till now, or perhaps you may have noticed that the visitor count has been in decline for some time.
Website design can be difficult to master. When it comes to creating a design that boosts conversions and generates revenue, many businesses continue to struggle. Your website needs to be appealing, but it also needs to make money. It is still a common mistake for businesses to focus on a design that looks good rather than one that maximizes their conversion rates.
These mistakes are subtle, but they do a lot of damage. They make it difficult for customers to buy, introduce objections and problems unnecessarily, and overwhelm visitors. With consistent effort, you can dramatically increase the amount of traffic, leads, and sales your website produces. It starts with identifying each of the mistakes that hurt your website. You could likely have fallen into one of the many traps that website design involves, which you really should try to avoid. We will mention the most important ones in this blog.
4 Biggest Mistakes in Website Design
In this section we will give out the things that you must avoid to become an almost errorless web designer, therefore making you above average at website design.
1. The Website Is Not Mobile-Friendly
If you do not have a mobile-friendly website that is responsive and scales well to a smaller screen, then you are missing out on a lot of traffic. This happens because mobile device users will not stick around to try and use your page if they cannot view it or read its content properly.
The number of mobile users came in at around 73% of all internet browsing traffic. That means that more than half of your visitors are expecting you to deliver a quality experience to their mobile devices, so you should make sure that you can meet their expectations if you plan on keeping this massive share of users engaged with your content.
2. There is no Call to Action
If you are finding that you are getting lots of traffic, but you are not achieving your objectives, such as buying a product or signing up for a free trial, then you may not be steering your users with the proper guidance. The best and most effective way of achieving this is by implementing and making explicit your Call to Action. This is the primary reason for your users to visit in the first place. Make sure that you are being clear about what you want them to do, and that they can carry out the tasks that you have in mind for them.
This process is sometimes also known as conversion marketing, as it turns a visitor into a customer or follower. You can also look at applying some conversion rate optimizations to improve your client and user onboarding processes.
Whatever action a new user is supposed to complete will be determined by your overall plan. Do you want them to sign up and start purchasing products, or do you want them to become regular readers that engage with your content and communicate with you. Whatever you decide, make sure that your design follows through and enables you to do it.
3. The Website Takes Too Long to Load
If your site is taking too long to load, then you need to rethink some design elements. The faster your website loads, the better the experience is for your visitors. There are plenty of pointers out there about speeding up your website.
First and foremost, you should consider optimizing the images on your website, especially your home page. Nothing scares off users faster than a landing page with pictures and graphics that take too long to load, so scale down your images and optimize your content wherever possible.
Hefty plugins, themes, and modules can slow down your website’s loading times as well. Updating these elements to newer versions can help to speed things up, especially if you have not updated them in quite a while. Remember to test thoroughly before you go ahead and update your live website, just in case there are changes to the way that the plugins behave with your site. That way you can make sure that nothing has become broken after the updates, and you can implement the changes after testing everything.
4. Choice of an Unclear Font
Cursive fonts, hand-drawn scripts, and symbols can be difficult to read. Fonts that are unreadable or difficult to read decrease cognitive fluency. Cognitive fluency refers to the ease of use for the visitor. Ask yourself whether it is easy for visitors to understand what they are looking at or not. People prefer content that is easy to read and easy to think about. So be careful when selecting a font and do not go too bold in this area. Most probably, typical fonts will be more efficient given that an unclear font increases cognitive load and decreases understanding.
Conclusion
If you follow these guidelines and avoid committing these mistakes, then you will at least have a well-functioning website that will be more likely to drive customers to it. All you have to do is avoid at all costs these website design “not to-dos”.
