Your brand and business website is your digital spokesperson, and therefore you must ensure you get it right while setting up your website because it is likely the first interaction a potential customer has with your brand.
However, web design is a daunting task and there are numerous pitfalls to avoid while designing a website for your businesses, so by reading these 5 Mistakes to Avoid When Building Your Website, you will surely get it right in terms of visibility and optimization of your website.
In a bid to help you do better, we have put together a list of five common pitfalls to avoid during web designing along with the recommended methods.
1. Overlooking the Mobile Optimization process
The Mistake:
If you forget to create a responsive version of the website, you will lose a more than considerable fraction of your potential traffic. Over fifty five percent of the traffic online comes from mobile devices.. That of course is an understatement, when you check on google analytics, the percentage may be as high as 80% traffic coming from mobile devices.
Also if you do not optimize for smaller screens the designs may look warped, or load slowly, or be impossible to navigate, any of which are more than enough reason to make users ditch the page.
How toFix:
- Use responsive design: Opt for a website builder or template that automatically adjusts to different screen sizes.
- Test across devices: Before launch, test your website on various devices (smartphones, tablets, and desktops) for consistent usability and appearance. Tools like Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test can help identify issues.
- Streamline design elements for mobile: Avoid clutter, use readable fonts, and make navigation buttons large enough to click with a finger.
Prioritizing mobile responsiveness not only enhances user experience but can significantly improve your site’s search engine rankings.
2. Overloading with Design Elements
The Mistake:
The principle of minimalist design should be applied in web design. Involving too much attention-grabbing features like autoplay videos, different animations or using a wide range of colors will be enough to disorient users and make your site slower.
Most importantly, it will make it harder for them to zero in on your main point.
The Solution:
- Be true to your brand: Keep a particular color combination throughout your site, have organized texts and use only elements that are relevant to your brand.
- Use fewer animations: Limit your animations to only those that have a functional intent like make users click on CTA buttons.
- Prioritize readability: Make sufficient white space between sections, keep your sentences or paragraphs short and preferably use bullet points.
A website will always have an objective like getting people to fill out a form or make a purchase. Keeping it simple directs their focus.
3. Overlooking Loading Speed
The Error:
Most website owners underestimate the importance of page speed. It should be mentioned that statistics indicate that 53% of mobile users will abandon a web page that takes more than 3 seconds to load. Customers get irritated if sites take too long to load and this has an adverse impact on the search engine ranking of your website.
The Fix:
- Compress images: Images are one of the main reasons for delayed loading pages. The quality of the file can be maintained even if the size is decreased by using tools such as TinyPNG.
- Select dependable hosting: Low-cost hosting strategies may help save initial costs, but they can slow down high-traffic websites. Invest in a reliable hosting provider.
- Simplify code: Avoid heavy plugins, unnecessary scripts, and bloated code that bog down your pages.
Regularly monitor your site’s speed using tools like Google PageSpeed Insights or GTmetrix to ensure it’s performing at its best.
4. Poor Navigation and User Experience (UX)
The Mistake:
Most websites struggle because users do not know how to get around the website.
If the visitors have trouble finding what they are looking for, chances are they will go elsewhere and will probably not return.
Here’s what you should do:
- Use fewer items for the menu: In the navigation bar, only include the most basic sections of your website, such as Home, About us, Services, and Contact us.
- Make your CTAs easy to follow : Allow call to actions buttons to be easy for the people visiting the site to find them and use phrases such as ‘Get Started’ ‘Contact Us’ or ‘Learn More’.
- Always use breadcrumbs: Use breadcrumb navigation links so that your visitors can know where they are on your site.
Focus on User friendly features when building your site. Each and every element within the website should seamlessly help the visitors continue to the next step in their journey.
5. Forgetting About SEO
The Mistake:
Although you have the best designed website, it wouldn’t count for anything because people would not be able to find it.
SEO( Search Engine Optimization) on the other hand is a huge key element of expanding your business and loss of SEO means loss of potential sales.
The Fix:
- Optimize metadata: : Use keywords in your titles and descriptions to make them more appealing as well as place them where your site appears in search results.
- Use image alt text: Using alt tags is beneficial because it can help search engines understand the content of your images, and it also helps blind and partially sighted users be aware of what the content is.
- Content investment: Uploading content regularly is key as having various keyword based high level content helps with ranking the website.
Additionally, ensure a fast-loading, secure (HTTPS-enabled) website—Google prioritizes these in rankings.
How to Ensure Long-Term Website Success
Creating a website shouldn’t be a one-and-done task—it’s an ongoing project. By avoiding these five common mistakes, you can build a website that attracts traffic, engages users, and drives meaningful results for your business. Analyze visitor behavior, gather feedback, and continually optimize your website to grow and adapt with your business.
At the heart of a great website lies one simple principle—put the user first. Keep that in mind, and your website is bound to succeed.