Web Design Mistakes To Avoid
As the owner of a small business, you can not afford to make mistakes while competing against the big guns of the market, as there is a lot more at stake than you think. You need to fix your weakness and cultivate your strengths swiftly, and it is your website which can turn out to be your savior in the process. In the age of Internet marketing, your official website is the storefront of your small business. It is the website which will act as your portfolio, as interested customers will choose to visit your website in order to know you in a better way. Simply put, it is your website which has the power to “make or break” your reputation. We all know what follows after “making” your business, i.e., an increased rate of conversion. However, on the other hand, “breaking” stands for complete annihilation.
Let me make something absolutely clear. Your website is the most important part of your small business branding and marketing efforts – in short, your Life Force. You need to remember that your website visitors are coming with specific purposes, and you need to make sure that they leave with satisfaction. Therefore, you need to avoid making certain mistakes with the design and development of your website – the ones which are known to be instant letdowns when it comes to user experience.
#1. Color & Contrast
The very first in the list is the use of color and contrast. If the color used in a webpage doesn’t have sufficient contrast in comparison to the text, it’ll be difficult for your visitors to read the content, especially the ones with color-blindness or poor vision. Why are they so important, you ask? Color and contrast help to define the flow and hierarchy of a page, and as a result the page looks more organized.
Research popular websites, and check how they have played with color and contrast. You can use the Color Contrast Checker to check how the contrast in your website has measured up.
#2. Poor Navigation
Small businesses often forget that proper navigational feature is of utmost priority. If navigation is neglected, it means that your visitors are bound to get frustrated, and thus, it’ll eventually increase the bounce rate of your website. And why shouldn’t it? They visit your website to gather information as soon as possible, and a delay due to poor navigation will force them to move to the next best option.
Good navigation will result in a greater number of readers, subscribers, sales or leads. You can try using icons in order to aid the navigation process. Create logical groups of related links, placed in an ascending order based on their importance. You must also go for Breadcrumb navigation to order to provide an enhanced location-information to your visitors.
#3. Unclear Call To Action
Why is a Call to Action used? A Call to Action helps in leading visitors to commit an action (like, subscribe, contact you or buy a product) which will be mutually beneficial. I’m sure you’ve seen webpages with endless paragraphs of information, but the failure to channelize the visitors into something more productive means that you are losing them.
The “Click Here” button doesn’t work anymore. You need to invest time in innovating new ways to attract visitors, but never forgetting to consider that your visitors need guidance and their needs must be addressed. Color, shape, size and position – all four of these elements have key roles to play. Don’t overdo it with multiple calls – something which will make your visitors work or think too much.
Conclusion:
Along with these three, it is also important for you to notice whether your website has enough white space. White space helps to make a website look cleaner and clutter-free. This has a favorable impact on the minds of the visitors. And after all, it is a favorable presentation which matters, isn’t it?
Hi, This is Christina Ryan from Macon, Georgia. I am a Social Media and Internet Marketing Expert and love to promote brands in Internet world.
