Your chances of attracting customers online depend on how professional your website looks. Here are mistakes with design to avoid for business websites.
Did you know there is a direct relationship between the design of your website and how many leads your business will generate?
According to Standford’s Web Credibility Research, 75 percent of consumers judge a business based on the design of its website. That’s 75 percent of a market you can potentially capture by tapping into your creativity and innovation to create a website that will spark your consumer’s interest.
Designing a website is not as hard as it seems. However, there are a few things you need to keep in mind to avoid setbacks.
Keep reading this guide to learn the common mistakes with design companies make and how you can learn from their lessons.
1. Poor Website Performance
In this day and age, website loading speed is critical and should be considered one of the highest priorities of a website.
According to data compiled from 12 separate case studies, nearly 80 percent of shoppers who are not satisfied with a website’s performance are less likely to do business with them again.
Poor website performance can be detrimental to your company as consumers will look elsewhere for products or services. The performance of a website is depended on many factors, including:
- The hosting provider
- Images
- Traffic
- Videos
- Plugins
- Links
- Scripts
- And advertisements
If your website doesn’t load within two seconds, you are significantly more likely to experience a higher bounce rate.
Sometimes images and videos require a flash player in order to play correctly, even though it is being phased out by many browsers. Visit how to enable flash in chrome to learn more about the process and how it affects your website.
2. Lack of Mobile Support
With the prolific rise in smartphone usage, more and more people every year are turning to mobile websites as their primary way of viewing.
According to recent research, mobile phone web traffic is up 222 percent over the past seven years. This trend of mobile phone web surfing is expected to continually increase as more time is being spent online than ever before.
Having a mobile-friendly website is no longer a nice feature to have, it is required if you are serious about growing your business and capturing leads.
3. Not Secure
If you haven’t noticed, cybersecurity is growing at an unprecedented pace. This is because many more users and companies are sharing information in the digital world, leading to an increase in hackers looking to expose vulnerable data.
Can you think of any examples off of the top of your head? Let’s see there is:
- Equifax
- Capital one
- State farm
- Yahoo
- Citrix
- Toyota
- Quest
- Labcorp
The list goes on and on, and this list only includes last year’s breaches.
The problem is when data is breached, consumers lose trust in your brand, and the after-effects can be detrimental if you do not earn their confidence back.
One of the easiest ways of securing your website is to obtain a security certificate (HTTPS.) This way, the connection will be encrypted and proves to viewers you are a legitimate company.
4. Overwhelming Information (Or Not Enough)
Your website is the first thing people will see about your business, and they will make quick judgments based on how they like it.
The saying “first impressions are everything,” holds even more true when it comes to website design. The thing is, if users can’t find the information they are looking for in a mess of content, they will just go elsewhere.
This exodus of users will increase your bounce rate and is only beneficial for your competition.
High-quality images can indeed attract users, but too many will distract them and take them away from the message you are trying to convey. The same is valid with content, too much can be distracting, and too little can leave people guessing.
It’s crucial to make use of whitespace in a way that won’t be distracting but has enough substance to get your message across.
5. Neglecting Search Engine Optimization
When it comes to generating leads, few things are more important than search engine optimization (SEO).
Search engine optimization is the process of gaining organic traffic through quality content. It helps search engines like google find your information and relays it to consumers searching for information related to your business.
SEO is based on many factors of your website, including:
- Content quality
- Keywords
- Title tags
- Links
- Meta descriptions
- Website performance
- Among other techniques
Keyword research is essential when it comes to search engine optimization. To figure out how consumers will find you, it’s important to understand the keywords and phrases consumers will be using.
Once the keywords are determined, you can use them within your content to increase your visibility on search engines. Regular blog posts can help companies increase traffic and lead by providing quality content that users will read. It’s also critical that your website is ada compliant and accessible for disabled users.
6. Not Utilizing Images
The use of images in marketing has increased dramatically over the past few years, thanks in large part to the ongoing marketing psychology research.
Images are an easy way of conveying your message to your users. It has been said that humans can process images 60,000 times quicker than text, making images a critical factor in any business’s website.
Keep in mind though that images can also slow down your site’s loading speed and can deter people if you are not careful. It is recommended to compress and optimize images to include on your website.
7. Hard to Find Contact Information
Nobody likes having to dig around a website to find the company’s contact information. In fact, many consumers who can’t find a company’s contact information will determine the business is untrustworthy and go elsewhere.
Make sure to put your contact information in a spot where everyone will be able to find it.
Want More Information About Mistakes With Design and How to Overcome Them?
Having a website as a business is vital for the future of the company. Just make sure to avoid these common mistakes with the design that companies are making to avoid any setbacks.
Having a solid digital marketing strategy with a fully functioning website can prove to be your best sales generator.
For more information on website design and other helpful information, check out the rest of our website!
