Business start-ups can’t afford costly mistakes and pitfalls. Small business tries to navigate throughout the myriad of options, when making decisions. Larger enterprises allocate budgets accordingly to get it done right, most of the time. In other words, everyone wants to avoid mistakes that can hurt a business. This is especially true for web design and development projects.
Creating an online presence that communicates the right message to the desired target audience isn’t always so easy. Many larger organizations have similar challenges with website design, e-commerce applications, and customization of the website. Mistakes often can limit a company with scalability, expansion, and changes.
When reviewing website projects that have not gone well, some common elements come forward. Here are some of the most common mistakes made with web design that can hurt a business.
10 Web Design Mistakes Most Commonly Seen
1. Not having or investing into Responsive Design.
Responsive Design is not an option anymore. In our mobile and digital culture, people are accessing the Internet via mobile devices more than computers. Responsive Design websites work across all major devices such as smart phones, tablets, and computers.
2. Failing to list contact information on each page.
Websites should be designed and build having a company’s contact information on each page. Incorporating the contact information in the header and footer does this. This way, it will copy across all pages on the website, when created correctly.
3. Lack of ‘Call to Action’ on site pages and home page.
Call outs or ‘call to action’ design elements are areas of a website that help a company achieve their desired goal, such as a sale, collect a lead, capture website visitors information and so on. Many websites lack these on key sections of their website. It is what Conversion Optimization techniques use as well to improve a website’ performance.
4. Website pages are not optimized for search engines.
Not optimizing website pages for search engines, is a little like not using showcases and show windows for your retail business. Website pages often are not optimized, which hurts online marketing efforts. All pages should be uniquely optimized for most important and relevant keywords.
5. Content is not sufficient, wrongly placed, and not optimized.
Content is one of the most important if not “The” most important element for websites. Many websites do not have sufficient content. Also, it is not placed in results oriented areas of a website. Often, it is not optimized for search results, which further hurts the business and marketing efforts.
6. Navigation of website is not clear and confusing.
When creating the blueprint and page skeleton of a website, navigation should be thought out well for best results. Too many websites have a navigational structure that is unclear and confusing when visiting the website. Objectives have to be clear and navigation should match those business objectives.
7. Poor and confusing organization of page content.
How to organize all the necessary content on each page should be carefully reviewed prior to the design and development of a website. For best results, website designs should strategically organize all page content of home page and secondary pages of a website. Content such as page text, images, call to action, navigation, and videos.
8. Not incorporating social media channels and functions.
In our social sharing culture, not to incorporate social media elements and functionality on just about every page of a website can hurt a business. Website visitors want to be able to share across social media something they see online that they like. Social media and sharing abilities should be easily accessible on a website.
9. Bad and unprofessional graphic design for websites.
We do judge a book by its cover and websites that have bad and unprofessional graphic design loose quickly. Website visitors are highly visually driven and expect these days a professional looking website presence of just about any business. Detailed and professional graphic designs should be used on websites for best results.
10. Broken elements of a website.
Website visitors and consumers have very little patience with websites that have broken links, functions, and elements. Websites that are slow and not properly working are quickly discarded and often not visited again. For results, websites should be checked to ensure all elements are working and nothing is broken.
To ensure quality web design and proper execution of website development, a business or entrepreneur should work with established and well-experienced technology partner. A company or entrepreneur can also work through consulting services. A business consultant often has long lasting relationships with website design companies that produce quality work.
