With the recent increase in the usage of smartphones and the internet, web development has seen some significant improvements over the past few years. But still, there are some top common mistakes that web designers are making over and over. In this article, we have come up with some of the most common web design mistakes and how web designers can stay away from hurting their website’s overall engagement.
1. Not Using Responsive Web Designs
No matter what operating system your customer is using or how the latest the smartphone is, everybody across the globe is using a smartphone and hence more than 50% of searches are conducted on smartphones and tablets. So, one of the biggest web design mistakes is that cannot display the content and images properly especially on smartphones and tablets can lead to drastic losses for your businesses.
According to a study, 17% of the global’s 876 million websites have been designed responsive-friendly. In addition to that, recently Google launched a search update that penalizes all non-responsive websites in smartphone searches so not having a responsive friendly design will create a common website design mistake for businesses that generate leads online.
2. Depending On A Free Website Builder
There are various platforms that offer free website building services which take no more than 10 minutes to launch a new website. The huge problem with such types of services is that each and every web design adds a bunch of lines to the backend code and those make the website load slower. As a result, this is a web design mistake that leads to huge performance issues and unlimited errors.
If you have a limited budget, then try buying a premium web design theme which already has an eye-catching look and impressive style for the website you wanted to have. Also, there are thousands of freelance developers or Custom Software Development Company who can help you in designing a custom theme at cost-effective prices.
3. Not Including Actual Web Design Elements
Some websites are completely overloaded with too many features and functionalities while others ignore the basic design elements of their website. Having too many customizations can result in slowing down the performance of the website along with that countless errors. So finding a good balance is important.
The case would be the same as photos, videos, banners, and other kinds of visual content. Overall, your website should be designed in a way that it leads the customers’ eye to make a positive action such as requesting more information, asking for a quote, etc.
4. Bad Usage Of Headers, Footers, And Sidebars
Businesses always think that headers, footers, and sidebars are designed for advertising purposes. Nevertheless, it is a big no-no for websites that display a very high number of ads and banners when there is no or very little content to go along with it. Such spaces can be used for extra navigation within the website.
Of course, we are definitely not saying that it is not the right place a banner across the top of the page to advertise new promotions. Instead, what it means is that you have to remember the significance of designing and have to maintain the balance throughout the website.
5. Not Providing Enough Customer Information
Some websites display too many advertisements, while some others spend numerous hours and advertise currency in order to drive customers to their websites but in the end, those fail to capture a sale or even a lead. But what are the chances of that consumer returning to the website? Very few. This means you need to invest more money in order to retarget campaigns or other strategies so that you can get your lost customer back. Some big companies just waste too much money every year assuming this very same thing without even realizing that they are not capturing the customers’ information.
Now, web design mistakes can be avoided by designing a homepage opt-in offer which your website visitors can see. Whether it is an instant coupon for a discount or free shipping on retail websites, it will get your lost customers back to your website.
6. Not Having Quality Web Design Content
Rich quality content has been one of the significant things that some of the best websites have constantly been maintaining. And yes, there are website owners who actually spend thousands of dollars on building an eye-catching website and then consider the actual content part as an afterthought. This leads to mistakes in web design and gives worse results than expected as it is the number one way to engage website users and improve the conversion rates.
In order to figure out if your content is good enough in quality or not then just check your click-through rate for visitors. By this, you can certainly understand whether people are viewing multiple pages on your website or just leaving as soon as they open your website. In the end, give high-quality content importance as much as designing a website.
7. Hiding Crucial Information In Web Design
Another common website design mistake is making important information difficult to find. For example, a homepage should have links to FAQs, return policies, shipping details, etc. Another vital component such as products/services and blog page should also have their own subcategories in the menu bar when a website visitor features that specific section.
While creating the sitemap or the navigational layout of your website, it is important to design it based on customers’ requirements and make those pages or information easy to find.
Conclusion
It could be a great start if you’re looking to create a successful website. The website design isn’t rocket science. Sometimes, web developers make easy and not unusual mistakes in web design.
Creating an appealing website is critical, however, it’s also vital to create a website that makes you money.
Originally published at Technians
