Design mistakes that hurt your business

Top website design mistakes that hurt your business:

It will not come as a surprise that the website is the most visible part of your business. If you want your venture to be viable in this era of the pandemic, you've got to have a well-designed website. Due to social distancing, most people first are looking at the company's website.

One of the most prominent features of a quality website is design. A well-designed website can help you create an impression on your potential customers and induce them to take the desired action. With design trends rapidly changing, it's essential to stay abreast of the latest ideas. While there are many articles online that discuss what web designers should do when building their client's websites, fewer pieces tell designers what not to do.

Creating websites for the future is our mission. Our work isn't just about creating an awe-inspiring, state-of-the-art web design, but also about making sure that your site is designed in a way that does its job well: converting visitors to clients. While any website can be successful on paper, many businesses make mistakes when designing their websites that significantly hurt their chances of success.

Slow load times

A slow website is a significant web design mistake. Most visitors only care about accessing the content as quickly as possible. It's not always about the content on the screen. More than half of web users will start leaving if the website does not load within 3 seconds.

If you're looking to gain more visibility in the search engines, page speed is a metric that's worth improving. Not only does Google reward fast-loading pages with higher rankings, but mobile users also tend to abandon sites that take longer than three seconds to load. In fact, Google has gone on record as saying: "We know from our own user experience that slow response time means unhappy users. And unhappy users tend to leave websites.

Cluttered navigation

Visitors to your websites need to find what they want quickly and easily. 

Some designers get carried away and create websites that are difficult for visitors to navigate. This creates a bad UX and frustrates the users. They get irritated and leave the website because it takes too long to find what they need.

Website navigation is very important for a user experience. It should be easy and quick for people to find what they want, so they don't leave the site out of frustration. There are many ways designers can make navigation easier on visitors: use visual hierarchy, use clear labels, create an obvious hierarchy between categories, give them shortcuts with breadcrumbs or other navigational aids, etcetera.

 The website is not secure enough.

The security of the website is crucial for its success. Users are constantly looking for sites that will provide them with the security they need. They are always on the lookout for signs that will tell them whether or not they can trust a site. A site that does not have enough security measures in place will disappoint its users, which is why it's important to keep up-to-date with the latest trends in technology so you can keep your customers happy and your business running smoothly.

A website may look good on the outside, but if it is not secure enough, then customers will have no reason to trust it. That is why it's important to make sure that your website has everything necessary to keep people safe when they are browsing through your content or making purchases through your store.

Not only search engines but web users also prefer certain websites. If your site does not have an SSL certificate and is not set up for HTTPS, visitors will get a warning that your site is not secure enough, which will drive away customers in a jiffy.

The website is not mobile-friendly

For a majority of people, smartphones are the primary device for connecting to the internet. Many search engines are mobile-first. 

Websites need to be designed to be responsive and mobile-friendly. They need to make use of their small screen in a way that provides an immersive browsing experience.

Mobile-friendliness is becoming mandatory for websites. It is not enough for them to have a responsive design, they also need to optimize their content for the mobile screen.

It is good practice for websites to use an adaptive layout that can handle any device size, but it's better if the website has a responsive design that is optimized for mobile devices. Mobile web browsers are used by most people these days, who evaluate a website based on how it looks on their phone or tablet. Websites need to be designed with this in mind so they provide an immersive browsing experience.

Low-quality images

High-quality images are essential for a good website design. Humans are visual creatures, so having a website with arresting images is beneficial. 

Websites with low-quality images are not doing their job. They are hurting the brand's brand value. People are more likely to leave your website if the images are grainy, fuzzy, or unclear.

Low-quality images can be defined as anything that is grainy, blurry, too light or dark, or just plain hard to understand.

Low-quality images can do some serious damage to websites because if people have trouble seeing the image on screen they'll have trouble reading the text on it and ultimately may not want to continue viewing your site at all. Poorly lit photographs can also make it difficult for individuals with poor eyesight to read text on the screen and may cause discomfort for people sensitive to bright light like migraines or headaches

Disruptive pop-ups

When used correctly, pop-ups can convert up to 1375% of email subscribers. 

 Pop-ups have been around for a while, but it's time to get rid of them. It should be the other way around - your customers want pop-ups, and they should be able to get them when they want.

A good example of a disruptive popup is when a customer visits a website, and all of a sudden they see a pop-up with an offer flashing in front of their eyes. Pop-ups are not welcome if they interrupt the flow of our customers browsing through our service or product catalog.

Pop-ups are becoming more and more invasive since marketers are trying to find new ways to get their message across to customers, but it's time that we listen to what our customers have been saying for years: "We don't want any pop-ups!"

Having too much or too little content

Your website design needs to provide your visitors with what they need without going overboard. Too many features can make your website look crowded, confuse the visitors and slow down the website.

Equally important is not leaving the website incomplete and empty. It can also leave out the necessary information visitors expect to see and find. For example, it should prominently feature your contact information. Not doing so can leave the visitors with the wrong impression.

Judicious use of whitespace in your design

You don't want to overwhelm the visitors, but you also want to make sure you provide necessary and exact information to cover the topic, answer questions, and so forth.

There are many things that you should keep in mind when writing for your website. You want to make sure that your content is engaging, informative, and easy to read. One of the most important elements of web design is the use of whitespace. Whitespace lets readers scan the page quickly and provides breathing room around images and text; however, you also want to make sure you provide necessary and exact information to cover the topic, answer questions, and so forth.

It is important for readers' eyes not to be drawn away from your content by any unnecessary decoration or clutter on the page. This makes it easier for them to find what they are looking for without being distracted by other information or graphics that may not be relevant to their needs at this moment in time. And if they happen across something interesting

Generic 404 page

Web design includes page layout and user experience and content and search engine optimization(SEO). From the SEO point of view, one can avert common design mistakes.

The first mistake is not having a dedicated custom 404-page template. Broken links are bad for business. It does not inspire confidence, and visitors may see it as a scam.

The second mistake is not having a title and heading tags. Using descriptive page texts won't be as impactful as describing it in the title.