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5 Common Web Design Mistakes Small Businesses Should Avoid

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Lili Griffin
5 Common Web Design Mistakes Small Businesses Should Avoid

For all businesses, especially small ones, it is important that you play your cards correctly if you want your brand to grow and flourish. You should maximize all your assets for things to go well in your favor and to have an interesting yet effective website is a must. However, not everyone can afford to hire web designers, so the owners just do the job without a deep understanding of what makes a good design. On rare occasions, the website does well enough, but more often than not, the website is created poorly.

In designing websites, you must find the perfect balance between the design aesthetic and its usability. It must be appealing and interesting without compromising its navigability and function. There isn’t a solid standard of good web design is but rather, there are unspoken rules that you can use for guidance.

Terrible Use of CTA

Your CTA is what gives your site visitors a push to make a purchase. However, if you execute your CTA terribly, the push to make a purchase may just become a push to leave the site. Here are some things you have to be mindful of when creating a CTA.

Placement. The CTA must be placed in a position that will attract just the right amount of attention. According to Fitt’s Law, it would be wise to follow the natural flow of your users’ eyes when positioning your website elements which are top to bottom and left to right. Moreover, mobile users prefer having the CTA at the top of the site to avoid having to scroll down.

Color. Color plays a much larger role in appeal than you think. Colors can affect feelings, and you should play that to your advantage. If you overlook this detail, you might have missed your chance to connect with your customer.

Choice of Words. Words have so much power in them, that using (or not using) a specific word can make or break your CTA. In general, keep it clear and concise but still captivating.

Poor Website Content

Poor website content comes in several forms such as a random irrelevant blog post, thin content, or an off-brand post. You should avoid if you want to boost conversion rates and push up your SEO ranking. Give your site visitors useful and informative content regularly. Additionally, your content should be on brand. Aside from having relevant content, they should also be cohesive throughout your website. It should be representative of your brand persona.

Moreover, effective content doesn’t only give the people what they currently need, but also what they want next. You should be able to be a step ahead instead of just riding on the current trend.

Too Much Clutter on the Website

Having too much clutter on your website overwhelms the site visitor. The lack of visual organization confuses the customer on what are the important parts of the site. It’s alright to have an eye-catching focal point in your site but if all the elements are made to be eye-catching, then the website as a whole, is probably not. Use your editing eye to evaluate which elements are unnecessary and does not do anything good for your website.

Some of these elements include poor use of white space, oversized images, oversized and inappropriate fonts, and improper placement of fonts and ads. Make sure that they complement each other and tie in together nicely.

Poor Implementation of Navigation

The main objective of your website navigation is to be user-friendly because if your users cannot even figure out how to explore your site, they will bounce almost immediately. That’s not the only problem you will face, though. Your SEO rankings will also be pulled down by a poor layout.

Users prefer a concise layout to reduce visual noise. However, do not lose your personal touch. You may stick to a standard layout that can be easily navigated, but if it’s bland and boring, then your conversion rates will still not increase. Simple and minimalist does not have to mean boring.

Absence of Analytics

To truly make your website grow, you must properly plan and strategize for your next move which includes website analytics. It gives you information on your site visitors and your website performance so you can improve and capitalize on your strong points.

You should be designing your website for your site visitors. Incorporate their demographics and psychographics such as age, gender, location, and interests, to the decisions you make for your site to enhance their user experience.

With website analytics, you get to know which content performs well and which content does not. Having this kind of information lets you know what should focus on and optimize further. For example, you can add more CTA statements on your top performing pages to boost conversions as well as give the page a new and fresh look.

Conclusion


There are so many websites that have good web design, and you don’t want your website to be the site that sticks out like a sore thumb. To avoid committing these mistakes, you must choose the right web resources for your brand and use them to your advantage.

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Lili Griffin
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