Lessons Learnt From The Most Common Web Design Mistakes

You know you have a great product that people would love to get their hands on. After all those years of hard work you are now ready to take on the world. So what’s the next logical step? Taking your business online, of course. After waiting on the sidelines, gauging your competition, and calculating every possible scenario you launch your website and wait for good things to happen. Unfortunately, the wait becomes an agonizingly long trial of your patience and you are left scratching your head. The profits should have started coming in by now, but that’s hardly the case. What went wrong? 

There is a very good chance that you missed out on the most critical factor that can make or break sales for your business – Web Design. That all important cog in the wheel of any digital growth cycle that can take your business to the next level. Let’s find out what are the most common mistakes businesses make when it comes to web designing. 

Navigation Nightmare

How many times have we seen websites that look promising on all fronts but fail to impress with their complex, labyrinth-like navigation? The hallmark of great website design is the ease with which it presents all relevant information to its users. Yet it’s all too common to see businesses trying to up the ‘cool quotient’ with the use of fancy terms in place of the tried and tested ‘Home’ ‘About Us’ and ‘Contact’ links. 

While there’s nothing wrong in being creative with your website but if you think from the user’s perspective it leaves them confused and frustrated. Most times users have no clue which link would lead them to which page. This leads to a surge in bounce rates with users choosing to leave rather than wasting time navigating through all the pages. So sticking to the best practices in terms of navigation layout/terminology is always recommended, even if you think your ideas are totally cutting-edge.

Color Conundrum

Color is probably the most underrated aspect of web design, yet it wields the power to subconsciously influence buyers in your favor. With the right color theme, you can showcase your brand even without ever mentioning its name anywhere on the page. The human mind processes images better and associates them with events when it has color as a reference point. 

Maintaining palette uniformity is another aspect that should be followed to the T. Imagine browsing through a website that has one shade of blue for the homepage and another one for the subsequent pages. This creates doubts in the minds of the users, which makes them think twice before parting with personal details. So spend a good amount of time researching color schemes that will work best for your brand and the niche it is looking to serve.

Underperforming SEO

In case you’re wondering what’s SEO got to do with website design, the answer is – A Whole Lot! As an up and coming online business, you would want any help that you can get to give your website a better rank on search results, and website design will definitely help you in your quest. 

While you could opt for the easier route and use templates to create your online store however, this cookie cutter approach can prove disastrous in terms of SEO capabilities. So it’s wise to get expert help and use eCommerce website development services that ensure your website is mobile-friendly, loads faster, and has an easy-to-read design that pleases the users as well as the search engines. 

Misguided CTAs

Most website owners think that the all powerful Call To Action button is enough to get them all the leads, conversions, and sales. That is true to an extent, but the CTA button has no magical powers if you decide to place it randomly throughout your website. 

Any marketer worth their salt would tell you the CTA should be well thought out and be the culmination point of your sales funnel. However, what they won’t or can’t tell you is the fact that a CTA is only as effective as its placement. As a good practice deploy A/B testing for your CTAs where you can test it for color, copy, size, and font, amongst many other aspects. This will give you a fair idea of what works for your target audience and how you can tweak things for optimum results. 

Above the Fold

You’ve heard this term too many times to ignore it. ‘Above The Fold’ is the name given to that prime online ‘real estate’ that most marketers and web designers focus their attention on. There are countless websites out there that are still using this technique to catch users’ attention. However, this design attribute has been dead and buried since those smartphones came into existence. With varying screen sizes now there is no ‘ above the fold’ anymore and to add to that people’s buying patterns have changed altogether. Now users expect value addition to their time spent on a website before they make a buying decision. So cramming everything that your website offers in that small ‘above the fold’ space makes no sense in the current context. Instead, stagger your information in small bits and let the user browse through the complete page.

Website Copy 

This is probably the most important factor that sets your website apart from the competition. And yet there are uncountable websites that fail to capitalize on the power of the written word. Yes, you’ve heard that images say a thousand words, but a good web copy has the persuasive power to turn an indecisive buyer into a confirmed sale. 

With good copywriting backing your product you can be confident of more sales however, don’t go overboard with boasting about your brand and how it will solve all the problems. Let the users discover more about your brand through thoughtful web copy that is not salesy but still gets the job done. 

Final Words

Having a website that looks awesome has become a prerequisite for being in the online business. While marketing techniques will get the users to your website, good web design will make them stay. Avoid making these web design mistakes and your online business will reach new heights in no time.