5 Website Design Mistakes That Are Killing Your Business
Your website is your most important product, the sales floor, the showroom and the advertisement board but it is not always easy to make it work properly.
Navigation is key in keeping visitors around - easy and natural navigation should always be top of mind for them!
In this blog post, I'll tell you 5 website design mistakes that are killing your business!
1. Cluttered Pages
In attempting to involve the public in your enterprise or to push them to purchase your goods, all you have at your disposal are a few minutes and a couple of words that must leave a memorable mark about what and who you are. A confusing website with too many elements may confuse the visitors and they will move directly to some other businesses.
While trying to be too artistic and clever, however, they may end up creating cluttered pages. Rather than over-cluttering a single page with information, concentrate on what the purpose of that specific page is and exclude any details that do not lead towards those ends.
Visitors to your website may see it as visually overwhelming if you use multiple fonts. Hence, choosing just one or two fonts you will stick with is a better option. This also makes sure that your fonts are visible when viewed with a mobile device. For a new business that wants to build its credibility, it is very important not to make the site look spammy. For example, removing superfluous graphics and popups.
2. Lack of Navigation
Websites should ensure that visitors can find what they want with ease and in no time because sites must have a simple navigation hierarchy. On the other hand, visitors leave as soon as they get confused or disoriented by a website that has too much nesting of menus and links.
The breadcrumbs trail allows users to move backwards through the site, which can improve the navigational experience as well as let visitors comprehend where they are in the hierarchy of the website and explore other nodes. Also, each page should have a link back to either their home page or search page, allowing for smooth navigation back to their starting point.
IMDB’s homepage consists of too much media that should take users to where they need it. Users’ glances should be directed to the elements, which are most popular with these products. The layout could be improved by adding more space and more refined media elements. Furthermore, looking at Google Analytics “user flow” reports will give some insight into what pages/sections are most visited by users so you could afford them more prominent placement in navigation.
3. Too Much Text
Text will be crucial in any website, although its significance will depend on your product or service (e.g. dress comparison in apparel e-commerce site users are more affected by visuals than if they were to buy grills or digital subscriptions). Text is important when people try to travel through your checkout UX or find the required answers using your FAQs and reviews pages.
It is equally essential that once a visitor lands on your homepage should see a clear call to action, as simple as a phone number or contact form that will increase digital productivity for business productivity.
This will undoubtedly put off visitors thereby reducing business productivity in the digital market, and hence churning visitors must be avoided. Proper colour combinations with clear graphics and a better hue should be used to improve business productivity online.
4. Overly Minimalist
Minimalism is an efficient strategy for the making of a user-friendly website, but when abused the same can turn out to be catastrophic. It can also happen that a site with too much minimalism becomes complicated and makes it difficult for visitors to find necessary information.
Minimalistic design tries to minimize all the decorations such as many different fonts and ensure only the necessary information for communication is easy to comprehend. The designers must keep in mind that this type of design is meant to communicate well.
Example: Not giving people an incentive to “bounce” from a company website that uses minimal style and no contact forms or social CRM could drive callers who would rather ring up the company than leave. However, the addition of a search bar can enable visitors to find the necessary information quickly.
5. Irrelevant Images
Website designs would be incomplete without the images that go along with them increasing the user’s engagement, driving traffic to the website, and creating leads and sales. However, the pictures should not project the wrong message and make users doubt your business integrity.
Having too many images can annoy visitors making them go back to what they were using instead of shopping. Organize your product information by putting them under categories and not directly bombard them with goods they neither want nor need.
Also, ensure that your website can be accessed on mobile devices as yet another essential stage to providing customers with an enticing experience online. More people shop on mobile phones than anything else; not optimizing your e-commerce site can cost some sales. Lastly, ensure you have a contact page that provides the phone number and other important business information which will be another way of establishing trust and credibility with your customers.