COMMON MISTAKES IN WEB DESIGN AND HOW TO AVOID THEM.

In today’s hugely competitive online marketplace, your website can, quite simply, make or break your business. You have only a few seconds to make a good first impression on your website visitor before they will simply click elsewhere if the user experience isn’t up to scratch.

There are a million blogs out there which will give advice on what to do when it comes to web design. Here, we’re going to look at a couple of things which you should not do. This will all help to ensure that your bounce rate is low and your time on site is high – as well as generating that all-important custom time and time again from loyal audiences.

Don’t discount mobile-friendly design

In the era of the smartphone, this seems like very much a no-brainer when it comes to web design. The look, feel and functionality of your website should be consistent no matter what type of device your website visitor is using. This covers factors such as font size, content length and ease of navigation.

But, it also needs to consider bigger factors, such as image sizes for load times, responsiveness – which also helps to support SEO – and minor details such as turning off autocorrect on any website forms to avoid problems when entering uncommon words for names or addresses. Mobile-friendly design is a simple box to tick but it can make so much difference, especially when you consider that 70% of all web traffic comes from mobile phones.

Avoid overwhelming your audience with content

Yes, your website needs to look good and so the design is of paramount importance. However, that shouldn’t get in the way of readability. Font choices, sizes and colours need to be simple and clear to both those who are familiar with your website but also those who haven’t come across your website before. Yes, you can add some artistic flair in some areas but body copy should ideally be easy to read, succinct, broken up by subheadings, and get right to the point of what you do, what you can offer and how website visitors can benefit from it. On average, website visitors only read about 20% of the content which is displayed. So, make every word work hard for you.

Never cut corners on security.

Following the introduction of GDPR legislation last year, online security has tightened up to help further protect people’s personal data and information. An SSL certificate is now pretty much essential if you collect data about your visitors and you want to gain their trust. An SSL certificate will provide you with that nifty little padlock in the browser bar which confirms that it is encrypting data to offer an extra layer of online protection.

It will also give you a ‘https’ website address. Failure to have that in place will mean your site is flagged up as unsecure by Google, which will no doubt significantly cut your web traffic.

It is almost a given now that a company or organisation will have a website. But, your website needs to work well for you to build brand awareness, provide an enjoyable and beneficial user experience and encourage first-time, as well as return, interaction and custom. So, ensure you do not fall foul to any of these pitfalls when it comes to getting your website right and running well.

Here at Theme, we can design, develop and maintain a website which is perfectly attuned to the individual needs of your business. Here’s just some of what we have been up to. Or, contact us to find out more.