How to Fix 5 Common Web Design Mistakes

I have written blogs in the past about the mistakes many websites have. Most website owners are not even aware that they have issues with their website. They trust that the web design company that they are working with will deliver them a product that has no issues. This would be ideal but unfortunately is not realistic. The reason being is that even if a website is perfect upon launch, over time as technology advances older technologies on your website will become out dated therefore causing issues. You cannot expect your web design company to constantly be checking your site to make sure nothing breaks. The other issue that may cause issues on your website is the fact that the owner maybe attempting to cut corners in order to make their website fit the budget they had in mind. One example of this is mobile friendly websites. This can cost a little extra and is something many owners choose not to go with but it is a major mistake if you choose not to go with a mobile friendly website. I will discuss this more below. Let’s take a closer look at the mistakes you may not know your website has and what you can do to resolve them.

1. Sound Automatically Plays – There is nothing more annoying than when you click on a website and they have music playing in the background that nobody wants to hear. Many times it takes you a while to find the controls in order to turn off the music. By the time you find them you are so annoyed that you want to leave the site anyways. In extreme cases the website doesn’t allow users to mute or disable the music. You may be thinking that well if the user doesn’t like the music then they can just mute the volume on their computer. This is true however there are a couple issues with this. One it is annoying to have to do this and two, many people who are surfing the web are already listening to some type of music and don’t want to have to stop it just so they can view your site.If you feel that this music or noise that automatically begins playing when somebody visits your site is absolutely necessary then you can do them a favor by placing the controls in an easy to find place so they can disable it if they want. Now, I for one do not believe this is a necessity. So the best thing that you can do is remove it all together or you can have it on your site but only make it play when the user selects to listen to it.
2. Lacks the Attention Grabbing Factor – What is the “attention grabbing factor” you may be asking? Well, your website has between 3 and 5 seconds to make a first impression that will keep the visitor on your site and hopefully in the end they will convert. Your website doesn’t even have to look bad for a user to leave your site before giving it a chance. If their is nothing their to grab their attention then they will leave your site more times than not.

   So what do you do about this? The answer is simple. Make sure that when a visitor goes to your website they find a well designed website that tells exactly what it is your site does through an image. Do not try to explain it through a bunch of text that is laid out in paragraph form. Make the content easy to scan and read quickly while using videos and images to explain what is that your company does.

3. Annoying Pop-Ups – Do not ever let a web designer tell you that you should use pop ups. Pops are annoying and make visitors to your website never want to come back. I still remember the day when pop up blockers did not exist and time was spent closing down pop up ad after pop up ad which annoyed everyone. That is why pop up blockers were invented so that people surfing the internet don’t have to deal with the annoying pop ups.

   There is a very simple solution for this. Do not use pop ups on your website. They are not worth it. The goal is to keep visitors coming back to your website not to scare them away. That is exactly what pop ups do, they scare the visitors to your site away. The same visitors you spent time and money getting to your site in the first place.

4. Ignoring Mobile Users – If you are a follower of my blog then you know I keep harping on this fact. This is something worth harping about, because if you are ignoring your visitors that are coming to your site via a mobile device such as a smart phone or tablet then you are losing out on a large and growing portion of your potential customers. Mobile devices are even becoming more popular than they already are. Which means that if you do not have a mobile friendly website then you are likely going to be losing out on potential customers to your site.

   Again this is easy to resolve. Either update your site to responsive or get a mobile website built. We would highly recommend you go with the responsive option. There are numerous reasons as to why would suggest you going with the responsive option but that conversation is for another time.

5. Poor Navigation – You would be shocked how often this occurs. When somebody visits a website and then has a difficult time finding what they are looking for it is likely that they will become frustrated and leave your site without converting. There is nothing more frustrating than finding a site on Google that says it has what it is that you are looking for however when you click on the site it is impossible to find it on the site.

   Make sure that no page on your site takes more than 2 clicks to get to that page. Also categorizing things under the proper menu is extremely important. The structure of your site may make sense to you but will it make sense to your visitors? That is the question that you must ask yourself.

A websites success is found in the details. Take time to look at your with a fine tooth comb and you will likely find some issues like above that are driving customers from your website to one of your competitor’s websites. By doing this it will make your online business much more successful. Talk to your Phoenix web design company to find out other ways you can become more successful.