At the heart of every website design or redesign project should be your customers. They’re the ones who interact with your website. They’re the ones who search for products or services and hopefully find you. Customers have a choice to make when they type in that Google search query. So, while there are many facets that make a good website, creating an awesome customer experience should be top of your list.
Yet, it’s amazing how many otherwise good websites get dragged down by a few simple mistakes. This is often caused by going it alone and not seeking the help of expert web designers. Or sometimes even due to bad website designers. Regardless, these are some of the simple mistakes you need to fix for a great website.
Slow page loading
Be honest, how long will you wait for a page to load while searching online? Usually, anything more than a couple of seconds wait-time is enough for people to switch off. There are plenty of things that cause slow page load speed, but it’s usually a technical problem that a developer can fix. This is important, because you’ve done the hard work to attract a visitor, only to have them go straight back to Google if your page is slow.
No mobile responsive website design
In this day and age, it’s almost criminal to have a website design that doesn’t work on mobile devices. Online browsing on mobile has practically overtaken traditional desktop browsing, so your website needs to work on all devices. Even on the basic website platforms, you can get a preview in phone and tablet mode to make sure everything looks and functions well.
Poor or non-existent CTA
What do you want customers to do when they visit your website? Sign up to an email list? Purchase a product? Read about your company history? Whatever your goals. Make sure they’re clearly shown in a Call-to-Action (CTA). Make it stand out and make it clear.
Difficult navigation kills your website design
How annoying is it when you visit a website and you can’t find the section you’re looking for? Sometimes its buried at the bottom of the page, or not even on the main page navigation at all. Make sure everything is in your menu, and make the menu user friendly. Your customers will thank you!
Contact info hard to find
Not all website visits lead to an automatic sale or conversion. Often, customers will want to call, email or contact you in some other way. Don’t hide your contact details away in the footer of the page. Make your ‘Contact Us’ page part of your main menu, and make it easy for people to find.
Lack of investment in SEO
Even if you’ve built your own website using one of the popular platforms out there like WordPress, there are plugins to help you with SEO. You should at least be getting the basics right, but even then, it may not be enough to rank well on Google. For that, you’ll need strong SEO. Investing in quality content and posting new content regularly is crucial. Having a flashy website is great, but if nobody can find you, what’s the point?
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