If you are joining us for the first time this month, you are in for a treat! Focused Engagement is discussing website design in our series for March 2021. Last week, we introduced you to the topic of website design with our post “Where to start with website design for a local business”. This post should have given you more insight into exactly what website design is and how important it is for a local business. Next up, we are going to talk about mistakes to avoid with website design.

Once you begin navigating the waters of website design, you will learn that this process can be very challenging. There are many factors you must consider, including the purpose of your website, colors you are going to use, design features you want to incorporate, your business needs, and much more. Even when you get all these priorities straight, there is still the potential to make some common mistakes. Here are some mistakes to avoid as you website design for your local business.

Mistakes to avoid for website design

Too much or too little going on

For the most part, people will be visiting your website to learn more about your business. This means that your critical information should be easy to find for even the least skilled internet users. Most people do not want your website to be way too complicated as this helps no one. If your website is confusing and hard to navigate, viewers will likely leave it and look for a different company in your niche. Some people believe that abstract and hard-to-navigate websites are attractive, but that just is not the case for most people that come looking.

On the other hand, you do not want your website to be completely basic with a terrible design. If your website has little to no content, or content that is generic or not your own, that can be almost as bad as a website that is too complex. You should strive to find a happy medium between a busy and boring website; something that will catch the eye but is simple enough to navigate and read through. There are plenty of generic templates on WordPress or other website design platforms that will get the job done until you build a custom website.   

Missing or lacking call to action

No matter what type of business you run, you must have a call to action. This is one of the most important parts of your business so it should be taken seriously. A call to action tells your potential customer what action you want them to take. Do you want them to inquire about your services? Tell them that. Should they be buying your product? Convey that in some way. Keep the language of your call to action clear and understandable for your target audience. This is one of the biggest mistakes to avoid for website design that we see all the time. Luckily it can be avoided with plenty of time spent on your call to action.

Bad SEO optimization

While you are designing your website, you must also consider your search engine optimization or SEO. SEO has to do with how your website ranks in search engines and how easy it is for new users to find you. This has a lot to do with what content you include on your webpages, which means that you should design them so they can display content in a good-looking way. If you do not leave any room for content and do not have a lot on your site, it will be very hard for you to be found online. Contact us today for some help with your SEO! We are experts that are always looking to help local businesses grow and thrive.

Forgetting about the mobile version

Nowadays, many people prefer to browse the web on their phone. Computers are still a popular way to learn about new businesses, but mobile phones should certainly not be ignored. While you are designing your website, you should consider how you are going to translate that design over to a mobile format that looks good. If your website is amazing on desktop yet terrible on mobile devices, it is likely that mobile website viewers will be pushed away and not give your business a proper chance. According to Google’s Mobile Playbook, 67% of users are likely to buy a product from a site that has a good mobile counterpart. This goes to show that this should not be understated while designing your new website.