A website is only as good as its design. Heard that before? If you haven’t, then it’s about time that you take note! Especially if you’re planning on starting a website for – well, anything really.

A website that is cluttered, difficult to navigate and clunky will put users off before they even get to the purpose of the page.

This is why it’s important to avoid these common mistakes when you’re designing your webpage for maximum effect!

 Mistake #1: Overcrowding Things

We can’t say this enough: KEEP. IT. SIMPLE!

One of the biggest hindrances in using any website is too many pop ups or tabs or flash players that make using the website feel confusing and completely unpleasant.

Keep your website design simple, and easy to follow.

Mistake #2: Going Overboard with Text

Long blocks of text are not appealing. In the age of tweets and 30 second videos, user patience is thinner than ever. If you burden people with pages and pages of text, they’ll be more likely to jump over to your competitor faster.

Keep your text short, concise, and relevant. Use images and graphics if you can and put your point across in an engaging way.  

Mistake #3: Not Highlighting the Purpose

Every website has a purpose. Don’t forget to highlight that. Users who come to your website should ideally leave with a knowledge or (preferably) interest in what you have to offer them.

Highlight your services or purpose clearly, make sure contact information is visible and users know what to do if they want to stay engaged with your page.

Mistake #4: Not Mobile Friendly

This follows on from the mistake of not being optimized for easy navigation. If you aren’t designing your website to be compatible with devices other than a desktop screen, then you’re basically risking losing a lot of potential users.

In fact, statistics estimate that mobile traffic as a share of total global online traffic in 2017 was 52.64%, and it has only grown since. That’s more than half the users in the world!

Focusing on responsive web design for your website will mean that your page is compatible for different mobile devices and the traffic that comes to your page will stay on your page.

Mistake #5: Auto play Media

DO NOT – we repeat – DO NOT enable auto play for media. There are few things as annoying as clicking on a site and getting blasted unexpectedly with an auto play video or audio. Remember that most users will either pause the clip or navigate away from the page.

If you really want people to play the multimedia content, use attractive freeze frames and titles that make them want to click on it.

At the end of the day, if you really want your website design to look professional, maybe have an actual professional look over it, if not design it entirely. Get in touch with us if you’d like to know more about the best way to ensure your content is being optimized across different platforms and devices.