Having a killer website just isn’t an option in 2018: it’s a necessity. A poorly designed or maintained site will cause your business to not only lose customers but money, too! Many businesses opt to design their own websites to save money and have more control, but most of the time they don’t truly understand the concepts of good web design, leading to a website that’s, well…less than ideal!
Let’s face it: web design is an art form, and a great website has to give its viewers a unique and impressive experience. Web design is meant to combine form and function in a way that makes a website fun, informative, and usable. Here are the top 6 biggest mistakes that companies make when designing their websites:
1) No clear description of what your company does or why they should choose you!
We believe that this mistake is probably the biggest one that you can make when designing your website. Why you ask? Because once your page loads, potential customers form an opinion in .05 seconds (according to recent studies), and if they don’t like what they see, they’ll head over to your competitor’s sites. At the least, you should have your services/products in a clear view as well as awards, testimonials, and industry affiliates.
In the same token, many sites either neglect or incorrectly implement their CTA (Call to Action). Your website has goals and targets: sell products and services, market products, collect email addresses, promote a cause, and other reasons. This is where you will want your ‘Call To Action’ to be front and center. A good Call To Action will get your visitor to take the next step (sign up for a whitepaper, newsletter, or webinar, to enter a promotion, get a discount on services, and so on.
2) Your contact information is hidden or missing
Not listing your contact information is one of the most common website design mistakes. People hate digging around to find contact details, and the moment a potential customer decides to make a purchase or use your services is crucial. It’s vital they have your basic contact information the second they decide you’re the right company for them. If they have to spend time searching through your site for contact info, they are more than likely going to get frustrated and head right over to a competitor’s site. Your “Contact Us” page should always be just a click away, or (at very least) your information should be at the bottom of every page: email, phone number, office location, and any other pertinent details should be listed right there.
3) Not keeping your website updated
It’s crazy how many sites include old, dated content. If a prospective customer goes to your site and sees that the last thing you’ve posted (whether it’s a blog or an update) was a blog article about your worries about Y2K, you’ve got a problem! Make sure to keep your site fresh and updated daily for the best results. You just can’t afford the loss of credibility that can come from having dated content. Also, make sure your content is accurate, and if you should find an error, fix it!
4) Poor or weak SEO
Poor or weak website SEO (search engine optimization) can mean that your customers might not even get to your website in the first place, but rather they’ll head right over to your competitor’s site because they had better SEO and showed up first on search results. This means that you could be losing business before anyone even gets to your website! You might be an awesome company, have some really sweet products to sell, but if we can’t find you, you just won’t be successful. Therefore, a well-executed SEO strategy that leads customers to your site is absolutely vital. If nobody knows how to find you, and you don’t show up in a search result, then you’re going to have some real trouble building your business!
5) Not easy to navigate
Your website should be super easy to navigate. Period. It’s not only frustrating to go back four or five pages to get to other areas of a site due to not having any type of navigation bar, but it’s also a waste of time. There should be a navigation bar on every page that guides visitors to other areas of the site. Position the bar along the top of the page or along the left side so it will always be visible regardless of screen resolution. Add an easy-to-find site map in your main navigation bar to give your visitors an “at a glance” view of every page on your site.
6) Slowwwwwwwww Speed
The internet promises us supersonic speed. If your customers can’t figure out where to go next quickly and get there easily, they’ll head on to the next website…your competitor! In fact, a recent study by Akamai Technologies, commissioned through Jupiter Research, showed that online customers will only wait on average four seconds for a site to load before clicking away. If your site is loading significantly slower than this, figure out what’s going on with your server speeds, and disable flash or other add-ons (we recommend NOT using flash on your website!), which may be slowing things down.
So, now you can see why we said that designing a truly great website is an art form. You could go the route of trying to do it yourself, but you put yourself at a very high risk of making one of the mistakes we’ve just talked about (and by the way, these are just the top 6…there are many more mistakes that someone could make!) This is why we absolutely recommend using a professional team of website designers for your site. They’ll be able to ensure that you have a site that’s fun, informative, navigable, and discoverable!
Why not consider the experienced team of website designers over here at Hashtag Creative, who will handle the entire process of your website design? We’ll begin with a site map, or blueprint, for your new site. Then together we select the design that will work best and complete the construction with a final stage of bug testing. We will handle and manage any errors for 30 days. In other words, we’ll make sure that you have a killer website that’s sure to bring in more customers, and get your business more money! Contact us today, and let’s get started on building out your great website.
