A well business website design that is built and marketed professionally is sure to bring in many leads and sales. If done badly, your website may receive little to zero traffic and nobody will see it. Below we discuss the biggest design mistakes you must avoid when having your website built.
1. Use relevent title tags. When a website is built, you should use meta title tags to describe what is on each website page. Whatever you have in the title tags also appears in the blue bar at the top of the window. Be sure to include some of the your target keywords in the title tag to help people when they are searching online.
2. Putting lots of ads on your webpage. Don’t do this as it will not only alienate your visitors, but also distract them, prompting them to leave the website. Keep ads and flashing banners to a minimum and your customers will focus on the important parts of the page.
3. Keep website navigation simple. Most websites have links on the left or top of the page to get around the website. Keep it simple and follow the same navigation that your visitors are already used to, and don’t make it difficult for them to get around. Remember that your visitor is used to getting around a website in a certain way.
4. Pages with dead links. It can be very frustrating when you click a webpage link and it doesn’t work. Make sure you check that all your links are working and point to the right place. Remember that having dead links on a page can get you penalised in the search engines.
5. Don’t use Macromedia Flash on your pages unless impossible. Flash does have a place on websites, but is mainly found in gaming or interactive sites where this cannot be done a different way. Consider using animated GIF’s for moving images instead, as most people can view these in a web browser. Another consideration is you could try using javascript or java which is more supported that flash. Flash can take too long and by the time it has, your visitor has left your website.
6. Missing a Search Box on your website. Large websites can have many pages and it is important to allow users to search the site easily. Consider adding a search box.
7. Don’t use PDF documents on your website unless there is no other way. Using PDF files is only a benefit when perhaps uploading your company brochure online. It is much better to take the time to put the brochure in HTML format which all web browsers can read without a plug-in.
8. Visited text links do not change colour. Most web surfers are used to a link they have already clicked on changing colour once they have visited it. Keep link colours familiar to visitors and make sure they change colour once they have already clicked them. Put your reader’s interest in mind when designing your website.
9. Messy text formatting. Break the website text up into nicely formatted paragraphs, seperated and spiced up with the occasional picture. Too much text blocked together makes visitors “switch off” and close a website if they see too much. Keep your site consistent and clear . Consider using bulleted lists, headings, highlighted words, quotes, and subtitles.
10. Use a good-sized font. Using small fonts can make pages difficult to read. In many cases these days, blind people are also now reading web pages with screen readers, but also those with poor vision. Make sure your website is W3C compliant so that the latest screen reading technology can ‘read’ them.
To find out more about Business Website Design, visit Tom Andrews’s site. A great business web design really can transform your business online.