How Your Web Design Might Be Hurting Your Business

Thanks to customizable templates and DIY tools and technologies almost anyone can create a website.  A website should be able to create a “wow” factor that can influence how much your customers would visit your page. The design of your website can either pull potential customers or push them away.

It is important that your online presence looks professional. Here are a few elements that are keeping potential customers away from your site.

Using A Splash Page

Splash or entrance pages are unnecessary additions to your web page.  Using a splash page runs up your website’s bounce rate and users can’t find what they were supposed to look for. This could cause confusion on where’s what on your web page. It is better to have a standard homepage.

However, if you want to give a specific message to your users you can use an unobtrusive looking pop pup.

Having An Inconsistent Style

Inconsistency kills the look of your website. Having unappealing color combinations, lack of typography consistency such as using more than three font styles and disparate font sizes can make your website look cluttered. The aesthetic is an important aspect when designing a website. Web design is all about the aesthetic appeal of the brand to attract potential customers.

Appealing to your users means having a site that would get them hooked and looking. Your website design must be consistent with your branding guidelines. If your site doesn’t have a brand style guide you should create one. It is important to have a brand style guide that you can refer to for your web design.

Confusing Navigation

Your visitors should not have a hard time navigating through your site. If they cannot find what they are looking for quickly they would move on to another website. Attention spans and patience levels of most internet users are very low. Your web design should adapt to the behavior of internet users.

It is best if the homepage directs your users without wasting their time. Using of horizontal menu bars with short descriptive labels that are no more than seven items can help. Keep drop-down menus simple with just one level and make sure your search box is visible.

Using An Unclickable Logo

Most users would click the site’s logo to navigate back to the homepage. If your logo isn’t clickable than most visitors would think your site is broken. Make sure that your logo is active and clickable.

Using Big Bulky Images

Images are weighty on a web page, so the size and number of images on your site can affect loading speed. To avoid this, you can make use of online image optimizers such as Optimizilla and resize your image pixels.

This is important for mobile optimization, especially that mobile browsing is quite popular for most internet users.

Using Graphics For Text

It is important that all text on a website is crawlable by search engine bots. Using images as text prevents search engines from crawling your website. Doing this would reflect poorly on your SEO. Using graphics for text will also affect your site’s loading speed.

Using Obviously Fake or Stock Images

It is popular for business to include attracting stick images on their sites to attract visitors and enhance artistic elements in their web design. However using of stock images tend to look fake and unrelated to your brand. Because using stock images in place of what your business is actually offering can come across as inauthentic.

It is better if you would use original pictures from your company. Using of original pictures that represent your brand and your company will add value to your business.

Not Embracing White Space

Using white space can make a powerful impact on your web design. It is an underrated tool but it is the most important to consider when designing your site. It gives your site an aesthetic element of class and sophistication. It is better to use the color white rather than an overwhelming array of colors.

But you can add a splash of a few colors to create a “popout” effect for a little color and creativity.

Not Making Your Site Mobile-Friendly

Mobile users have surpassed desktop users, most people are now browsing the internet using their smartphones. Your website should have both a desktop version and a mobile version. Your website should also be mobile responsive. If you choose to let users adjust to your desktop design on their mobile phones would push away potential customers.

Your web design should be able to adapt to how internet users browse sites. Their behavior affects your site’s traffic. Keep your design simple and responsive.