Common Web Design Mistakes To Avoid

Your website is your shop window, your online brochure and often the first impression to potential customers. Whilst how it looks is important in order to reflect your brand, it must also be functional. 

A poorly designed website could be the difference between the acquisition of a customer, and them bouncing off to go elsewhere, so it’s essential you get it right,

We’ve built hundreds of high-quality websites in our time and so here’s our top common web design mistakes to avoid. 

Cluttered navigation 

A cluttered menu and structure of a website can be detrimental to performance and conversion rate. When a user lands on your site, their options of where they want to go next should be clear. Too many can be overwhelming, but too little can appear low quality.

Consider the customer journey and what competitors are doing, but key things to make clear are;

• Home
• About 
• Services 
• Contact 

Depending on how much content you’ve got on your site, you could also add blogs, case studies and reviews.

If your site is well optimised for search engines and relevant keywords, the user may not land on your homepage. In this instance, navigation to the homepage, contact page and any other relevant pages to the landing page should be clear from here. 

Slow page speed

In this fast-paced digital world, slow page speed is not a good look and can often be caused design elements. Large files such as uncompressed images or videos, a complex build or excessive use of code can really slow down a site. 

A slow website is frustrating to the user but can also affect your Google ranking, so it’s crucial to consider during the design and build of a website.

You can check this using tools such as Google Page Speed Insights. 

Not optimising for mobile

Putting all that time and effort into designing a beautiful website for it to look bad on a mobile, or alternative screen is a waste of your time and your money. Over 60% of global web traffic comes from mobile phones, so it needs to look just as good and be as functional as it is on desktop.

Poor visibility, clunky navigation or skewed visuals can be frustrating for a user when accessing a website on their phone where the design clearly hasn’t been considered. It can make you look unprofessional and frustrate people which could cause them to bounce off.

Don’t just consider desktop when in the design phase, create a version for mobile, tablet and different screen sizes too.

Unclear CTAs

The CTAs on your website play a huge role in whether or not people convert. 

You’d be surprised at the difference even when changing something so simple as the colour of a button.  The placement and appearance of your call to actions is important, and something that needs to be considered in the initial design phase. 

A/B testing can be used too if you want to test what design features your audience respond best to. 

Too much content 

You may have heard the phrase ‘content is king’, but you can easily overdo it.

Choose quality over quantity and ensure the content on your website is;

• Clear and concise 
• Relevant to the page 
• Considers SEO and relevant keywords 
• Is well-written yet not overcomplicated 
• Easy to digest just by scanning the website 

This will help your website be easy to read and understand, for Google and for the user. 

 

Design is much more than aesthetics, its functionality, ease of use and a positive user experience. By considering these factors upfront and avoiding common web design mistakes, you can ensure your website best represents your business and drives sales and conversions.