If you’re new to web design, you need to be especially cautious about avoiding common web design mistakes. These are some common web design mistakes that beginners often make:
Table of Contents
1. Make Sure That Your Website Isn’t Too “Busy”
Avoid bright lights, flashing images, or loud sounds. However, there also are some less obvious ways that a website can be too “busy.”
Pop-ups: If your website has any kind of pop-up ads, there is a good chance that you’ll lose a significant amount of traffic.
Irrelevant Advertisements: While advertisement programs, such as Google Adsense, can be a great way for some website owners to make money, they sometimes feature ads that aren’t relevant to the content on your page. As a result, it is usually best to avoid these programs when you are first starting your website.
The Overuse Of Images: Images should never be included after every paragraph unless the images are being presented as slides. In fact, you shouldn’t have more than a few images on each page.
2. Not Enough Images
On the opposite end of the spectrum, some people hardly use any images at all on their site. There should always be at least one or two images per page. The images do not have to be photographs — they just need to provide visual interest. For instance, charts and tables can illustrate certain types of content quite well.
If you are worried about images making your site look cluttered or disorganized, you’re not looking at the right sites. Take HouseMethod.com for example. The site is relatively image-heavy, but it doesn’t look cluttered thanks to the generous use of negative space, consistent image sizing, and a geometric layout.
3. Not Enough Content
While you should never overwhelm visitors to your page with long blocks of text (unless that’s what they’re looking for, of course), it’s always important to make sure that you include a detailed description of all products and/or services that you offer. It also is important to include an about page for your business. The language in your product descriptions and about page should be as persuasive as possible.
Blogs are highly effective at engaging one’s audience — that’s why we have one! Keep an active blog and post at least 1x/month on topics relevant to your industry. For example, if your business is plumbing, write simple maintenance how-tos and about the dangers of water damage.
4. Not Using Keywords Properly
Conventional wisdom dictates that between one and three percent of your website should consist of keywords. This will boost the search rankings of your website, but your website might get removed from the search results if you use more than 3% keywords. This will result in a drastic decrease in the amount of traffic that your website gets. That’s why, according to Hobo Web, “there is no one-size-fits-all optimal keyword density percentage.”
It’s also important to use the right keywords. Keywords are what visitors type in to get to your page. Therefore, it’s important to think about what people would be likely to type in to get to your website. If you run a local business, your keywords should include the name of the city or region where your business is located.
5. Boring Headlines
“There’s no sense in dedicating any time to creating content or running ads if your headlines aren’t compelling,” declares WordStream. And they’re right. You should make sure that the title of every page includes persuasive language. It’s important to include persuasive language in your subheadings as well. If you are selling a product or service, you should include a call to action in one of your subheadings. Try to look at your headlines from a potential customer’s point of view.
6. Not Using Calls to Action
A call to action is statement that encourages its audience to do something, usually in order to achieve an aim or solve a problem. Your call to action should be as persuasive as possible. It’s also important to make sure that your call to action is located on a part of the website that is highly visible to people visiting your page. It’s possible to increase the visibility of your call to action by using exclamation points or even writing it with a larger font.
Summary
While these are some of the most common mistakes that web design beginners make, there aren’t the only common mistakes that web design beginners make. If you are interested in seeing examples of well-designed business websites, check out this link.