The Top Web Design Crimes
Some people save money at the supermarket buying no brand items, some save money buying items on ebay.com others buy bulk at wholesale outlets. In many cases, these ideas work well to save you money.
The key with all these money saving tips is to understand the product and it’s value. The problem is, when it comes to web design, new business owners often try to save money without a clear understanding of what they are actually purchasing and what the true value is. I’ve seen many business owners buy web design packages that appeared cheap but proved to be costly.
To save money in the web design process the key is to do your research and understand the true value of what you are purchasing. The easiest way to avoid making the common web design mistakes is by hiring a professional website design firm to handle your needs.
It’s Criminal
Here are the top five common mistakes in website design that I consider to be criminal.
- Unclear goals
- Poor design
- Poor Search Engine Optimisation
- Irregular updates to the website
- Lack of interactive features
If your website has unclear objectives or goals before leaving the drawing board, then it is wise to stop and reconsider what you are doing. Your goals need to be clearly defined so the design layout can encourage your intended outcome. Each of the pages should have proper search engine optimisation in order for them to generate lots of targeted traffic. Irregular updates to your website will also cause a drop in search engine indexing and it means your visitors have no reason to come back for more.
The Crime Fighting Dynamic-Duo
If you are looking to get the best bang for your buck online I encourage you to combine your own efforts with Professional Web Development services. Do all the research you can to see what your competitors are doing online. Look across at other industries and consider what you may be able to adapt for your own website. Most of all, consider your goals and objectives so you are clear about the outcome you want to achieve. With this solid foundation, the next step is to take this information and consult with the professionals who will be able to give more tips, tricks and strategies to achieve your goals.
Website Mistakes Beginner Entrepreneurs Often Make
While entrepreneurs starting out don’t need to be SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) or marketing experts to run a successful online venture, it’s important that they do avoid the major mistakes that disrupt many business websites.
Not Understanding the Importance of SEO
Unlike a brochure style website that’s there for branding purposes only, an entrepreneurs website needs to create profit and therefore relies heavily on SEO to generate traffic that will be converted into new customers. In today’s online environment, no entrepreneurial business survives without a long-term, effective SEO strategy. You should place SEO high on your list of priorities if you want to generate a healthy profit online through your website.
Don’t get the Cart Before the Horse
Entrepreneurs tend to generate a multitude of fantastic ideas however the problem is trying to get too many ideas launched at once. What can happen is an new venture is heavily marketed and invested into before the website is really ready to convert visitors into customers.
Sure you should create some social media profiles and connect with people to create some interest in your venture. Doing this is all fine so long as you time your launch well and don’t go public with your new website before it’s ready. If it’s not yet polished from a web design perspective, marketing it is unwise. Visitors won’t be impressed by an unpolished website filled with broken links and mistakes. Visitors will brand your brand on the spot as unprofessional.
Swapping Links with Your Friends
If you have friends who are also entrepreneurs you will undoubtedly be asked to refer to their websites on your business website, and in return have them refer back to you on theirs. As tempting as this may be, politely refuse them if their websites are irrelevant to your own and/or of poor quality. Search engines rely on inbound links to assess the ranking of your website, and if the sites referring to you are poor, your search engine ranking and online visibility can be affected negatively.
Trying to do it all Yourself
Internet-savvy entrepreneurs can do the basic SEO and Marketing work on their business websites without having to hire an expert company to do it for them as long as they have the website setup correctly. You may choose to do the same. The problem is that SEO has long stopped being only about sprinkling keywords through your web content and building a few links. It’s far more competitive online these days and requires a larger investment of time to do SEO well. You may also need to consider web design, social media marketing, and more. You cannot do all this on your own effectively and at the same time run your business. Free yourself up to focus on other aspects of your business and hire experts to do the rest.
In the end keep in mind that web design, SEO, and Internet marketing are crucial for your website’s success. Make them a priority for your entrepreneurial venture.
Did You Make These Website Mistakes?
Fix Them And Have A Website You Can Be Proud Of!
The internet is constantly evolving. Although the web is a constantly changing and dynamic channel the fundamentals of solid web design remain constant. If you recognize any of the following seven symptoms you may need to enhance your web presence.
Remember, poor site design can send visitors away from your website as fast as they arrived. On the other hand, effective web design engages visitors, making them more likely to return in the future as well as tell their friends about their experience. Web design is an imperfect science so you want to work with a designer that has experience and knows how to avoid these seven web design mistakes.
Does your site suffer from illegible text or a poorly selected font? It doesn’t matter if you have premium content for your audience if they can’t understand the message. Make sure your designer has an eye on the big picture and that your website is easy to read.
- Poor use of colour can diminish the impact of an otherwise well-designed site. The colours selected for any website should reflect the image of the company and be consistent throughout the site. Each page on your site should look like it’s part of the same site, with repetitive elements making a theme that carries throughout the pages of the site.
- Overly complicated navigation is a deal breaker. If people can’t find what they’re looking for they will leave. Never forget that. You want to have a website that is friendly, Interactive and easily to navigate.
- Slow load time is unforgivable. Your site needs to load with minimal loading time. Nobody likes to waste time waiting for a website to load so don’t make them. Make sure your site is responsive and provides an excellent user experience.
- Are you ignoring web standards? Just because you have a Mac and use Safari doesn’t mean you can ignore the many people who may be using a different computer or internet browser. Make sure you site has a uniform appearance in all internet browsers.
- Not having an overall web design strategy is a major mistake. Everything begins with clear objectives. This leads to a strategy which can be adhered to during the web design process. Without a reliable, in-depth understanding of what you’re trying to accomplish your web designer won’t be able to make sure that it happens. Make certain you fully communicate your goals and objectives so they can be incorporated into the site design.
- The success or failure of a website depends on the site’s usability and utility, not visual design. This doesn’t mean the site is easy to use for you or the web designer. Can your end user find what they need on your site? Focus on user-centric design and you won’t have to redesign later.
