Five Mistakes to Avoid for Your New Website

In a 1973 lecture at the University of Pennsylvania, Thomas Watson of IBM has been quoted as saying, “Good design is good business.” It’s becoming ever more apparent that design is emerging as a significant strategic element to help a business establish its corporate identity, to develop its brand, and to help it differentiate itself and its products from the competition.

According to a study by comScore & 15 Miles entitled Local Search Usage Study: Bridging The Caps, From Search to Sales, approximately seven out of ten consumers go online first for local business information, making a website crucial in marketing and establishing a brand for a small business.

Potential customers are coming to your website for a reason; getting your web design wrong can cost you potential income and have a negative overall impact on your business. Listed below are a few common mistakes that you should avoid if you want your users to have a good experience.

Mistake #1: Poor Navigation

When designing a website, many businesses fail to make navigation a priority. People visit a website for specific information and a poor navigation system by impede them from that task. A general rule of thumb is that if a user can’t find what they’re looking for within three mouse clicks, then they’ll end up leaving your website in frustration. Your navigation should be seamless and intuitive to use, so make sure that you make it a priority when designing your website.

Mistake #2: Information Overload

Mistake #3: No Obvious Call To Action

When having your website developed, each webpage should serve an obvious purpose. Think about what you want a potential customer to do when they land on a specific page. Do you want them to place an order, contact you, or click on a link to learn more about your product? Everything on your webpage (text, graphics, design) should have the end goal of leading your visitor toward taking the action that you want them to.

Mistake #4: Content Is Not Relevant Or Out Of Date

When a customer comes to your web page, they expect to find the latest information about your company as well as its services and products. If this information is stale or outdated, you may find your visitors clicking away from your website fairly quickly.

A good way to ensure that you have new content that’s up to date is to add a blog to your website which you should look to update at least once a month. If you’re using social media, you may want to tie that into your website as well and allow for the updates to post on your website. Aside from ensuring that your site has fresh content to keep users engaged with your website, posting a new blog entry or social media update to your site can allow you to rank well on the search engines result page of Google, Bing, etc.

Mistake #5: Trying To Target Everyone

Don’t try to be everything to everyone. Make sure to know who you are as a business, stick to your values, and understand who your target audience is.

Web design have become a necessity for business owners to help create a visually appealing website that’s intuitive to use. By properly designing your website, you’ll be able to create a positive impact on your business, encouraging visitors to visit and to take a call to action.

About the Author:

Heather Reed is the owner of Creative Fuel, a San Jose web development & web design firm that creates unique and powerful designs for print, web and mobile devices while developing innovative solutions using open-source software. Creative Fuel’s web systems solve problems by attracting clients and managing business operations while cutting costs.

You can also follow the Creative Fuel team on Facebook as well as on G+.