Are these website design mistakes turning your visitors away?

You’ve worked a long time on your website. Whether you built it on your own or hired a web design company, countless hours have gone into your piece of web real estate.

Speaking of real estate, if you were a real estate agent, would you be proud to show off a house with broken windows? Would you smile as you gave a tour of a “dream house” with broken toilets?

No matter how nice the rest of the house is, those flaws will drive people away.

It’s the same with your website.

You can do a lot of work to build your site, and to bring people to it. But if your website design has the equivalent of an overflowing toilet, or a broken window, all your work will be for nothing.

Here is a list of a few things that might be turning visitors away from your site.

You Lost Me at Hello

According to a study, 55% of people spend fewer than 15 seconds actively on a page. Look at your website. If you were only going to spend 15 seconds on your page would you know what your site was about?

Would you be engaged? Or would you be confused?

With people spending such a small amount of time on the average page, you need to make sure your site is immediately understandable.

Scan your site for clear, succinct headlines and engaging, informative text. If viewers don’t find either, or need to scratch their heads trying to understand something, they’ll be gone to the next site.

Is Your Website Design Mobile-Friendly?

If I were to look at your site on a 27” iMac screen and on my iPhone, what would happen?

Would your site look the same or would the iPhone version look like a smaller, unreadable version of the desktop site?

Ensuring that your site is mobile-friendly has never been more important. 53% of people use their mobile phone to surf the internet at home. And in the UK alone, for example, mobile phones are the most important way to surf the web.

Websites need to be mobile-friendly, or visitors will go elsewhere. Google agrees! As a result, if your website design doesn’t pass their Mobile-Friendly Test your site will be ranked lower in search results. It may even say “This site is not mobile-friendly.”

Don’t let Google send away your visitors! When it comes to your website design, mobile-friendly is huge.

Lose the Autoplay

When a visitor comes to your site they may be listening to music. They may be in public, at work, or in bed with a sleeping spouse.

The last thing anyone wants is for some music or video to automatically come blaring out of their speakers. Show your visitors you care about them enough to let them choose whether to listen to something – or not.

Ugly and Unreadable Design

Imagine trying to read a book that had pictures of dancing bananas all over the page. Or reading the newspaper if it was written in thirteen different fonts and had neon green writing on pink paper. It would be exasperating and impossible!

While that’s a bit of stretch, for most sites, it’s never a bad idea to ensure that your site is clean and readable. Fonts should be used intentionally and expertly.

Most people may not know the difference between a serif and san-serif font, but they certainly know what is readable and what hurts their eyes.

Broken Links

Imagine you’re walking around a book store. You ask a salesperson where a certain book is, and you walk to the section they suggest. You get to that section, but the bookshelves are empty.

All you see is a sign that says: “Sorry, this section cannot be found.”

That would be insane! What sort of book store would run like that? Not one that would hope to be in business for very long. It’s the same with your site.

Your visitors will be disappointed if they click a link and are met with only an apology. Check all of your links!

Conclusion

What it all boils down to is usability and value. People want a website that works and provides them with what they need.

While this is a simple mandate for someone building a site, it can also be deceptively simple. That’s why working with a website design company like us makes so much sense.

Instead of going back and forth revising your site, why not build it right from the ground up? Things like a beautiful, readable mobile-friendly design come standard.

Ready for a website that keeps visitors and generate more traffic? Looking to avoid mistakes with your website? Take a look at what we can do for you, contact us for a free consultation today.