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4 Common Website Design Fails (and How Can You Fix Them)

  • Thomas Oppong
  • Oct 19, 2014
  • 3 minute read

It is now more important than ever to make sure that every aspect of your business is as good as it can be. Why? Well it has been reported that 80% of all new businesses fail within their first year. So, if you’re the new kid on the block, you should make sure you present your business as well as you can. This obviously extends to your website. However, we all know how difficult it is to launch a website without any mistakes or blunders. With that in mind, here are three website design fails that you need to watch out for.

1. Don’t leave mobile and tablet users hanging.

According to a number of recent reports, approximately 40 percent of internet time is now spent on mobile devices. What this means is that if you’re not making it easy for people on these sorts of devices to browse your site, you’re not going to get almost half the traffic you could be achieving.

Therefore, ensure your site is responsive so that you and they can attract the largest audience you can. Look into new web design trends and adopt web technologies that will make it easy and simple for your mobile audience to access your business information online.

2. The search box is still relevant.

Let your users search for themselves. Don’t be afraid to give your users the free option to explore your site and find content however they want to. A great way to do this is to offer a search bar where users can specify search terms for themselves. Although some think a search bar can have negative effects, if your site is going to be content-heavy, it’s a piece of design functionality you shouldn’t forgo.

A search option cannot be overemphasised if you consistently provide useful content on weekly basis. Most users would love to explore a lot more topics you cover and the search bar is the best way to reveal all that great information you on your site. Do not neglect this on your site. Google Custom Search bar is a neat, simple and effective way to add a search bar to your site. It enables visitors to search your site in an efficient manner.  Most website administrators can implement that easily. Talk to your website designer to make those changes for you if you don’t have a search bar yet.

3. White space is not the enemy

Finally, don’t make the fatal mistake of trying to fill your site up with as much content as you can in the smallest amount of space. The aversion to so called white space is one that plagues many new web designers, but this doesn’t have to be the case. Keep your site sparse and minimal, and if you don’t know how, build the site using a tool like the site builder on 1&1 which will prevent you from making any design errors.

4. Your contact information is challenging to find.

If you are selling anything online or providing some kind of service, the last thing you want to do is hide information from a prospective customer who could be your repeat customer. Make it easy for users to find and contact you. All the information you have provided on your website may not be enough. Sometimes users have questions and genuine concerns.

If a prospective customer wants to contact you, it’s a good thing. You have a great opportunity to convince them to be your customer. Your contact page should not just be a lengthy contact form requesting information from the users. Provide relevant business contact information that makes it easy to find you. Your website should be an extension of your business and your branding.

So there you have it: some of the most common web design fails that new designers make, and how you can avoid them. Avoid these mistakes and you’ll give yourself the best head start to a great web design.

Thomas Oppong

Founder at Alltopstartups and author of Working in The Gig Economy. His work has been featured at Forbes, Business Insider, Entrepreneur, and Inc. Magazine.

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1 comment
  1. Joseph says:
    Oct 21, 2014 at 8:09 pm

    thank

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