Common Web Design Mistakes to Avoid

Websites are now clearly the most clear ‘digital handshake’ that a business can make with their customers and potential customers. But because they are still new for a lot of business owners, the focus on them isn’t as great as it could be.

And that means that many websites and businesses are making simple, but avoidable mistakes in their web design. Ironing out these errors can go a long way towards:

• Having a more effective website
• Driving more leads
• Getting more calls and appointments, and,
• Ultimately, winning more work and growing your revenue.

To show you some of the ‘quick wins’ you can get on to today, we’ve created a short checklist to work through with your own website.

Be Clear in What You Want

We once reviewed one of the best pieces of business website writing we’d ever seen. It was interesting. It was insightful. It was even funny. But it went from being a 10/10 to a 7/10 for one reason: it didn’t have a call to action.

Every business has a call to action. It might be scheduling a free quote. It might be making an appointment to talk on the phone or via video chat. Or it might be scheduling a trial. But so many pieces of website writing lack this element.

Doing this is a bare minimum. Doing it in a clever way that reinforces your brand image and ethos is the ‘gold standard’. Think of writing your call to action in the same way as you would invite someone you met socially (in person) to use your service. Here’s some examples that could be included at the end of a blog post or web page.

• Wrong – ‘salesy’, pushy and unnatural: “Call us today for a free quote, hurry, limited spots available and offer ends soon!!!”
• Right – natural, full of options to suit different preferences and offering an invite (not forcing) “If you have any questions about (insert topic here) please feel free to call our friendly team on (insert phone number here). You can also reach us via email on (insert email here), or if you prefer, drop in for a chat at one of our showrooms at (insert locations here) and our staff will be happy to have a chat over a coffee to see how they can help.”

Reduce Clutter

Reducing clutter applies in the digital world, just as it does in the real world. If you want people visiting your website to call you or schedule an appointment make that as easy to do as possible. A phone number or calendar link in a different colour, with a clickable link is a good way to do this. The other thing to do is reduce all of the ‘noise’ around that link or information to make it stand out.

Mobile Orientation

Most businesses still do the majority of their work on desktop or laptop computers. But most consumers search for businesses on mobile phone screens. As a result, one of the simplest but most frustrating things that businesses get wrong is not having a mobile optimised website. If your website doesn’t work well on mobile, then the handy rule of thumb to remember is that you are providing a sub-optimal experience to about half of your potential customers.