Neglecting a Mobile Friendly Design
With over 50% of website traffic coming from mobile devices, neglecting to have a website that is responsive to the device screen size your potential clients are using is probably the worst mistake you can make when making your own website. I’ll explore a few ways this can go wrong and how to help combat them:
Your Website Doesn’t Adapt to Different Screen Sizes
When your website lacks responsiveness, it means that it doesn’t adjust properly to fit different screen sizes, resulting in a poor experience for mobile users. Content may appear cramped or stretched, making it difficult to navigate and read.
Inappropriate font sizes. Either too big or too small
Font size plays a crucial role in readability on mobile devices. Text that’s too small strains the eyes, while oversized text disrupts the layout and readability of your content.
Having elements off screen
Elements such as buttons, images, or text that are positioned off-screen on mobile devices frustrate users as they may miss important information or functionality, and will often cause them to leave your website. This can occur due to improper scaling or placement of elements designed for larger screens.
Inconsistent spacing
Inconsistent spacing and lack of white space can make your website feel cluttered and overwhelming, particularly on mobile devices. Poorly spaced elements may appear cramped or disjointed, disrupting the flow of the webpage and making it harder for users to focus on your content.
Solutions
It is imperative that you test your website functionality and layout on various mobile devices and screen sizes to ensure an optimal user experience.
You should also adopt a responsive design approach to ensure compatibility across all devices by using software or a template that effectively scales fonts, spacing and elements in relation to varying screen sizes.
Unintuitive Navigation and Layout for User Experience
Complex Menu Structure
Unclear menu structures can confuse and distract visitors, making it challenging for them to find what they’re looking for. A cluttered menu with too many options or unclear labelling can overwhelm users and drive them away from your site.
Lack of ‘Call-To-Action’ Buttons
A ‘Call to Action’ (CTA) is a marketing term for what action you wish your potential client to do as they view your material. On a website, you’ll typically use buttons that direct a client to complete a contact form, subscribe to a newsletter or schedule an appointment. Without prominent call-to-action buttons, users may struggle to understand what actions you want them to take. A lack of clear CTAs can result in missed opportunities for conversions or engagement, hindering the effectiveness of your website.
Inadequate ‘White Space’
Not enough empty space on your website can make it feel cramped and overwhelming. This space doesn’t need to be white and can be quite colourful, but it’s important to space out your content. Dense layouts can be visually exhausting for users, leading to frustration and difficulty navigating your site. Give your content plenty of space to breath, and clearly separate different sections of content.
Walls of Text
Too much text can overwhelm users and distract them from finding the information they need. Large amounts of text without proper formatting or organisation can be intimidating and drive users away without engaging with your content. Instead – break your content into digestible sections, using headings and bullet points to enhance readability.
Logical Flow of Information
When content is scattered or presented in an illogical manner, potential clients may struggle to follow along and find what they’re looking for. Take your potential customer on a journey where each section of your website prepares them for the next and encourages them to stay on your site.
Ignorance of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) Best Practices
Optimising your website for Search Engines (commonly referred to as SEO) is crucial for driving traffic and therefore potential clients to your site. Implementing a few simple SEO best practices will help your business to attract more visitors to your website and have it show higher in search results.
Keyword Research: It is essential to incorporate relevant terms and phrases that your clients will be typing into Google (these are the ‘keywords’) in your website’s content. Ensuring that these are used prominently and often, but not so often that it has a negative effect on your visitors, is the first step in SEO.
Using SEO ‘tags’: Correctly using ‘tags’ on your website is useful for clearly showing what your page is about in search results. The most simple tags are using the heading tags (h1, h2 and so on). Equally important are meta titles and meta descriptions, which is where you specify what will show up in search engine results, and it is not immediately obvious that you need to do this. Not knowing that you need to specifically complete this information can greatly hurt a small businesses’ search engine results.
Poor Page Loading Times
When pages take too long to load, visitors are more likely to become frustrated and abandon the site, leading to lost opportunities for engagement and conversion. Additionally, slow-loading pages can negatively impact SEO rankings, as search engines prioritise fast-loading sites for better user experience.
You can help to improve your loading times through having a good hosting service, optimising images (and providing them in more efficient formats, such as WebP where this is available). Utilise caching mechanisms, which reduce the need for returning visitors to redownload on future visits, will also improve performance. You can also run speed tests and follow the advice for other ways you may be able to improve speed.
Neglecting Website Security
It’s important to protect your client’s information by ensuring your website is secured with SSL encryption to encrypt data transmitted between the user’s browser and the web server. It’s also essential to regularly update website software, plugins, and themes to minimise security vulnerabilities. Failure to maintain security risks your website being hacked, potentially putting client information at risk, and damaging your company’s reputation and search engine rankings.
Conclusion
In today’s fast-paced digital world, the significance of a well-crafted website cannot be overstated. It serves as the online face of your small business, shaping perceptions, attracting customers, and driving growth. A good website can serve as a powerful asset, while neglecting its potential can hinder success. By avoiding these common mistakes, you can position your business for success.
If navigating the intricacies of website development seems overwhelming, don’t fret. At Intuitive Web Solutions, we’re passionate about empowering small businesses to thrive online. Let us handle the complexity and hassle of website development, so you can focus on what you do best – growing your business. Invest in a website that not only meets your needs but exceeds your expectations and positions you for success.