Top 10 Website Design Mistakes to Avoid for Your Company Website

By Allison Kramer, Principal, Sweet Buzz Media and CWCC Member

Poor web design can prevent you from communicating your message to your prospective clients.  As a web designer, I am conscious of the fact that your website is the single most important online brand message.  This is your opportunity to present your services and products in a professional manner and foster a relationship with a prospective customer.

The worldwide web is a big place and there are millions of users.  This is your biggest shot to present your services, products and information in the best light possible to a large number of people.  With that in mind, I have compiled a list of the 10 most common website design mistakes – mistakes that can cost you business.

1)      Too many fonts.  I advise my clients to have no more than two fonts. These fonts can come in different variations but using more than two fonts is frustrating and distracting to the viewer.

2)      Copyright photos. Copyright photos belong to someone else.  The owner has artistic and intellectual claim to this work.  It is against the law to use them without permission.

3)      Too many colors.   Pick a color palette that is soothing with three colors.  Bright colors, like yellow, should not be the dominant color.  Once again, this is distracting to your viewing public.

4)      Text as an image vs. static text on the page.  Flipbooks, Flash plugins, photo images, etc., are not seen by the search engine ‘spiders’ that crawl the web looking for content to help identify your website and determine page rank.  Content is key for search engine optimization (SEO).

5)      Fonts that are difficult to read.  Pretty self-explanatory.

6)      Highlighted text.  Just downright annoying.

7)      Do not auto-play video on your website. Nothing will chase off viewers from your website than an auto-play video.

8)      Do not use blinking text.  Yet again, another annoying ploy that will just irritate the viewing public.

9)      Make sure the site is searchable.  The ability to search on the website, using keywords to find the sought-after information, is something your prospective clients will appreciate.

10)  A simple navigation structure is best. Do not have multiple levels of drop down menus.  You want people to find what they want quickly and easily.

If you find that your website has any of these mistakes, they can easily be corrected by a professional web designer.  These are also helpful tips to keep in mind prior to building a website.  Your website is your primary online presence and you want it to project that you are a professional.  By avoiding these simple mistakes, you will convey a professional image of who you are and what services and/or products have to offer.

bee recognized • bee found • bee heard • bee understood
Sweet Buzz Media creates functional, optimized WordPress websites for small businesses.  As a full-service studio we offer custom website design and redesign, print design, search engine optimization, social media integration, web hosting, WordPress training, and website content management systems.  Find out more at www.sweetbuzzmedia.com.