If you build your online business, you might face challenges in creating high-quality website design. It’s not enough to use attractive images and bright colors; you need to work hard to make your web design consistent with your business goals and customer preferences. In this article, you’ll learn which website design mistakes to avoid when setting up your online business and how to fix some common web design mistakes if you have already made them.
Top website design mistakes you should be aware of
Let’s start from the chart of top web design mistakes so that you clearly understand what you should get rid of whatever it takes. If you’re running a B2B website or an ecommerce store but have no qualified specialists to make this work for you, consider contacting a proven company with web designers who are familiar with your site platform. For example, it could be a company specializing in building WordPress websites or a Shopify web design agency with the relevant expertise.
Poor navigation
Clear navigation across your website makes it easy for a user to find what they are looking for. The key elements of user-friendly navigation are header and footer menus, sidebars, and breadcrumbs. However, the website elements should be tailored to your industry. For example, if you’re running an ecommerce store, product filters, and product searches would be very important to ensure straightforward navigation. You should also stick to a simple link hierarchy and make your core elements clearly visible. If some of your products or categories are hard to find or your structure is not intuitive, you will not only lose potential customers but it could also negatively impact your SEO metrics, such as time on site.
Ignoring accessibility
Today, accessibility standards are a must for websites that offer products and services to customers. The best accessibility web design practices include using contrast between text and its background and adding forms with clear borders to make it easy for people with disabilities to find and fill them out. If you use color as the only visual instrument to convey the information, it would be impossible for people who are unable to distinguish between colors to understand your implications. Another example of not meeting accessibility standards is making people hover to find things. In this case, people who use speech recognition tools will be unable to perform the expected action.
Poor color scheme
When choosing colors for your website, selecting a combination that won’t strain people’s eyes is crucial. In other words, it should be a color scheme that has a good contrast between site elements and helps, rather than distracts, from your content. Another point you should consider is associations your color combination may provoke. It’s advisable to adjust your color scheme to the preferences and traditions of the country you’re targeting.
Cluttered layouts
Cluttered designs make it difficult to perceive the content on your website. What are the best practices for uncluttering your layouts? Keep whitespace on the sides of the main content, increase horizontal and vertical space between sections, and keep contrasting borders and lines. You should also decide which of your content is the most important and which parts are extras. Consider sizing and scaling these elements according to their importance.
Disruptive pop-ups
Too aggressive pop-ups may annoy your visitors and nudge them to leave your website right after landing on the page. However, some of the website pop-ups may be necessary for boosting conversions. How should you keep the balance in this case? Try sticking to the following recommendations:
- Don’t show pop-ups right after a user lands on your website. Instead, give them some time to explore your content.
- Avoid asking for an email address before interaction. It’s better to think about the customer journey and select the exact moment and occasion when a user is willing to share their email address.
- Don’t show different pop-ups one after another. Be sure to show critical pop-ups just one at a time.
- Replace modal pop-ups with nonmodal ones. Modal overlays turn off the website content until the user interacts with this pop-up. It may lead to people leaving your website. Using nonmodal pop-ups that allow users to interact with the background content would be much more caring.
Ignoring analytics
One of the most crucial web design mistakes is not considering user behavior and feedback. Tracking bounce rates and click rates across your web pages will give you tons of essential information for further improvements. Without proper analytics monitoring, you’re blind. Try using analytics tools like Hotjar to understand which website elements work for your success and which should be enhanced and adjusted to user preferences.
Wrap up of the most common web design mistakes to avoid
Let’s sum up the list of the most common website design mistakes.
- Poor navigation
- Ignoring accessibility
- Poor color scheme
- Cluttered layouts
- Disruptive pop-ups
- Ignoring analytics
Stick to the best web design practices to avoid these pitfalls and set up your website for growth and success.
