4 Mistakes Businesses Make With Web Design

Roughly over 50 percent of small businesses in the U.S. have a website.

If your business is among these, thumbs up. In 2021, a time when the Digital Age has come of age, it’s hard to imagine that there are businesses out here without any form of a digital website, leave alone a website.

But then, how effective is your business website? Are your customers happy to use it? When did you last update it?

Setting up a website is a good step, but if the web design isn’t any good, you’re hurting your business.

Continue reading to learn more about the web design mistakes you should avoid when building or redesigning your site.

1. Non-Responsive Website Design  

When we say non-responsive web design, we don’t mean a site that doesn’t load at all. We’re talking about a site that only loads on desktop computers. On laptops, smartphones, and other mobile devices it doesn’t load well.

If this describes your business website, you’re making a big web design mistake with dire consequences. If your website isn’t responsive, search engines have probably already penalized it. This could be the reason you’re struggling to get it to rank.

Luckily, this is an easy problem to fix. Bring in an experienced web designer and they’ll create a responsive site for you in no time. A pro can also implement any customization you might want, especially if you want a SharePoint site.

2. A Crammed Design

Have you ever visited a website that made you feel like you had entered a hoarder’s house? That’s a web design mistake.

Minimalist web designs have been on-trend and that’s not about to change. If your website has too much going on, you’re hurting the user experience. This is likely to increase the bounce rate, which is bad for SEO.

It’s understandable that you might want to get the most out of your business website, but this doesn’t mean cramming features and content on it.

While you decongest the site, don’t overdo it. While being minimal is the goal, you don’t want to give the site an “empty feel” – like people are moving out.

3. Low-Quality Content

Content is part of web design and the overall user experience.

It doesn’t matter how crisp the site’s theme is or how diligently it utilizes whitespace. If you’ve posted poor quality content, the quality of the design will decline.

Think of this as what happens when you’re watching a non-HD video on your 4K-capable flat screen. You start feeling that you don’t even like the television anymore.

As such, strive to post high-resolution photos and videos on your business website. In fact, such kind of content can even give the technical aspects of the design a lift.

4. Poor Navigation

Even small business websites with a handful of pages can have poor navigation. This is when a user is unable to easily and intuitively find the pages they’re looking for.

Ensure your users can navigate back to the homepage with a single click. Don’t hide the navigation bar or if you need to, ensure it shows up when the user needs it.

Avoid These Web Design Mistakes

It’s not just enough to have a business website. You need a website that makes users happy. A big part of doing this is ensuring the web design is up to snuff.

There’s a lot that goes into designing a site, but for the most part, strive to avoid these mistakes and you’ll get it right.

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