Deadly web design sins

By Unknown - Monday, 19 August 2013 No Comments
Creating a professional web site is a stressful business. Stress because it reflects your business identity and you cannot afford to go wrong even once, as the damages could be irreparable. There are few basic mistakes that businesses must avoid while working on web site design projects to be successful.

Lack Of Transparency
Being all business and hiding your personality. Transparency on the Web is important for getting people to purchase or relate to your services. One way to do this is creating videos of your employees talking about what they do and why they love it. This will foster a relationship before clients walk in the door which starts the buying process.

Making Things Difficult
The route from first click to sale has to be easy. It’s important to think like customers. Evaluate the site from their perspective – it will help you figure out potential pitfalls. You don’t have to religiously follow the 3-click rule but it shouldn't take much more than that for the visitor to get to the information they are looking for. Your site should be easy to navigate and perform the desired tasks. For example, requiring registration to leave a comment on the blog or having customers setup an account before checking out are two good examples of making it difficult for the visitor to do what they are set out to do. Make it simple or your visitors might abandon your site.

Choosing the Wrong Colors
You may have the perfect colors in your mind that you want to use on your company’s website, but you should always check to see how those colors look online before you publish to the web. Some colors just do not look good online. Your best bet when choosing colors is to go as light as possible, and never be afraid to use white. Look at the minimalistic white backgrounds of Google and Facebook, two internet traffic powerhouses. Just go with a light background with dark text and you’ll be fine.
If you are using a company logo and you find that it doesn’t look good online, don’t be afraid to alter that logo for online use. Many companies have an online and an offline logo, with the online logo tailored for the various online browsers. Just make sure you don’t alter your company’s logo too much or else you may confuse your prospects and customers.

SLOTH
Ask yourself some questions. When was the last time you updated the content in your site? Does your site look stuck in the 1990′s? Are you taking advantage of Google Analytics or even just the statistics provided by your hosting company? The really great thing about the web is that the metrics are so easy to access and you can find out where your visitors come from, what pages they visit, how long they stay, when they visit, etc. Much of this information is FREE. And Content Management Systems are now so much more sophisticated and easy to use that excuses are harder to find for not staying current.

Use Graphics Correctly
Don't use obnoxious animated images and think that it will look amazing. Avoid large images; they are difficult to load on slow devices. If you choose to greet visitors with an image, it’s important that it works to represent what your business does and why it’s so relevant to them.
You want to make your visitors’ time enjoyable and this intention must be reflected in all areas of your website. Also, avoid spelling mistakes and don’t forget to re-look the website after a break.

Difficult check out processes

Has it happened to you that buying on some sites seems so unreliable and difficult that you find it easier to turn off the computer and go to a K-mart? Customers might abandon the entire order if checkout doesn’t seem simple and straightforward. Don’t complicate your users life and make the billing process simpler and cleaner as you can. Remember, at this point their goal is to finish shopping, and your goal should be to close the deal as smoothly as possible.

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