Your online reputation is your online storefront. Whether a small business, personal blog, or corporate site, your website’s design influences how users perceive and interact with your brand. With competition only a click away, design flaws are the quiet assassin behind soaring bounce rates and missed sales.
But the best part is that all of these mistakes can be prevented. This article covers the most common design mistakes that hurt your online presence and provides guidelines on how to remedy them.
Neglecting Mobile Responsiveness
Did you know that over 60% of website traffic now comes from mobile devices? Mobile responsiveness ignored means you’re driving away most of your users. A perfectly functional site on desktops but busted on smartphones equals mad users that won’t think twice to click away.
Why Mobile-First Design Matters
- Search Engine Rankings: Google prefers mobile-friendly websites in its search rankings, thanks to its mobile-first indexing.
- User Experience: A non-responsive design makes it difficult to navigate on smartphones, resulting in a poor user experience.
- Bounce Rate: Unfriendly smartphone navigation scares away users, increasing your bounce rate and decreasing site visit time.
What to Do
- Use a responsive design pattern like Bootstrap to make your site friendly with different screen sizes.
- Regularly review your site across different devices, including smartphones and tablets.
- Simplify mobile navigation with straightforward menus and large, tap-targeted buttons.
Poor Navigation
Your navigation is a roadmap for your visitors. When it’s cluttered, confusing, or getting in the way, visitors are more likely to bail than drill deeper. Simple and intuitive navigation builds trust and boosts user engagement.
Navigation Traps to Avoid
- Menus filled with too many options.
- Concealed or ambiguous labels confusing the visitors.
- Insufficient or absent search capability for simple content finding.
Fix It
- Keep menus simple. Your principal navigation should ideally be comprised of a maximum of 5–7 items.
- Employ clear and descriptive labels. Replace ambiguous labels like “Learn More” with details like “Features” or “Pricing.”
- Use a search bar, especially if your website has a large amount of content.
Slow Loading Speed
Patience is short, and especially so online. Google reports that the likelihood of a mobile visitor to bounce is 32% greater if a page takes more than 3 seconds to load. In addition to frustrating visitors, slow speeds can also kill your search rankings.
Why Speed Matters
- User Experience: A slow website irks visitors and erodes their trust in your brand.
- SEO: Page speed is a factor in Google’s ranking algorithm, meaning slow sites will not rank.
- Conversions: A one-second slowdown can be costly in terms of conversions and sales.
Speed it Up
- Optimize images and videos with apps like TinyPNG or Compressor.io.
- Enable browser caching and use a Content Delivery Network (CDN) for faster loads.
- Minimize heavy usage of JavaScript and CSS files.
Inconsistent Branding
Your brand is your identity. If your site images, colors, and fonts do not portray your brand’s identity, then you will confuse your audience and dilute your messaging. Consistency is the key to trust and recognition.
Common Branding Errors
- The usage of multiple logos, fonts, or color schemes on different pages.
- Tone or messaging inconsistency between your website and social media sites.
- Lack of cohesive design on product pages, landing pages, and blog posts.
Sharpen Your Brand Identity
- Abide by a single, cohesive brand guide that encapsulates your logo use, color, and typography.
- Implement a schedule to review your site and keep everything uniform across the board.
- Ensure the messaging aligns with your brand tone, values, and mission.
Low-Quality Visuals
Using pixelated images, awkward stock photos, or poorly-edited videos can make your website come across as unprofessional. Given that visuals set the first impression, poor-quality graphics can cost credibility.
Why High-Quality Visuals Are Non-Negotiable
- Professionalism: Crisp visuals instill confidence in your audience.
- Engagement: High-quality images and videos hold attention better.
- SEO: Optimized visuals with alt text improve your visibility on search engines.
How to Improve
- Always use high-resolution images that are compatible with your design sizes.
- Hire a photographer or use premium stock photo sites like Getty Images or Unsplash.
- Optimize images for web use to reduce file sizes and increase loading times.
Ignoring SEO Principles
A site that’s properly designed will never meet the audience if you’re not thinking about SEO. On-page SEO optimization, dead links, or improper structure can stop search engines from valuing your page’s worth.
Fundamental SEO-Friendly Designing Practices
- Proper headings (H1, H2, H3) and organized content enhance readability.
- Use alt text for every image to allow search engines to recognize their context.
- Operationalize all internal and external links.
Get SEO Right
- Do keyword research to match page content with search intent.
- Optimize meta descriptions and title tags on every page to boost click-through rates.
- Create an XML sitemap to enable search engines to crawl your site more easily.
Actionable Tips to Revamp Your Design
We don’t have to start from scratch to address these common design errors. Here’s how to start today:
- Make the design mobile-friendly. Test your current setup and remove glitches.
- Simplify your navigation on your website. Be in the place of new viewers.
- Simplify load times with small image files and speedy hosting.
- Make branding prominent consistently on all pages.
- Inspect your website for dead links and terrible SEO elements.
If you’re unsure where to begin, consider hiring a professional web designer or partnering with a digital agency for a full design review.
