Web design is ever-changing. New styles enhance the creativity of web designers, improve user experience, and boost ROI for businesses. Regardless of your tools or experience, below are five small business website design flaws to avoid.
Overcrowding Pages with Details
Internet users come to your site with a particular motive, like searching for information or getting to know your brand better. Your small business website design should help your visitors to surf around more effortlessly.
If prospects find it hard to use your site, they will get frustrated and leave. Studies show that 94 percent of customers prefer interacting with websites that are easy to navigate.
A common fault in small business website design is including too many visual elements on webpages. Unfortunately, too much information and graphics can be distractive to website visitors.
Complicated navigation makes it hard for users to find what they want. Prospects who would have converted on your website move to competitors.
No Integration with Analytics Tools
Another small business website design blunder is not including a way to measure performance. Websites are investments that should give you provide a return. How do you measure success without data to analyze progress?
For the best online marketing outcomes, you must test and track every effort to fix the weak areas. Your website should integrate with web analytics tools to track and report traffic.
Analytics tools provide valuable insights into user behaviors and let you set goals for tracking conversions. You can use the data obtained to target and retarget specific audience groups with online marketing campaigns that work.
Generic Brand Messaging
Many entrepreneurs don’t realize the power of brand messaging in small business website design. Effective brand messaging is about telling a story concerning all aspects of your business. It should include details like:
- Brand values and beliefs
- Product and service descriptions
- The value you can deliver
- Your employees
- Why your brand is unique
Your small business website design should connect with your audience on an emotional level. The content must be customer-centric, addressing the target group’s pain points and aspirations, not your desires.
Find a creative and compelling way to show your customers that you care. It doesn’t have to be exaggerated or entertaining. Be true to your brand to build trust with consumers.
Designing Exclusively for Desktops
Mobile devices surpassed desktops in web traffic from late 2016. It would be a big mistake to have a site that doesn’t support mobile users. Mobile-friendliness in small business website design is vital for many reasons.
If your website is not mobile-friendly, customers using smartphones and tablets won’t access it, meaning lost business. Secondly, Google will penalize your webpages with a low ranking.
The search engine, which most people use, considers many elements to weigh a website’s mobile-friendliness, including:
- Spacing and usability of navigation elements
- Readability of text on small screens
- Page load time on mobile devices
- Whether a site uses Flash
Considering these factors in small business website design helps with search engine optimization. Your webpages rank better in result pages, increasing your click-through rates and conversions.
No Clear Call to Action
Your website has a purpose which you can only achieve if visitors take some action. A call-to-action (CTA) is a short message that tells website users what you want them to do. It directs them to the next phase of your sales funnel.
Examples of CTA messages include:
- Contact Us
- Subscribe Here
- Get Started
- Add to Cart
- Buy Now
A small business website design that lacks a CTA misses the point of having a website. Prospects may find the information they want, but how does that benefit you? Tell them where to go and what to do.
Do you want a website that delivers great user experience to help customers interact with your brand effortlessly? Contact us today.
