Common website design mistakes

If you’re trying to grow your brand and bring more traffic to your website, you should be aware of a few common mistakes that people make when designing a website.

Having a cluttered, disorganized website will immediately turn people away, which means you have wasted time, money, and energy on creating something that should be helping your organization.

Although there are definitely more than 10 mistakes you can make, here the ones that tend to drive me crazy.

1. No clear call to action

A clear call to action is essential for any organization’s website! It’s a signpost to direct visitors toward what to do next. If you want people to sign up for your newsletter, you have to give them a simple option to do so.

2. Poor navigation

All websites should include a navigation system to direct your visitors to different pages of your website. If they are difficult to find, hard to read, or poorly executed, people won’t bother trying to explore your site.

3. Too much going on

People enjoy being creative, which is great, but sometimes it gets out of hand. Too many colors, images, or fonts will make your website look cluttered and confusing. You should use colors that fit your branding, but also colors that make fonts easy to read. Adding hot pink text to a lime green background is not a good look.

4. Too little going on

Don’t get me wrong, minimalism is good if it’s done correctly. However, it’s often done incorrectly. Some websites can be too cryptic and leave too much to the imagination. Don’t leave people guessing.

5. Low-quality or irrelevant images

If you include images on your website, they should be high quality. Sometimes images look blurry or pixelated, which can make your website look outdated. Take the time to add images that will attract people’s attention. That’s what they’re for!

6. Unclear brand messaging

Something that can be confusing to visitors is unclear brand messaging. They shouldn’t have to question what your organization does or what services you provide. Your brand message should be clear and concise.

7. Hard-to-read fonts 

As mentioned before, be careful with what colors you make your fonts. You also want to be consistent and choose a font that is easy to read. Too many fonts get confusing and look chaotic.

8. Not mobile-friendly

Chances are, a lot of your traffic is going to come from mobile users. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you will lose out on potential clients or customers, as well as web traffic. Google specifically recommends using Responsive Design.

9. Poor use of whitespace

Making good use of white space allows for visitors to easily read text, but you want to avoid adding too much text. People aren’t going to read 3,000 words of an introduction. You can also take the opportunity to use white space for relevant images pertaining to your organization.

10. Lack of social media buttons

If your organization uses social media platforms (which you should), you can include social buttons on your website to allow people to visit your social media. Including these buttons will show people that you are active and staying up to date with socials. It will also increase traffic.

Clean, clear, and professional websites are crucial to any organization. You want to design something that captures people’s attention and keeps it. Keep your brand image and target audience in mind at all times. Building a beautiful website will bring people to you.