.png)
Most of your competitors have websites that not only look great, but are also loaded with amazing features and outstanding functionality too. There are good reasons for the effort that they put into these websites, the main one being that it attracts visitors. We’ve compiled 5 common design mistakes that could be hampering your website’s potential, so you can fix them. So, without any further delay, let’s dive in!
1. Your Website Isn’t Mobile Friendly
If you don’t have a mobile friendly website that is responsive and scales well to a smaller screen, then you are missing out on a lot of traffic. This is because mobile device users will not stick around to try and use your page if they can’t view it or read its content properly.
Statista shows that worldwide, the number of mobile users in the 3rd quarter of 2018 came in at around 52.4% of all internet browsing traffic.
That means that more than half of your visitors are expecting you to deliver a quality experience to their mobile devices, so you should really make sure that you are able to meet their expectations if you plan on keeping this massive share of users engaged with your content.
2. No Clear Call-to-Action
This point follows on from the last one, and takes it one step further. If you are finding that you are getting lots of traffic, but you are not achieving your objectives, such as buying a product or signing up for a free trial, then you may not be steering your users properly.
The best, and most effective way of achieving this is by implementing and making explicit your Call to Action. This is the primary reason for your users to visit in the first place.
Make sure that you are being absolutely clear about what you want them to do, and that they are able to carry out the tasks that you have in mind for them.
3. Dull and Poor Design
Your website needs to be functional for your users, especially if you have a specific task that you would like them to complete, such as signing up to a newsletter or buying an item from your store.
If you haven’t thought about this, then the chances are that the pathway around your website has not been mapped out and built correctly for your users. This often results in users getting stuck in a loop where they can’t make sense of your content, which means that they won’t be coming back.
If you are experiencing a user decline or bad user retention, then you should look at how your design and layout elements are currently formulated. If your menu layouts don’t make any sense, then you run the risk of confusing and frustrating your visitors.
4. Website Loads to Long!!
If your site is taking too long to load, then you need to rethink some design elements. The faster your website loads, the better the experience is for your visitors. There are plenty of pointers out there about speeding up your website, so we’ll just touch on the essentials that will help you to get started.
First and foremost, you should consider optimizing the images on your website, especially your home page. Nothing scares off users faster than a landing page with pictures and graphics that take too long to load, so scale down your images and optimize your content wherever possible.
Hefty plugins, themes, and modules can slow down your website’s loading times as well. Updating these elements to newer versions can help to speed things up, especially if you haven’t updated them in quite a while.
5. No Website Analytics!
In order to treat a problem, you need a diagnosis. SEO and analytics are the best diagnostic tools for your website’s popularity, and will tell you about how well it is doing in terms of ranking and positioning.
SEO will make sure that your website appears much higher up on the search results pages, because the second or third pages of a search engine results list are much, much less likely to be seen.
Analytics can also show you what the average visit duration is on your website, and will tell you what users have been doing on the page. This is a good way to see how the latest elements that you add to your website are acting, and if the visitors are using them as intended.
You can also find out what they are doing before they leave your page. If you find that there are many of the same actions being completed just before a user logs off or closes the browser tab, then you can potentially find the issue that is causing a problem and then fix it.
Many website owners have not managed to conquer these basics, which means that they are potentially losing out on new customers and fans, which could seriously affect their business. If any of these issues sound familiar, then be sure to make some changes as soon as you can, you’ll be happy you did.
Did you find any of these mistakes on your website?