A website is an important part of your digital presence and is essential for your business.  It is the place people will go to learn more about what you do and how you can give them a solution to their problem.  One sure way to turn away potential customers before they even know your message is bad website design.  Here are seven website design mistakes that are costing you money.

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1. No Clear Message or Call to Action Above the Fold

When potential customers come to your site, they need to know how you can help them before they even scroll down.  The images and text that they see above the fold (before needing to scroll down) need to be clear and concise.

People also need to know what steps to take.  A bold call to action button should be prominent here, as well as in the navigation bar itself. 

Most people who are visiting your site for the first time are not going to be buyers immediately.  You need to build trust and a relationship with them first, so a good call to action could be to download your free pdf or other free offering or to schedule a free consultation call.

When visitors come to my home page, it is clear to them what I offer.  Both my home page and navigation bar have a bold call to action that instructs potential customers to sign up for my freebies.

Some other popular free opt-ins are:

• Cheatsheet
• Checklist
• Coupon code
• E-book
• Email course
• Quiz
• Spreadsheet
• Template
• Video Tutorial
• Webinar

2. Too Much Text

People aren’t reading websites, they’re scanning them.  No one is coming to your site and reading every word.  They will most definitely bounce if your pages are full of long paragraphs of text.  Ain’t nobody got time for that!

This means that you need to create content that’s easy to scan. 

Keep it short and simple.  You want to convey how you can solve your audience’s problem and share your story, your values, etc. in as few words as possible to ensure that they are being read.

Make your content scannable by breaking it up with 

• Relevant Subheadings
• Short paragraphs consisting of 2-3 sentences each
• Bullets points and numbered lists
• Bold, italicized or underlined text

3.  Not Optimized for Mobile Viewing

Over half of the world’s web traffic comes from mobile devices now, so your website needs to be responsive across all devices.

If your site is not mobile responsive you are missing out big time! You are losing half of your potential audience, which also means losing half of your potential income!

Your website needs to look good and deliver the same experience across all platforms.

4. Poor Navigation

Your navigation bar is one of the most important parts of your website.  It gives users a roadmap for navigating your site, so that they can easily find what they are looking for when they land on any of your web pages.

If you make a vistor work to figure out how to navigate your site, your bounce rates are going to be high.   Stick with convention and keep the navigation bar at the top of your site.

Top 5 things to avoid with navigation

• Non-conventional location – Keep your navigation bar at the top of your site, where it is expected.
• Too many options on the navigation bar – Don’t overwhelm your audience.  I recommend 4-5 at most.
• Unclear navigation labels– A non-specific label like “Offerings” doesn’t immediately tell visitors what to expect.  A better choice would be something like “Work with Me.”
• Drop down menus – These can overwhelm visitors by giving them too many options to choose from.
• Non-responsive navigation – Nothing is worse than when you cannot find the navigation menu on mobile devices

5.  No Favicon

If you are thinking what the heck is a favicon and why do I need one, let me explain.  A favicon is a small iconic image that represents your website.  Your favicon is located in the address bar of your web browser.

Having a favicon helps your website look more professional and branded, but it also helps visitors who have a lot of tabs open, quickly identify your site.

Without creating a favicon, you will have a generic symbol on your tab, like this world symbol in the Google browser.

6.  Too Many Colors and Fonts

Having specific fonts and colors that represent your brand is a great way to make your business easily recognizable; however you have to be careful not to go overboard.

Too many colors and fonts on your site come across as unprofessional and ultimately overwhelm visitors to your website.

Keep your website clean and visually appealing with no more than 3-4 consistent colors and 1-2 complimentary fonts across all of your pages.

Need help coming up with brand colors or fonts, I use and love Canva’s Branding Kit.  Get a 30 day free trial of Canva pro to access this amazing tool plus get access to thousands of beautiful design templates to create social media images, blog graphics and any other visual content you need for your business.

7. Lack of Contact Information

Your visitors need to have a way to contact you with their questions.

If your business is solely online, you should have a clear link in the navigation bar that allows them to fill out a form to contact you.

Is your website an extension of your brick and mortar store?  Be sure to have up-to-date contact information in an easy to find spot that includes your business phone number and address.

 Are you Making Any of These Website Design Mistakes?

Is your website guilty of any of these website design mistakes?

If so, the good news is that you now know what needs to be fixed in order to give your visitors a more enjoyable and effective user experience that will result in a lower bounce rate and more leads for your business.