Whether it’s your first website or you’re a seasoned developer, we all fall victim to common mistakes. First & foremost, the first mistake is not having a website. We’re gonna say it again… believe the hype about website development. A website will help you establish a professional presence and build trust with your target audience.
Clear and engaging content
Clear content is imperative for every small business looking to have a strong website. We’ve gone deep into the conversation on SEO in our previous blogs. Please, take the time to catch up on these if you haven’t yet.
How can I shift my content?
Think about the future for your website. How else will it become a strong website if your audience isn’t able to look at it for long? For example, too big or too small of words and or changing in size at random spots.
Don’t be a know-it-all. If your website has paragraphs upon paragraphs you will lose your audience. Short & sweet CAN work favourably for your website.
Now on the flip side, having a lack of text on your website could have your audience confused as to what your website is there to do. Your end goal should always be on answering the question of: what is my website here to do ? Or even, what gap is my website patching up that has been lost ?
Are you staying consistent with your visual branding?
“The promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and or having a distinctive design”. This is the definition of branding. Effective branding will always be apparent in strong websites.
A common mistake entrepreneurs make with their websites is having a strong visual stance in their branding at the beginning and then eventually losing that.
Having a clear consistent plan for your branding helps your audience know what to expect. This avoids any confusion or lack of trust in you as a business owner. And in-turn, builds your reputation!
Starting from a place of intention and purpose will help you create a complete visual brand that is memorable. Remember, in a saturated industry, you want to stand out in every way. This includes what your audience sees and the relevance to your niche as well. So instead of using every color in the rainbow and a long list of your favorite fonts, keep to one clear plan and execute it well.
Don’t get lost in the sauce now, every picture, colour, font & design you choose should heighten your branding not lessen it.
Not sure if your website is hitting your target audience with your visual branding? Not a problem, we got you-check out Bookmark.com now for a full guide to your online website builder.
Check out our design agency if you want to make money selling websites, and sign up today if you want to start selling your products and services.
Clear out the junk
Without a solid foundation, you run the risk of making a common website design mistake: adding unnecessary elements just because they are available or that other websites have them.
The last thing you want to do is be a follower when you’re here to be a leader. Web design now has an unlimited amount of ways to build your website. However, we encourage you to read up on exactly what type of website you’re looking to create.
Having an excess amount of pop ups and tabs can lead to a confused audience. Why? Because they will see too many messages, too many options, too many things happening and will quickly forget what they were on your site for.
Clean pages give you the advantage of a strong website. Think of it this way, your website should be clean enough for your audience to understand what to do and what pages to go to. Avoiding clutter on your website is quite easy.
It requires you to skip the urge to add extra elements to your web page for the mere fun of it. Ask yourself, what is the purpose of that pop up, or extra tab or redirect. If you’re unable to explain that, then you’ll see more of what needs to be cut!
Confusing domain name
Okay I won’t lie, this is tricky for a couple of reasons. Of course, your domain name should be one that’s similar or even identical to your business name. Now, here is where it gets tricky; if your domain name is already taken.
It’s imperative to always look up your business name and domain name to avoid this mishap. If this has happened to you, your audience may find it confusing when they see your social media info vs your website.
Never choose a domain name that is comprised of random letters and numbers or that isn’t obviously related to your business. Ultimately, you want to ensure your website and its domain name is all saying the same thing about your business.
For our full domain name guide, click here.
Site speed and loading times
Remember the days of dial-up internet when you had to wait for everyone to be off of the phone before the internet could boot up? Yeah, it was rough then. All over the world we see fast-speed internet and yet we still have moments where our websites may be slow.
Here are a couple of things to consider:
- Your image files are too big-solution: compress your image files
- Too much code/plugins-solution: condense your coding
- Increased amount of traffic-solution: invest in a better, higher performing server
- Not making use of caching techniques
- Too many ads
It’s important to note, Google has an amazing speed tool where you can check your URL and ensure there aren’t any further issues with your website speed.
No CTA/contact info
Call to actions will never not be needed for any website-this is a great way to retain your audience and hopefully turn them into customers. Every strong website has strong CTA’s! Never think because you have a link to your website on your social media that your audience will take that as a CTA.
A Call To Action should clearly state what you’re asking your audience to do. This should be thought provoking & detailed! Simply stating ‘click here’ can leave your customers confused with little to no information on what will happen after they click there .
CTA’s improve your website by:
- Increase sales
- Increase visits to other pages on your site
- Bring about trust & credible reputation of your website
Save your dough
The average cost to build a website for a small business can go between $2000 to $10,000 (YIKES!). This typically includes purchasing your domain name, website hosting plan, as well as designing. The complexity can take you down a rabbit hole of its size, features, and so on & so forth.
Yet, here at Bookmark we offer an affordable, easy to use platform that anybody can take advantage of. We’re here to save your bucks & allow you to do it yourself with AIDA!
For any new comers needing a breakdown on AIDA… It is your artificial intelligence design assistant, ready to help you build a high performing website. This allows you to build fully functional & responsive websites in hours not days, using Bookmark.com.
BONUS POINT: Optimize for Mobile
Yup, you heard that right! It’s a bonus point!
Your website should be well optimized for top-tier performance and efficiency at all times in order to be a strong website. Page load times should be faster than Road Runner! Anything more than 200 milliseconds or thereabouts for content to load is problematic. You can though, increase site optimization by:
- Compressing image sizes
- Storing data on visitors’ computers through caching
- Removing unnecessary content or media files
- Freeing up storage space
- Speeding up data transmission
Improve your website for mobile users as well. With the way the world is going, it’s more convenient for users to bring in traffic from their mobile devices. This gives your audience the opportunity to enjoy your site on the bus, or buying groceries — the possibilities are endless!
On the down side, having an unoptimized site will drive people away from your business. This limits your traffic and could be one of the leading factors to a decline in your overall audience. Everybody wants convenience.
In conclusion…
There are so many other ways that are still common mistakes that we as small-business people may be making. Don’t be a know-it-all when it comes to getting clearer on your content.
Short & sweet CAN work favorably for your website! Never forget that having a clear consistent plan for your branding helps your audience know what to expect. This avoids any confusion or lack of trust in you as a business owner.
Clutter brings a mess to your website that you don’t need. Refuse the urges of adding unnecessary pop ups that have no business being on your website.
Remain content with your plans and goal for your website. In that, remember your domain name shouldn’t be confusing or misleading. Any domain name you decide on, should be familiar or rather identical to your business name.
39% Of people will stop engaging with a website if images won’t load or if the website itself takes too long to load. Scrap the overwhelming lag and invest in a better, higher performing server. Call to actions, as well, will help you retain your customers through interaction and engaging conversations!
We at Bookmark want to help you make the strongest website you can by avoiding these common mistakes. It shouldn’t take thousands of dollars to get what you’re looking for and that’s why we have our website builder available for you. Check us out next week as well for more tips & tricks on enhancing your website for your small business solutions ! Don’t hesitate to click the link above and stay connected to us for all the knowledge you need to build and grow your online presence.
Originally published at https://www.bookmark.com on October 12, 2021.
