If you’ve observed a decrease in your website’s visitor count or if it’s not drawing the desired number of visitors, you might have encountered some common pitfalls that web designers aim to steer clear of.
Your competitors’ websites may have great features and functionality that are attracting visitors, and if your website isn’t quite as well-built or thought out, you could be missing out on potential traffic.
To help you identify and fix these mistakes, I’ve compiled a list of 10 common web design mistakes that could be holding your website back.
By addressing these issues, you can improve your website’s functionality and attract more visitors. So, let’s dive in and take a look at what you can do to improve your website’s potential.
Table of Contents
1. Your Website Takes Too Long to Load
If your website is taking too long to load, you need to consider optimizing the images on your website, especially the home page. Large images and graphics can scare off users faster than anything else. So, you need to scale down your images and optimize your content wherever possible.
Hefty plugins, themes, and modules can also slow down your website’s loading times. Updating these elements to more recent versions can significantly enhance speed, especially if they have not been updated for a long time. Before updating, you should test thoroughly to make sure nothing has become broken after the updates.
There are numerous tips available for accelerating your website, one of which is to consider using a content delivery network (CDN) to reduce the load on your server and improve website performance. Minimizing HTTP requests, reducing server response time, and enabling browser caching can also help to speed up your website.
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Remember, the faster your website loads, the better the experience is for your visitors. So, you need to make sure that your website is optimized for speed and performance.
2. Your Website Isn’t Mobile Friendly
You’re losing out on significant traffic if your website isn’t mobile-friendly. This is because mobile users are unlikely to stay and engage with your page if they encounter viewing or content readability issues.
According to Statista, worldwide, the number of mobile users in 2023 came in at around 58.3% 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.
Therefore, 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.
To ensure your website is mobile-friendly, you should consider the following:
- Use a responsive design that can scale well to smaller screens.
- Refrain from using Flash, as it lacks support on the majority of mobile devices.
- Optimize images and other media to reduce load times.
- Use a legible font size, and avoid using text that is too small to read on a mobile device.
- Make buttons and links large enough to be easily tapped with a finger.
- Test your website on various mobile devices to ensure it looks and functions properly.
3. Poor Website Design and or Layout
When designing a website, it’s important to keep in mind the user’s experience. If the website’s layout is confusing or difficult to navigate, users may become frustrated and leave. This can result in a decline in user retention and ultimately, a loss of potential customers.
To avoid this, it’s important to ensure that the website’s design and layout are clear and easy to understand. This includes having a well-organized menu and navigation system, as well as a clear and concise layout for each page.
If your website’s design and layout fail to meet the user’s requirements, they might seek a more satisfying experience elsewhere. With so many options available, it’s important to make sure that your website is providing everything the user needs to have a positive experience.
Remember, the goal is to make the user’s experience as smooth and enjoyable as possible. By taking the time to design a clear and user-friendly website, you can increase user retention and ultimately, drive more traffic to your site.
4. You Are Missing a Call to Action
If you are finding that you are getting a lot of traffic, but 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 way of achieving this is by implementing and making explicit your Call to Action (CTA). This is the primary reason for your users to visit in the first place.
You need to make sure that you are being absolutely clear about what you want your users to do, and that they are able to carry out the tasks that you have in mind for them. you can do this by putting a clear CTA on your website. In the world of marketing, this process is occasionally referred to as conversion marketing, as it involves transforming a visitor into a customer or follower.
I can also look at applying some conversion rate optimizations to improve your client and user onboarding processes. Whatever action a new user is supposed to complete will be determined by your overall plan.
Do you want them to sign up and start purchasing products, or do you want them to become regular readers that engage with your content and communicate with you? Whatever you decide, you must make sure that your design follows through and enables you to do it.
To make your CTA clear, you can use contrasting colors, bold text, and clear language. you can also place your CTA above the fold, so that it is immediately visible to your users. By doing this, you can increase the chances of your users taking the action that you want them to take.
5. You Have No SEO or Analytics
Without SEO and analytics, it’s difficult to know how well your website is performing. SEO helps your website rank higher on search engine results pages, which increases visibility and traffic. Without it, your website is less likely to be seen by potential visitors.
Analytics will provide you with valuable insights into user behavior on your website. You can see how long visitors stay on your site and what actions they take before leaving. This information can help you identify areas for improvement and make changes to better meet the needs of your audience.
For example, if you notice that many users are leaving your site after visiting a certain page, you can investigate why this is happening and make changes to improve the user experience. Analytics can also help you track the success of new features or updates to your website.
Overall, SEO and analytics are essential tools for understanding and improving the performance of your website. Without them, you’re missing out on valuable insights that can help you grow your online presence.
6. Your Website Lacks the Right Information
As a website owner, you should understand the importance of providing visitors with the right information. If your website lacks important details, you risk losing valuable traffic. For instance, if you run a business, it is crucial to include business hours, store locations, and contact details for your customers.
To attract visitors to your physical location, you should consider integrating Google Maps into your location section and ensuring that your address details are correct. This will make it easier for potential customers to find your business.
It is important to make sure that any contact information you provide is valid. If you have listed an email address on your website, make sure that it is an attended mailbox that you have access to. Otherwise, you risk wasting both your time and your visitors’ time.
To avoid this, keep on top of your correspondence with your users, and answer as often and as quickly as possible. Remember, visitors are interested in finding out details about your business or interests, and if you do not have them listed on your webpage, you risk losing them to a competitor.
In summary, providing the right information on your website is crucial to attracting and retaining visitors. Make sure to include business hours, store locations, and contact details, integrate Google Maps, and keep your contact information up to date and attended.
7. Avoid issues with your Website’s Typography
Ensuring that your website’s text is readable is crucial to keeping visitors on your site. If the font size is too small or the font style is difficult to read, users will quickly become frustrated and leave. This is especially true for mobile users, who rely on responsive design to automatically adjust font size and formatting to fit the dimensions of their device’s screen.
When choosing fonts for your website, it’s important to consider readability. Stick to simple, easy-to-read fonts that are forgiving on the eyes. Avoid using fonts that are too ornate or difficult to read, especially for body text. It’s also important to choose a font size that is large enough to be easily read on all devices, including mobile phones and tablets.
Color is another important factor to consider when it comes to readability. Make sure that the text and background colors contrast well enough to be easily read. Avoid using harsh color combinations that strain the eyes. For instance, the classic combination of black text on a white background is easy to read.
Finally, it’s important to make sure that your website is responsive to all devices. If your site is not responsive, mobile users will have a difficult time scrolling and reading your content. This situation can result in frustration and an elevated bounce rate. Make sure that your website’s text elements are responsive and automatically adjust to fit the dimensions of any device.
By prioritizing readability and responsiveness, you can create a website that is easy to navigate and enjoyable to read.
8. Keep Your Content Fresh and Updated
It is very important to keep your content up-to-date and fresh. Having outdated articles or neglected news sections can make a website look unprofessional and uninviting to users. Visitors want to see that a website is active and regularly updated with new and relevant content.
This is especially important for blogs, where readers expect regular updates. If a blog starts off strong with regular posts but then thins out over time, it can be difficult to retain readership. By consistently delivering fresh and updated content, you can attract new users and keep them coming back for more.
To ensure that your website stays current, you make sure to follow a delivery schedule for new content and regularly update older articles. This helps to keep your website looking professional and engaging to visitors. Remember, keeping your content fresh and updated is key to retaining users and growing your audience.
9. Social Media links that are too Prominent
If you place your social media links at the top of your website, you risk losing visitors before they even have a chance to explore your content. When visitors click on these links, they are directed away from your website and onto the social media platform’s page.
To prevent this, you should consider featuring social media links at the bottom of your page or having discrete shortcuts located on your contact page. By doing so, visitors will have a chance to read your content and potentially fill out a contact form or subscribe to your newsletter.
10. Your Site Is Not Secure
If your website does not have a valid HTTPS certificate, then it is not secure. HTTPS certificates are necessary to be considered safe by modern browsers. Without them, users will receive messages in their browsers warning them that your website is not safe.
HTTPS encrypts data between your website and your users so that valuable information is not intercepted by cybercriminals, making it encrypted and private.
If you are unsure about the state of your website’s security, you can ask your current hosting provider if they can make any recommendations for you. Most hosting providers keep their platform up to date, but it doesn’t hurt to check. you could also ensure that your plugins, themes, and other website elements are all up to date and patched with the latest updates for added security.
Many website owners have not managed to conquer these basics, potentially losing out on new customers and fans, which could seriously affect their business. If any of these issues sound familiar, then you should make some changes as soon as possible, and you will be happy that you did.
Have you found any of these mistakes on your website?
