5 Website Design Mistakes that Kill Your Conversion Rate

Website design is an important part of any business' marketing strategy. It helps customers find your products and services, and lets potential clients know how great your company is. But there are many things to consider before starting on your site.

Although this article is still being built, here are the beginnings to the 5 most common web design mistakes I see every day.

This quick read read will be extremely helpful with a top level view for business owners and CMOs as well as freelancers looking for more info on how to sell website design that is successful for the client.

1. NOT USING KEYWORDS

A title tag is one of the first things visitors see when they arrive at your website. If you use the wrong words, you're not only losing out on search engine optimization (SEO), but you're also making it harder for people to find what they're looking for. Knowing recent google updates are looking for more user experience signals like engagement and time on site, its more important than ever to have a clear tag hierarchy for users to quickly locate information on the topics they seek.

In a nut shell, for 2023 think of google just like any other human user that is sight impaired. Make your H1 and tags human consumable and you'll be ahead of the game. Never stuff search terms into your title tags. If you're building a site or improving one, educate yourself and stay abreast of the more recent google search ranking updates.

2. POORLY DESIGNED NAVIGATION

Not to be confused with the last topic of tag navigation throughout the websites content— this is covering the navigation menu and the best way to structure it for SEO.

You should avoid using navigation menus with too much text. Instead, keep them simple and clean. Make sure that each menu item has a clear call to action. Also, avoid using dropdown menus as these take up more space than necessary. If you have to use drop downs, minimize them and make sure they are organized will. This is a great way to incorporate SEO friendly menu features like adding a content hub or (resources) page.

3. BAD CALLS TO ACTION

If you use a lot of links within your site, you need to ensure that they are easy to find and understand. This means making sure that they are visible and accessible. It also means ensuring that they lead to pages that are relevant to the user.

4. TOO MUCH FLASH OR FLASHINESS

Flash is an excellent way to add animation and interactivity to your website, but too much flash can actually distract users from what you’re trying to communicate. In addition, some browsers block flash by default, so visitors will not see any of your flash unless they specifically turn it on.

Too much flashiness or website design elements that are neat and fun, like a mouse tracer, or some really nice out of the box user experience. While some users that are expecting a slow load- like someone that knows they are opening an album of amazing luxury properties will have more patients that an engineer seeking info to get the day done. Ultimately, adding too much script heavy flashiness is going to hurt overall conversion rate by slow loading times causing higher bounce rates right off the batt.

5. POOR MOBILE USER EXPERIENCE

If you design your site with mobile responsiveness in mind, you’ll ensure that your site looks good on every device. This means that no matter how small the screen size, your site will still display properly. It also means that your site will load faster than one designed without mobile responsiveness in mind.

Its important to have your mobile site operating as fast as it possibly can and also be as secure as you can make it. If you are creating a DIY wordpress site for a business rather than using a platform like Wix that is already secure— its highly recommended to get some advice form a cybersecurity consulting firm before launching the site.

CONCLUSION

When you're designing a new website its always best to make sure the people you are working with have experience in design as well as engineering and SEO optimization. A beautiful website is truly of no use if no one is seeing it.

To build a beautiful website optimized for SEO and maximum conversion rates you can reach out to me simply by googling— Lars Owens Design