Developing is indeed a daunting task but its benefits are immeasurable. Yet some sites are not able to capitalize the benefits and generally end up having low conversion rates. Web design is an important aspect of your website and affects its success. You may think that your site has some enchanting design and is lending a helping held in succeeding but it could another way round too.
You web design can actually kill your conversion rate and it is without you even knowing that. So, this article is for you as your web design might do more harm than good. There are tons of mistakes that web designer makes and sometimes overlook the significance of web design as it pulls down your site’s success instead of pushing it up. Making mistakes is important as you learn from them but repeating them over and over is not permissible.
To avoid these mistakes, let’s have a look at what these mistakes are and get more traffic and retain your clients.
1. Excess of anything:
Excessive usage of anything can kill the conversion rate whether it is content, themes, images, animation and much more. As a designer, you need to know when to draw the line. You should not make the mistake of going overboard and include everything in the site just to make it a good one. Sometimes, designers cross the limit and end up cluttering the outlook and as a result, couldn’t convey the message that it was intended to plus confuses users instead of making them quit the site within the fraction of a second.
2. Less content more images:
Images are important as they catch user’s attention faster than content but neglecting content and focusing more images can frustrate users. The moment users enter your site they look for pertinent information, information that be useful to them. If they don’t find any related information, then you’ll never find them too. Also, images take most of the space and using low-quality images can be the final nail in the coffin. Always use optimize images before using it.
3. Broken links:
How many times have you clicked on links and is directed to a “404” error page? Well, the point is not in counting it but the reason behind it. This is because of Bad links and Broken links. Always test your website before launching it even after launching it to check if it contains broken links or not. No one wants to see “404” error message as it is frustrating and leads to seeking other alternatives.
4. Slow loading time:
Keeping users wait for while your page load is the main reason why your website doesn’t much taker. As I have mentioned in the beginning that excessive usage of anything can kill the conversion rate and will slow down the site. If your site is not responsive enough, then you’ll lose all your clients. For that, you can use a responsive theme and save yourself from losing probable clients. Slow speed results in page abandonment, therefore, carefully use features in your site.
5. Do an audience research:
Don’t jump to conclusions before doing studying the audience’s pattern. Don’t overlook the importance of market analysis as you can have an idea what customers are looking for and what they want. Not being clear on client’s requirement is one of the reasons why your site has a low conversion rate. Don’t make decisions concerning web designing based solely on assumptions and predictions, you could be doing it wrong and your clients may not be satisfied with the what they are being provided with. It is proven that client oriented websites are able to experience a high degree of conversions.
6. Poor navigation:
Navigation should be easy and effective and user-friendly so that users love browsing and navigating through your site without any difficulty. You don’t want them to be clueless about what they are doing and what’s the purpose of your site. Making it simple yet powerful is what is the main thing. You can’t lose out on including functions yet maintaining consistency throughout the site. You need to balance things and keeping your site simple yet intuitive. Avoid broken links and keep ambiguity at bay.
7. Using too many plugins/extensions:
Plugins are important as they enhance your site’s performance making it flexible and scalable. It helps in adding new features to the site without the burden of coding for each functionality. You can get a myriad of free plugins from the internet but it is up to you in which plugin to use. They can make your site more functional but can slow it down too. Incorporating many plugins to a hosted website can slow down its performance and is detrimental to the loading time.
8. Inconsistent Interface Design/layout:
Creativity is good as it makes you stand apart from the crowd but again, excessively using it can actually do more harm than good. Some web designers spend lots of efforts and time in making it attractive and outstanding and always overlook the fact that this step could make their site messier leading to bad user experience. To avoid such scenarios with your site, always use a simple design and consistent templates for every page and link them to the main section of the site.
9. Poor readability:
For grabbing user attention, users should be able to read the content and access it with ease. Refrain from using peculiar fonts that make your site vague and hide all the functionality. Don’t use bold themes and use perfect screen resolution. Try to develop sites that fit on most screen size. The ideal screen resolution is 1024 x 768 pixels. All these factors can lead to poor readability making your site less effective and would lag behind other sites. Don’t make reading a strenuous task for users because if they find difficulty in reading they won’t use your site.
