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Five Common Web Design Mistakes Explained

The best web design involves a lot more than simply having a website. Certainly, a website is a great step in marketing your company online. Professional web design, though, is needed in order to ensure a high ROI, and a low bounce rate. What happens when you don’t invest enough in your web design? Here are five common mistakes that occur.

  1. Page titles with low search engine visibility – Search engine use is one of the top Internet activities, so if your website does not show up in pertinent search results, you are missing out on a lot of potential business. Good SEO is a necessary part of modern web design.
  2. Anything that looks like an advertisement – Internet users have selective attention, allowing them to skim through web pages, and they have trained themselves to ignore advertisements, or anything that looks like an advertisement. So if there are elements of your website that look like banner ads, flashing advertisements, or pop ups, you can be sure they will be ignored, because readers will assume they are just advertisements.
  3. Violating design conventions – Internet users like what they know, and what they’re used to. The best web design templates look like other websites. And while that may sound strange, if users find your website to be too different and difficult to use, they will go elsewhere.
  4. Opening new browser windows – Most users hate new windows opening up unexpectedly, in part because they might think it’s a pop-up advertisement. But it also eliminates the possibility of using the back button. Some users will not even notice that a new window has opened up, and will just think the link isn’t working.
  5. Not answering users’ questions – Users are goal-driven when they use the Internet. They visit websites because there is something they want to accomplish, whether it’s finding out information, making a purchase, etc. If you do not provide them with the information they need, your website has failed. Consumers make buying decisions based on specific product and service information, such as price and shipping time, so do not forget to include relevant information on your website.

It’s easy to assume you can save time and money by making your own website or hiring a college student to complete the job. However, spending the money to hire a professional web design service will result in a quality product that will be beneficial for your business. Professional web designers know what makes a good website, they know what mistakes to avoid, and they know how to get your website to appear in potential customers’ online search results.