27 Jun 5 Website Design Errors That Reduce A Website’s Ability To Generate New Leads
When a web design agency has a client who wants them to design and create a website for their business, often the client does not have a clear and complete idea of what they want their new website to achieve. For web designers to be able to design and build a website that will positively impact a business, there must be one or more goals that the website’s owner should want that website to achieve.
Suppose the goal is to generate leads for the business. In that case, the website can be designed accordingly, as professional web designers have the skills and experience to create websites optimized for lead generation. Unfortunately, some business owners bypass web designers and try web design themselves or hire a less-than-qualified web designer. Either of these can produce web design errors, such as the five outlined below, that compromise a website’s ability to generate leads.
Confusing Website Navigation
Have you ever visited somewhere for the first time, such as a new city, a different part of your town, or even a large office complex, and had no idea which direction to take, as there were no clear and obvious signposts? Your thoughts and feelings at the time possibly included confusion, frustration, and the desire to be elsewhere.
Those are the same thoughts that go through visitors’ minds when they visit a website with poor navigation. They land there, quickly become confused, and inevitably, they click away as they have neither the time nor the desire to stay on a confusing website.
A well-designed website will have straightforward navigation, which could include a menu at the top or side of the page where each of the website’s sub-sections is indicated. In addition, the menu will appear on each page, along with a ‘Home’ button that takes them back to the home page. Look at any website and ask yourself if this were the first time you landed on it, would you know how to navigate it easily?
Not Displaying Properly On All Devices
Unless you have lived in the wilderness for the past three decades, you will be aware of the enormous advances with the internet. This has occurred on several fronts, including faster download and upload speeds, the increased functionality of websites, and the expansion in the types of devices people can use to access the internet.
This third point regarding devices has seen the most significant leaps in technology, with users now able to access and use the internet on mobile phones and other handheld devices, often no more significant than the size of a wallet or purse. However, this means that websites must be designed to appear properly on the displays of each device being used to view them. This is why having a responsive website is key to targeting prospects who use mobile devices to access the internet.
It is also important to remember that those who use mobile internet are now the majority versus those who use PCs and laptops. It follows that if, on mobile devices, your website looks distorted or images appear skewed, then you are going to miss out on many leads.
Ineffective Calls To Action
We have already mentioned in the section about navigation that people do not like to be confused, so when it comes to asking, or more to the point, telling your website visitors what actions they should take, confusing them further is not an option. If the calls to act on your website are unclear, visitors will either ignore them or worse, click away.
No matter what you would like any of your website’s visitors to do on a specific page, assume that you need to take them by the hand and spell it out for them. Do not use technical terms like ‘hyperlink’ if you want them to click a link; instead, tell them to “Click Here”. The same applies to any other call to action. Please keep it simple and straightforward, and use large arrows to guide them to the correct section of the web page.
Publishing Poor Content
The content on your website serves many vital purposes, such as educating, entertaining, and engaging with your audience. If it is high-quality content, they are more likely to remain on your website, plus it will also help to build trust with them. However, if the content on your website is below par and nothing it contains offers anything positive for your visitors, then the complete opposite happens.
Visitors will feel there is no value to them being on your website, and their thought process is likely to be that as the quality of the website, including its content, is poor, it is also a safe bet that the products and customer services this company offers are poor also. Your website’s content should be of the highest quality, and you also want to publish various types of content such as video, images, audio, and text.
Technical Problems
To many people, ‘web design’ refers purely to how a website looks, but they are mistaken. Web design covers every aspect of a website, including its functionality. This includes several specifics, including those listed below, which might negatively affect a visitor’s opinion of the website because they do not function properly.
- Slow Website Opening Speed
- Missing Images
- Page Errors e.g. 404 – Page Not Found
- Multimedia Not Playing
- Clickable Links Not Opening Another Page
- Images Loading Slowly
- Interactive Functions Not Working
There are many others, but the point is that if any of the technical elements of your website’s design have errors, then do not be surprised if those who may otherwise have become leads for your business instead leave to find another website, which in most cases will be websites belonging to your biggest competitors.