Five Golden Rings WRONGS of Web Design!
In 2020, during one of my Let’s Build Business videos, I shared insight about the “Five Thou Shalt NOT’S of a Web Design.” Well, many of you enjoyed that clip and began considering how to make your own company website shine a little brighter!
Our Let’s Build Business series is all about helping you develop effective lead generation strategies. And we accomplish this in two ways –
- By getting more of the right targeted prospects to your website, and –
- Converting those prospects into new qualified leads that you can “nurture.”
In this article, I elaborate on the “Thou Shall Not’s” of web design features that will turn visitors off when they’re on your site.
However, in light of the Holiday Season, I’ll call them the “Five Golden WRONGS!” These web design faux pas will ultimately cause buyers to leave your website with no intent on coming back. So, continue reading, or jump right into them!
- Nix all the bells and whistles!
- Flash Animation, moving text, fancy cursors, and music are archaic!
- It’s a big “no-no” to post online images without ALT tags or text captions.
- Dead links on your site will eventually kill your entire site!
- Don’t list all your products or services on one page.
- The One Golden RIGHT!
Today’s web designs don’t need all the extra bells and whistles; people ultimately want something simple yet elegant.
As a business owner, you may be wondering why you shouldn’t toot your own horn on your website. But the answer is simple; visitors desire to get to the information they need quickly. “Salesy,” flashy, and highly distracting sites quickly become turn-offs for the majority of visitors who are immediately interested in purchasing products or services. So, beyond the bells and whistles, people just want easy access to straightforward information and the assurance you have what they need. Therefore, it’s best that your website is responsive to search needs and creates a positive user experience for visitors.
Bells and whistles are like having every widget, and form you can find, stuffed onto a home page. And the greatest problem with too much bling is it distracts the buyer from their purpose of visiting the website. Remember, they’re online to find solutions to their problems. So, keep your web design clean, elegant, and to the point instead of flashy or confusing.
Another golden “WRONG” of a web design is to incorporate flash animation, moving text, fancy cursors, and music.
The bottom line is that those features are old-hat, outdated, and absolutely unnecessary. Adding such elements to your site is like viewing an annoying digital commercial. Also, small businesses may not be aware that these programming features can slow page loading time1 substantially, therefore negatively impacting SEO performance. For example, Google’s search engine results pages (SERPs) will only rank websites with the most valuable and relevant content, and those providing the best performance experiences.
Source — via GIPHY
Gone are the days of 1989 and ’90 when web designs first came into play, and online visitors looked for specific characteristics on websites! People were initially fascinated just by the sheer technology of sites back then. They also loved the flash elements simply because of what was presented on screen.
But today, mindsets and search intents are different, and people are more focused on what a site can DO and PROVIDE for them. Although web designs should still trend and appeal to the senses, they must also visually guide visitors to relevant information. So, think of modern websites as having one divine and commanding purpose. – “Thou shalt give the people what they want and help them find it easily and quickly!”
Make sure never to post digital images without ALT tags and text captions.
One of the biggest mistakes unseasoned bloggers or designers make is adding images to blogs and site pages without a tagged description. The problem with inappropriately posting images online is that search engines cannot read them from your site. This inability to pick up the image will most certainly affect SEO ranking.
However, descriptive text about the image helps increase your rankings because it’s part of SEO best practices. For instance, always ensure your images are tagged with page or blog title words similar to this SEO image tag example.
‘seo-best-practices-for-web-design-include-image-tags’
Remember, dead links on your website could be killing it slowly and lowering its online rank position.
Dead links are hyperlinks that lead a buyer to the online ‘Land of Nowhere’ or an error page. Your site could have both internal and external dead links. The internal ones should take visitors to another page within your website, and external links take them to other websites. However, if those links are no longer good or end in error, they will negatively impact your site performance as well.
We’re firm believers in checking web links frequently to ensure they still work. This process is crucial for internal links that lead to outdated pages on your site or if you’ve updated them. It’s also especially vital to routinely check links on your web pages and blogs that take visitors to other website sources for additional information.
Last but not least, make sure to never list all your products and services on all or any single page of your website. This practice is definitely another golden WRONG of web design!
These days, people don’t particularly enjoy looking at long, ever-scrolling web pages! Instead, they want to get to the point as quickly and efficiently as possible. So, when it comes down to web design, don’t list all your products and services on one long, continuous page scroll.
Of course, your website needs to share the product or service solutions you offer. However, breaking them up naturally into separate pages is best for focus. For instance, successful companies continue to market online because they can showcase the products or services their customers enjoy most. In addition, they utilize smart navigation in their web designs to help visitors find what they need while also creating a positive UX (user experience) each time they frequent the site.
There’s one straightforward way to help turn your web design wrongs into rights!
The good news is these issues can and should be resolved if they’re a part of your current web design. And should you choose not to eradicate them and update your site, you’ll run the risk of losing quality leads. Furthermore, you may also not see the kind of ROI you desire.
However, connecting with an experienced, outsourced marketing partner is the first step in helping rid your website of design faux pas. And in doing so, you’ll immediately begin seeing improved rank position as more buyers have better user experiences on your site. Consequently, when your site is professionally designed, you also increase the probability of acquiring even more qualified leads.
So, learn to start making various changes to your site by contacting us today. And for immediate assistance, call us at 281-203-0529. We Wish You a SAFE & HAPPY HOLIDAY Season!
References
- Loading GIF sample concept – Beta Foosball.
- SEO concept image by Merakist.
