First impressions are very important! You have about 20 seconds to make a
good first impression. If you want a visitor to your website to come back
you've got to impress them in a brief period of time.
25 Common Website Design Mistakes to Avoid
It's easy to avoid website issues, with just a few basic tips.
Many often opt to design and build their own websites, with little experience or
website design background. This can lead to many mistakes being made that only hurt
their objectives. If you are a beginner, then there are several things you should
keep in mind in designing your website.
Here are some common mistakes which to avoid when designing your new website.
1. Slow Loading Pages
Problem: Going to a website and waiting for it to load.
Solution: Optimize your images at a lower resolution to achieve
faster loading pages. Keep your page sizes well under 60 KB.
2. Page Layout
Problem: Websites that have navigation located in different places.
It looks cluttered and unprofessional.
Solution: Be consistent and be organized in your websites layout.
Make sure all your web pages look the same and the websites navigation location
is in the same place.
3. Wild and Crazy Color Schemes
Problem: Ever visit a website that has a background with a bright,
neon color and find you can't read the content?
Solution: Think "easy to read." Avoid dark backgrounds
with light colored fonts. White background with black text is best for the general
public.
4. Spelling and Grammar Errors
Problem: Spelling and grammar errors just jump off the page.
Solution: Always spell check.
5. Text on the Page
Problem: Most internet users don't read web pages, they scan them.
Solution: Make sure your web page is easy to read. Break text into
manageable pieces, use sub-headings, short paragraphs, highlighted keywords and
bullet points.
6. Font Styles and Sizes
Problem: Fonts such as Times New Roman are more difficult to read
on a computer monitor than Arial. Also, text that is too small or way too big is
hard to read.
Solution: Use non serif fonts such as Arial, Verdana or MS Sans
Serif for web pages. Your web page will look much better, more professional, and
will be much easier for your visitor to read.
7. Not Enough "White Space"
Problem: Too many words on a web page can be overwhelming.
Solution: Make your page easy to read by breaking the text into
smaller, more manageable pieces.
8. Cheesy Music that the User Cannot Control
Problem: Background music on a website that does not fit and not
being able to shut it off.
Solution: If you think you need to use music on your website for
some reason and then make sure you offer your visitors the option to turn it off,
or on, quickly and easily.
9. Poor Layout and Design
Problem: Ever been to a website that is simply just "too much"?
They are trying to fill every bit of space on the webpage.
Solution: Don't overdo it when designing your pages. Just because
you can add something doesn't mean you have to. Leave plenty of white space between
your text and images.
10. Overly Long Pages
Problem: Ever been to a website with a page that just scrolls down
forever?
Solution: Most people will never scan down to the bottom of really
long pages. It's better to have several short pages versus a few really long pages.
11. Non Standard Links
Problem: You go to a website and aren't sure which words are really
links because the link colors have been changed.
Solution: Don't confuse your users. Keep the link colors as they
are.
12. "Under Construction" signs
Problem: Ever been to a website and found a page with no content
of any type other than an "Under Construction" sign?
Solution: Don't use "Under Construction" signs on your
website.
13. Didn't Test Your Website
Problem: Ever been to a website that just looks like a mess? Maybe
you saw text overlapping images, weird alignment, etc.
Solution: Always check to see what your website looks like in multiple
browsers and change accordingly before uploading your website.
14. Unclear Navigation
Problem: You don't enjoy broken links, error pages or too many
moving objects; neither does your websites visitors. You will lose visitors if your
navigation is too difficult to follow.
Solution: Make sure that your navigation is easy to read, find
and to follow. Also, make sure that it is in the same spot on all of your websites
pages.
15. Sloppy Website Copy
Problem: Ever visit a website with missing words, bad grammar,
or that just doesn't make sense?
Solution: Always remember, "Content is King" on the internet,
so make sure there is plenty of good, focused information for your visitors.
16. Never Updating Your Site
Problem: Ever go to a website that hasn't been changed at all over
the last few times that you've visited it?
Solution: You should frequently update the content on your website.
17. Too Many Clicks
Problem: Ever gone to a website, found something you're interested
in checking out, and then had to click, click, and click before you found the item you
were looking for?
Solution: Don't test the patience of your visitors. Make sure that
everything can be found on your website within 3 clicks or less.
18. No Privacy Policy
Problem: No Privacy Policy page is listed on a website.
Solution: Post a Privacy Policy on your website. Make sure that
your customers know that you will not share their contact information and addresses
with anyone.
19. No Company Contact Information
Problem: A company with no address or contact information is one
you may not want to give your money to.
Solution: Email addresses or phone numbers are most often seen
as contact information on websites; however, having a physical mailing address on
your website adds another key credibility factor.
20. Using Free Web Hosting
Problem: You visit a web page that has a name so long you'll never
remember it because it is from one of those free website hosts.
Solution: If you want your internet businesses to be taken seriously
avoid using free web hosting. This all adds to the issue of credibility.
21. Using Free Email Addresses
Problem: You visit a website and try to send an email to them;
however the email addresses are not associated with the domain name.
Solution: Using a free email address, such as Hotmail, Yahoo or
Gmail, is never appropriate for your website. On your website, always use an email
addresses associated with your own business domain name.
22. Advertisements
Problem: You've come to a website where the pages are cluttered
with a lot of different advertisements.
Solution: A lot of people are using advertisements to earn extra
money. That's fine, just don't overdo it.
23. Bad Images
Problem: How many times have you seen a web page with missing graphics
files or misshaped images?
Solution: Always optimize your images and use the height and width
attributes of the image tag. Additionally, save the files in the right image formats:
JPG for Photographs and GIF for artwork.
24. This Website Best Viewed on.....
Problem: This is often seen on many beginner websites.
Solution: Simply don't use this on your website.
25. No Prices
Problem: Websites that don't have prices listed clearly with their
products.
Solution: If you're selling a product on your website, ALWAYS include
a price with the item description.
Additional Information
Here's a list of things that you should just avoid, or should not forget, simply
because it's the right thing to do, website design wise:
Don't forget functional links on your footer, don't forget about your Marketing
strategies, don't over use Flash, avoid JavaScript links, blinking text, animated
GIFs, missing Meta Tags, horizontal (sideways) scrolling, don't underline or color
normal text, frames, hit counters, orphan pages, anything "cutesy", pop
ups, fancy fonts, don't forget to include anchor text on your links, avoid using
all the "bells And whistles" simply because you can, never subscribe a
visitor for anything without his consent, don't leave the home page title as "Welcome
to Mysite.com", not taking advantage of SEO
(Search Engine Optimization) on your website.