8 Common Website Design Problems
Anyone involved in the world of web design will know that not only does technology change as often as the wind, but trends do, too. What was popular as a marketing tool last month, may no longer be as effective now. Keeping on top of these trends and changes as they occur, is the single most effective way to guarantee a website with a great design. However, it’s one thing to spot a trend, it’s quite another to act on it and ensure that you’re using it to your advantage.
While how a website looks and how on-trend it is, is undoubtedly important in attracting site visitors and potential customers, visual creativity. It’s not enough to simply entice someone to your website, and pique their interest in whatever you’re selling or offering as a service; you need to do both of these things and follow it up with a simple way for them to buy from you, or simply engage with your business. A well-designed website will be engaging, interesting, accurate, functional and highly responsive; only then will it ever perform well for you and help you to grow your business.
But with so many challenges facing website designers. How can they be sure to create a visually stunning site that attracts and retains visitors, while encouraging them to buy products or use a service? Below are 8 of the most common website design problems. If each of these are addressed appropriately as and when they occur fixed and improved upon swiftly. A website with a great design could well be within your grasp:
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A website does nothing to address the needs of its customers
This is a very common problem that thankfully, is easy to rectify. You can have the most visually stunning website in the whole world, but as with so many things in life, looks aren’t everything. If your beautifully designed website doesn’t give your potential customers anything more than eye candy, it will never perform to its potential. When at the design phase of creating your website, think about the following questions:
- What do your customers consider as important to them?
- To convert a visitor into a customer, what information do they need?
- From a visual perspective, what appeals to them the most
- Are your site visitors more interested in pictures and colorful graphics or words, and vice versa?
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There is an information overload on the website Design
There is definitely such a thing as too much information on a website, and while visitors to a site of course need information, too much can be a deterrent. Reading not only requires concentration, but it takes time. Too much information about a product or service can cause visitors to go elsewhere to fulfill their needs.
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Navigation the Website is too complicated
Moving from one area of a site to another should be simple, swift and seamless. The minute a user has to spend too much time figuring out how to move around a website. Their attention will drift and they’ll give up and look elsewhere. Each site visitor must be guided through the steps required for them to buy a product or use a service, and clear calls to action are essential.
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Color contrast has not been carefully considered
This seemingly age-old problem isn’t set to go anywhere anytime soon. It still needs to be addressed during the design stages of a website. Responsiveness and accessibility of a website are difficult to maintain if the colors aren’t contrasted successfully. You can test this using a variety of effective, online tools.
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There are no calls to action
While site users are by no means stupid, they do however. It need clear instructions as to what actions they should take next in order to buy something or make use of a service. Without concise and straightforward calls to action, visitors are confused, disappointed and highly likely to disappear, never to return again!
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Performance is king (or queen)
Web standards such as usability, HTML 5 and tables CSS to name but a few, are undeniably important factors of good web design. But they’re nothing more than tools, and become virtually useless if your site isn’t performing as it should.
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Websites are like products, so treat them like one
While the products or services that you’re selling are vital for the success of your business, without a successful website to sell them on, how will you ever improve your bottom line? Reviewing and adjusting a website should happen as often as you review and adjust your products; pay close attention to both, and you could have a winning combination.
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Conversions are key
Never let go of the fact that a good website, that has been designed effectively. It should ultimately serve the purpose of converting visitors into customers. The minute it stops doing this, your business will take a nosedive and your competitors will quickly step in to fill the void.
There is a seemingly never-ending list of problems that website designers face. But with careful consideration of all the above factors. Addressing each problem as soon as it occurs. It’s absolutely possible to come up with a website design that not only wows, but performs. However, choose to work with professional website designers Toronto, as many businesses do, and you could spare yourself a whole lot of worry.
Staying on top of trends and understanding all the latest technological techniques, are what website designers do. If creating a business and trying to stay afloat during these difficult times has given you more of a headache than you care to admit. Why not let them step in and design you a website that will soon have visitors queuing up to do business.