20 Worst Web Design Mistakes You Should Be Avoiding

Every business now has a website, but not every website is getting traffic. To attract and engage a targeted audience, a website needs to be designed and developed in a way so that it can make an impact online.

Website visitors spend no more than 10 seconds to judge a website. If you can’t leave an impression within those few seconds, they’ll simply leave and never return. So as a growing brand, you have to make sure that you don’t mess up your online presence with web design mistakes.

In today’s post, we’ll discuss some website design mistakes that we see being repeated time and again even by professionals so that you can avoid them and have smooth sailing through the future.

1. The Website is Not Mobile-Friendly

This is one of the biggest mistakes that can hurt your business badly and you should avoid it at all costs. The first impression of your website design now depends on what and how it appears on a mobile or smartphone. These days, most of the visitors browse the net on their mobiles instead of desktops. A bad mobile experience will make your visitors leave the site immediately and move on to another that offers a better user experience.

As a result, even if they like your business, visitors are less likely to use your website again if it is not mobile-friendly. This means, they will neither use nor buy from your website and also won’t recommend your business to other consumers.

If your website layout, images, and web copy aren’t scaled to different mobile screen sizes, and the navigation menu options are too small or doesn’t appear in appropriate spaces or they aren’t touch-friendly, then act now and fix these problems ASAP. Create a lasting impression with an effective mobile-friendly design so that your competitors can’t get an edge over you.

2. The Website is Not Responsive

Responsive web design means building web pages that can alter its presentation using CSS3 media queries to adapt to the browser displaying the page regardless of the device used. Being on the threshold of 2020, website owners shouldn’t be making the mistake of not building a responsive website that is accessible on any device and screen size.

We all know that internet consumption is now much higher on smartphones, tablets, PS4s and other mobile devices as compared to that on desktops and laptops. So, you need to give equal importance to designing for users on various devices because responsive design has been identified as one of the most important features for a website. Ensure that the design supports all the configurations recommended by Google.

3. The Website is Slow Loading

Besides responsive and mobile-friendly designs, Google now prefers to rank websites that load fast. If you want to rank higher in Google’s search results page, you can’t afford to have a slow website that takes more than 3 seconds to load. Visitors are impatient online more than before and they don’t like to wait. Therefore, the probability of visitor bounce increases with more page loading time.

Check if you have any internal issues such as coding, large video content or images that are impacting page loading time and fix accordingly. In case the issue is with the server where your website is hosted, get technical support or run updates immediately.

4. Website without SSL Certificate

Warning signals like ‘The site you are trying to reach is not secure’ are sent out to website visitors by browsers if it is not hosted securely. If your webpage still has URLs starting with http instead of https, then check your SSL certificate. This wasn’t a big issue a few years ago, but now Google and other search engines push you further down in the search results to limit your visibility if your site is not secure. So, having a website that is not secure is a red flag for both visitors and search engines. Make sure to fix all your site security issues to avoid missing out on SEO ranking factors.

5. Few and Bland Calls-to-Action

Without having clear calls-to-action or CTA that can convince your visitors to take some action on your website, you can’t create conversions. CTA’s should be properly designed so that they are prominently visible, easily understandable, and simple to interact with. Be it registering on the website, signing-up for a newsletter, subscribing to a mailing list or making a purchase, the calls-to-action should be placed strategically on the pages with a persuasive command. The content that you use for your CTAs should tell users what to do so that they have a clear idea of what will happen in the next step.

6. Font Sizes that are Not Reader-Friendly

This one is a common website design mistake where some web designers often use the default font and skip the importance of customizing it. Users want to see modern typography but that should be a joy to read and not so tiny that it starts giving them a headache. Body text should be ideally 16px so that it is reader-friendly across different types of devices.

Also, make sure that you don’t select an unclear font that is difficult to read such as hand-drawn scripts or cursive fonts. Using too many font styles and types together is also a big mistake because they act like a visual distraction and make it difficult to convey your message effectively. Give a check to the details of the space used between two characters (kerning), words and phrases (tracking), and between the lines or sentences (leading). The main idea is to focus on clarity.

7. Random Color and Contrast

Picking incompetent color and contrast is also one of the worst mistakes that can reject even the best designs. You should always focus on creating a complementary synergy. For example, if you’re using a white background and light grey text together, it will only turn your design ineffective. Although both the colors provide a modern and minimal look, they can’t be used together in such a case because the text would turn out to be not so reader-friendly. Make sure that the font color and background color you are using on the website are significantly contrasting.

8. Too Minimalist for the Sake of Creativity

Web designers need to be creative but excessive creativity isn’t acceptable when it comes to user experience. While you should not distract users with overly flashy and too many elements, you should also not design a page that has too less information. Minimalist designs are unique and trending but you need to understand what works and what doesn’t for users. Having a page design with too few menu options, few or one word text can hurt your business.

9. Poor Visual Content

While you need to be careful with futuristic designs going wrong, you should also check the quality of your existing visual content, especially when redesigning a website. Visitors will skip your site if they find outdated content, styling, low-quality images, graphics and videos, and mismatched typography. Poor and outdated visual content can hurt the reputation of a business.

10. Bad Brand Messaging

This is one bad website design mistake which should not be underrated. In fact, it is going to be one of the highest priorities in 2020. Users form an opinion about your business within 0.5 seconds once your page loads. If you are not presenting them the right brand message which clearly conveys what your company does and why they should choose you, they will immediately leave and move to a competitor’s website.

So, you can stay ahead of your competitors if you fix this right away. Make sure that your website content addresses the needs of the targeted audience and not just promotes your agenda. Brand message has to be shaped based on what value you can bring to your potential customers and build trust to influence their decision-making process. Also, place your products and services, testimonials, affiliates and awards clearly visible on the page.

11. Bad 404 Pages

A 404 page is a web page that no longer exists. So, when a user clicks on such a link or types the URL of such a page on the browser, they will see the page indicating “Page Not Found”. If you don’t offer anything other than an apology on such pages, visitors will simply hit the back button and leave your website. Put a simple link to your homepage or add some thoughtful content to entertain or inform your users which they can find helpful on these pages to create a bridge to key areas of your website.

12. Heavy Graphics, Images and Multimedia

Large images, graphics and multimedia take a lot of time to load and in the process, they tend to slow down page loading times which, in turn, can not only hurt your site rankings but also cause visitors to bounce. Use common file formats and optimize them for the dimensions that will be used. Ensure that the visual elements you use on the website are easy and fast to load on any device.

13. Contact Info that’s Hard to Find

A fair percentage of visitors look out for your contact information on the website. If they can’t find a way to contact you easily, they will move ahead to get in touch with a competitor. Make sure that your contact information such as phone number, email id, and address is clear and visible in the header and footer and also on a dedicated contact page in the main navigation to avoid losing any potential customer.

14. Missing Header Tags

Headline elements like H1 headings and H2 subheadings and so on help make your content easily scanable. Users scan through the content quickly and if the headlines match their search intent, they will continue to stay on your page. Header tags also act as a markup for bots to read and understand what the page is about. So, having appropriate header tags is crucial for search engines to find and rank your content in the search results page.

15. No Schema Markup

Schema markup is a code framework that you should add to your website. It provides added context on your web page to the search engines. It helps to offer more information to the users when they search for solutions and bring in more visitors to your website as a result.

16. Bad Placement of Search Box

Another common web design mistake is to place the search box at the bottom of the page or behind other elements. Most users expect to locate the search box easily to find what they are looking for quickly. Make sure that they don’t have to hunt or scroll down pages to search the box which is meant for searching and retrieving intended information.

17. Pages with Horizontal Scrolling

Horizontal scrolling is a bad design choice as it mostly tends to annoy users. It lacks purpose to split content sideways, whether written or visual, because it goes against the standard pattern of vision. Also, it isn’t compatible with mobile devices from the point of view of usability and user experience.

18. Poor Use of White Space

White space should be used well because it improves readability and comprehension of your website content as well as attracts more attention from the visitors. This is why it should be used strategically and purposefully to direct user’s attention on what you want them to focus on.

19. Social Media Icons at the Top

A lot of websites have their social media icons on the top of the page. The main problem with this placement is that it distracts users as soon as they visit your site. Chances are higher that they will immediately jump into your social media pages and may never return to your website again. The best way to handle this distraction is to place the icons in the sidebar, in the middle of the page or in the footer.

20. Not Using Analytics Tools

If you are not tracking crucial data regarding the usage and performance of your website, you are making a big web design mistake. Your website is an investment and you should be measuring its success and analyzing its progress. Make sure that you are using a metrics tool like Google Analytics or similar to get valuable information about your website visitors and set goals to track conversions. You can improve your pages based on available data and increase conversions.

By avoiding these website design mistakes, you can build credibility for your brand, gain new customers, and foster client relationships. Hire a professional web design service with a proven track record of success in working for various sizes of companies from different industries. Read testimonials and reviews of previous clients and check case studies before hiring.
At Leidsens, we help our clients not only create websites and mobile apps that give high performance but also help build brand identity. We focus on creating impressive user experience and frame brand strategies based on the industry and extensive market research.

Call us today at +91 9804727564/ 8617750619 or drop us a mail at info@leidsens.com to discuss your project!