The appearance of your website could have a 75% influence on your brand’s credibility. If you don’t look credible, potential clients won’t trust your startup. Instead, you need to invest in your website design and development.
Otherwise, your startup might fail before it ever gets the chance to succeed.
Take the time to avoid these startup web design errors as you get started. Otherwise, these issues could lead people to leave, hurting your conversion rate and search engine rankings.
Read on for the tips you need for designing business websites today!
1. Lack of Focus
First, make sure each page across your website has a distinct purpose. If you can’t tell why a page exists, a visitor won’t, either. They might leave feeling confused, causing your website bounce rate to increase.
A high bounce rate can hurt other areas of your digital marketing strategy, such as search engine optimization (SEO) or paid advertising. For example, your organic rankings will start to drop. The cost-per-click (CPC) for your paid ads will increase, hurting your ROI.
Before that happens, make sure each page has a unique, distinct purpose. Make sure that purpose is clear and consistent through the:
- Page title
- Page URL
- Header image
- Additional imagery
- Headlines
- Body text
- Call to action
Don’t try to cover too many concepts on a single page. Otherwise, the visitor might leave without completing an action. You’ll lose the opportunity to generate leads, sales, or other conversions.
After using these tips, if you notice your conversion rate is low, review the page. Make sure the page’s purpose is clear.
Try to highlight the distinct value you’re offering visitors on the page. Your distinct value can help you stand out from competitors. It could give visitors a reason to choose your business instead of another.
2. Brand Inconsistency
Your brand can help your startup stand out from competing businesses. It’s important to establish your brand guidelines before designing business websites. Otherwise, an inconsistent visual brand could confuse customers.
If people see different imagery styles, color palettes, or fonts between one page and the next, they might think they’ve visited a different website. They might leave feeling confused, causing your bounce rate to increase further.
Instead, work with your team to determine your:
- Vision statement
- Mission statement
- Core values
- Voice
- Tone
- Personality
- Imagery style
- Font styles
- Logo styles
- Color palette
Keeping your branding consistent across all marketing channels will encourage brand awareness and recognition. The more often people recognize your brand, the more likely they’ll trust your brand. They might feel more inclined to convert into a lead or sale.
3. Neglecting Mobile Users
Run your website through Google’s Mobile-Friendly Test to make sure it’s optimized for mobile visitors. Without a mobile-friendly website, you could unintentionally neglect customers. People might struggle to interact with your website from their smartphones and other mobile devices.
Google also uses mobile-first indexing when crawling, indexing, and ranking your content. If your site isn’t mobile-ready, your organic rankings could drop.
4. Long Load Times
Run your website through Google’s PageSpeed Insights and Core Web Vitals as well. Determine what page elements are causing your site to lag. If your pages load too slowly, people will leave, increasing your bounce rate.
You might need to compress your images or switch to a different host.
Otherwise, try using minimalistic design trends. Add white space to give your content room to breathe. Remove any unnecessary page elements to improve your load times.
5. No Contact Info
Make sure it’s easy for visitors to contact you or convert on every page.
First, make sure there’s a call to action (CTA) button in your navigation bar. Make sure this CTA stands out from other buttons. Use clear, concise language to encourage more conversions.
If you use forms on your website, consider placing them above the fold. Add one to your footer as well.
6. Neglecting SEO
SEO can help your pages and posts rank higher on search engine result pages. Higher rankings will help your website generate more traffic. Your website design and development can hurt your SEO efforts.
Follow Google’s Core Web Vitals to improve the user experience on your website. Offering a positive user experience will encourage visitors to linger and explore. For example, your website loading speed can impact the user’s online experience.
Optimize every page with a distinct keyword. Consider partnering with a web design team that understands SEO to optimize your site. You can learn more from this creative agency.
7. Confusing Navigation
If it’s difficult to navigate your website, people will leave without exploring other pages.
First, make sure it’s easy to navigate between pages on both mobile and desktop devices.
Next, remove any unnecessary pages from your navigation bar. Instead, offer secondary navigation options within the parent page’s sidebar.
8. Poor Image Quality
Avoid using stock photography across your website. Stock images can make your brand look ingenuine or inauthentic. In fact, consumers are finding it easier to recognize stock images.
Instead, take unique photos of your products and services. Hire a professional photographer to ensure high-quality, branded images. Make sure to optimize your images by adding target keywords to the file name and alt text.
Hire Pros: Avoid These Startup Web Design Errors
If you want to avoid these startup web design errors, don’t go the DIY route. Instead, consider requesting professional web design services this year. With help, you can design a wow-worthy website to start generating leads.
An amazing website could make all the difference in your startup’s success.
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