Small business owners understand that having a presence on the internet is vital in a media world where many potential clients are searching for their products or services online. However, amateur site building can lead to mistakes that can drive away possible clients, which why many businesses turn to a professional web design company to design their website. Here’s a look at the most common problems that can result from amateur web design and how web professionals can help you avoid them.
Targeting Everybody
You’d probably love to get everybody who just might happen to visit your website. In reality, you don’t want to target literally anyone who’s searching on the internet. If you make your website so broadly focused, ironically, you won’t be pleasing anybody. You’ll likely end up making your site so bland that it doesn’t attract web users, or perhaps your site will turn out so gaudy and loud that people will be turned off by it. Experienced web professionals will instead tailor your web design so that it appeals to the people most likely to frequent your site.
Flashy Designs
It’s tempting to flood your site with bells and whistles that scream “look at me!” However, a flashy design detracts from the purpose of your website, to market your business, and also may make it harder to navigate. This can be particularly troublesome if you’re trying to direct users to pages that market your services or products. You also have to think about users who use tablets or mobile phones. A big flashy site doesn’t look good on those devices. And finally, a site with a lot of active plugins and programs is going to take longer to load. Web design companies for small businesses want your site to load up with the minimal amount of time needed while preserving an inviting look. If your site takes too long to load, your visitors may look elsewhere.
No Call to Action
Even if your website is easy to load, your visitors still need to know what to do when they get there. What is your goal for your website? If you run a small business, you obviously want more clients, but you need to provide specific directions for your users to follow. You may want visitors to buy your products or purchase services you offer. If you want customers to contact you, your site should offer a feedback form or an email address. To build your client base, you may want visitors to subscribe to a newsletter. Basically, you should have a call to action that visitors can easily understand and follow.
Updates
Designing a website isn’t just a one and done affair. Your site shouldn’t feature information that isn’t up to date and shallow activity that indicates that maybe the business isn’t operating any longer. Consult with your professional web design company to make your page easy to update. Install a blog if necessary, and update it once a week at least. Not only will updating your site draw greater visitor interest, it increases interest by search engines.
Now that you know how a web design company can benefit your website, you’re ready to decide if hiring web professionals to design your site is right for you.
