Last month, we reviewed five “do’s” for developing a great, user-friendly website. As the foundation of your brand’s online presence, it is important to ensure that your site is up-to-date, functional, and provides clear information and calls to action for visitors. This month, we are following up with a list of what you should avoid. If you are building a new website or in the process of a refresh, here is our list of five “don’ts” for developing a website.
Don’t: Let Your Website Load Slowly
We live in the era of 30-second videos and, often, instant gratification. If your website takes too long to load, users will bounce before seeing what you offer. Slow page loading speed also hurts your SEO as Google uses page speed as one of their factors for ranking websites. To ensure your site isn’t sluggish:
- Consider installing plugins to monitor site speed and optimize performance.
- Regularly check and optimize images, resizing them to 1920px or smaller and compressing files where possible.
- Minify JavaScript, CSS, and HTML to help reduce load time.
- Set a reminder to check your site frequently. We recommend monitoring your site on at least a monthly basis.
Don’t: Overcrowd Your Pages
Lengthy landing pages are hard to navigate, and your call-to-action can get lost. To avoid information overload with new site visitors:
- Treat white space as your friend. Using white areas creates contrast and improves readability.
- Ask a peer or agency to audit your site. It is easy to overlook design elements if you’ve been staring at your site for too long. Having an outside perspective will help you see your website through a new lens and provide insight into ways to optimize design.
Don’t: Stuff Everything Into Your Main Navigation
A busy and confusing main navigation will ensure one thing: your primary message and call-to-action will be lost. If users cannot find an answer to their search quickly, they will click off to a competitor site. As a reminder from our previous blog:
- Keep your navigation clean and minimal. Too many landing pages in your main menu can overwhelm visitors.
- Consider using a mega menu, a more extensive dropdown with organized categories, if you have a lot of pages to display.
- Contact information should be easy to find. If users have to hunt for your phone number or email, you’ve already lost them.
Don’t: Create A New Design On Each Page
We aren’t saying that each page should look exactly the same. However, we are saying that all pages should flow naturally with each other and follow branding guidelines. Don’t make your audience guess your next move! Consistent branding efforts and messaging help customers remember you, trust you, and ultimately, consider your company when making a purchasing decision.
- Use two to three easy-to-read fonts consistently throughout the site, and avoid any typefaces that are too small. We recommend a minimum size of 16 px for paragraph text and headings roughly 2x larger than body text.
- Keep design elements balanced. To achieve a “Goldilocks” website that is not overly or under-designed, use a branding guide, create within your brand’s color palette, utilize white space, and curate a mix of text, images, and video.
Don’t: Forget Calls to Action (CTAs)
Your website is a marketing channel you own and control. This means you can set the content strategy and directly guide users to a desired action. It’s important to make the most of your website!
- Every landing page and blog should have a clear goal and action step, such as “Get In Touch,” “Book A Call,” or “Order Now.”
- Buttons, anchor links, and hyperlinks can help guide users toward their next steps (filling out a form or making a call).
- Integrate your website with third-party CRMs and email marketing platforms to create seamless automations to reengage customers and track how visitors find your website.
A great website is functional, user-friendly, and designed with your audience in mind. If you missed our February blog, check out Five “Do’s” For Developing a Website. And if you need help with your website strategy, get in touch! We’d love to talk projects.
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