Business

How NOT To Design A Website

How NOT To Design A Website 1 2

Websites are the modern-day shop windows, enticing people to step inside and browse the products you have to offer. Sounds simple enough. What could possibly go wrong? Quite a bit, apparently...

More often than not, customers’ first impression of your business will be based upon your website, so it is vital to design them in a way that will appeal to people. Yet remarkably, it is still an area that many businesses are not getting right – how many times have you clicked on a poorly designed website and consequently assumed the quality of the product or service was equally inferior? Quite simply, an unprofessional website could be costing you business. Pebble Ltd and Brave Creative, two Peterborough website design firms, point out the most common mistakes people make when it comes to their websites.

DAVID EVANS, DIRECTOR OF PEBBLE LTD SAYS:

DON’T DESIGN THE WEBSITE FOR YOURSELF

It’s a common mistake when you have your website designed for the first time to have it designed for you and not your customers; your favourite colours, how you would like the page to be arranged, where you want your navigation to be placed etc.

  • Think about the people who are going to visit your website (potential customers, their age group and language), do they share your passion for a brown website with yellow writing?
  • If you can, use pastel and neutral colours, these are inoffensive and are pleasing on the eye.
  • Before you move forward with building a website, show the design to as many family and friends as possible to get their opinion. You may be surprised by their reaction.

BRACE YOUR WEBSITE FOR A HUMAN SCAN
All website visitors are identical in terms of behaviour, the moment a website is loaded on the screen everyone scans what they can see in less than a second. Everything visible is processed and it is important you have the right information on display in the right place.

  • Your phone number, or best method of communication, should be visible at the top of the page.
  • Keep colours like reds and yellows to a minimum, these are ‘danger’ colours and should be used sparingly.
  • Use a clear heading to state what your company does. For example, if you are a plumber based in Peterborough consider having a strap line along the lines of: “Joe’s Plumbing – Servicing Commercial and Domestic Customers in Peterborough and the surrounding areas.” In this short statement we have shown the name of the company, what they do, where they are based, where they operate and the type of clients they work for.

DON’T RE-INVENT THE NAVIGATION WHEEL

Most new companies like to be cutting edge and want to appear to be pushing the boundaries using their online presence, which is great, but always remember some golden navigation rules on your website:

  • Navigation should be bold and key items should always appear above the page fold on your website. Don’t hide important information where a user cannot find it easily.
  • Make sure your navigation items stand out from the rest of your page content, for example by using a bigger font size.
  • Always have a “contact us” link in your navigation. You should never expect a user to search around your website for a way to contact you.

DON’T CONFUSE YOUR VISITORS

Every page should have a proposition and a clear call to action; if you leave a visitor wondering what to do next then you may well lose that potential customer or sale.

  • If you have a contact page, give your visitor options. List your telephone number, email address, and social media channels so guests can use the one they prefer. If there is a form to fill out, tell customers when they can expect to hear back from you.
  • Offers work in a similar way – you can simply display your offers, but why not have visitors sign up to your newsletter to receive automatic updates on your offers?
  • When talking about your services, keep the content very snappy and have a button on there for customers to request more information or request a call back from your company.

www.pebbtleltd.co.uk

How NOT To Design A Website 1 2

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