Business online has become a new normal. There were approximately 2.14 billion digital buyers in 2021. Every business wants to have an online presence. There is no product or service that cannot be found on the internet. Being online is a great opportunity for small businesses or startups. It helps them to directly reach their customers and target audience. To do this they first create a website. Websites can be made by oneself or by hiring a professional depending on the budget. There are few avoidable mistakes while designing a website. Let’s see in detail what those mistakes are.
- Not Mobile Responsive
You need to make sure your website is easy to use on mobile. Nowadays people are using smartphones as their primary device to browse the web. If your site is difficult to use on these devices, you will probably lose customers. Build a mobile friendly website from the start. Use responsive design that automatically detects the type of screen being used and show the site accordingly. Swiping and tapping must be kept in mind for touchscreen devices. - No clear call to action
Most common error of many small businesses web design is they lack a clear call to action. This shows customers what they should do next with buttons like register now or call now or donate. Don’t make visitors search for CTA. Without a main CTA, customers don’t know why they are visiting the website or what your company is offering. So when somebody lands on your website there must be a big button with bright visible colour so no one misses seeing it. - Set priority
Set a hierarchy of what to show to the visitors. Guide the user through the website. You must have a clear definition on what you want people to achieve. Do not convey all the message at once, it is difficult for humans to remember so much in a short time. So prioritise as people scroll down the pages and learn. Through your design show visitors what to see, where to move their eyes next. Make it clear and informative. - Too much or hidden navigation
There will be a lot of stuff to put on navigation but u have to seriously consider what is important to be up there on navigation bar. Put less words and keep it simple with appropriate pages for visitors to see. Try to keep the navigation upto 5 items. If you have so much to offer then put all the items as sub to the main navigation. Navigation bar must not be as big as the logo. Keep is small in size and short and crisp as possible. Just like too much of navigation, hiding navigation is also not healthy for a website. Never completely hide your navigation under the hamburger symbol. - Bad contrast
Contrast and colour is a very important principle for creating a small business website design. Overlaying text on top of a busy image without enough contrast is a common mistake seen in web designing. If the visitor can’t read the text they will just exit the website. There are a lot of ways to solve this. Put an image background that has high contrast. If you don’t have a choice but to place a picture in that case add a transparent colour overlay contrast to the text colour so text is clear and the image doesn’t distract much. If you notice any of the above mistakes in your website, it is better to get rectified by your designer. These mistakes can also be the reason for low traffic on your website. People come to look for solutions to their problems. So have simple and understandable graphics with catchy and informative pictures/ videos.
