Monday, November 5, 2012

Common Mistakes to Avoid with Your Web Design

By Kelly Montagna


If you use the web on a regular basis, you've probably seen some less than attractive websites. Many site owners fail when it comes to web design, even though quality design doesn't have to be hard. Your website should be designed with users in mind. No doubt, you want to ensure that visitors come back again. You'll drive visitors to your competition with a poorly designed website. For a great site, avoid these common website design mistakes.

Mistake #1 - Navigation is Difficult

One of the biggest mistakes to avoid when designing your website is providing poor navigation. If visitors are unable to get around your site easily, they probably will simply leave and find another website. You'll keep visitors on your site longer if you offer great navigation. While you want to keep navigation simple, it needs to be very effective as well. Remember to use user friendly navigation because it can make or break your website.

Mistake #2 - Visitors Can't Figure Out Where They Are

You don't want visitors to be confused about where they are on the web. Make sure that all website pages show visitors where they are at. For visitors often land on pages other than your home page, this is very important. Every page on your site should have a link back to the main home page too.

Mistake #3 - Pages that are Too Long

As you work on your site's web design, make sure you avoid overly long pages that make people scroll. Unless the page promises something exceptional below, most visitors don't like scrolling down. It's a good idea to split up pages if you can. Navigation and content options must be located at the top of the page if you aren't able to split up the page.

Mistake #4 - Slow Download Times

Patience is not a virtue found in most internet users. Getting information fast is important. If your site loads slowly, this will be a problem. If your website takes a long time to load, most visitors will simply leave and find another website that meets their needs. This means that you need to focus on fast download times when working on your site's
website design. This can be done by reducing image file sizes and by limiting the number of images used on each page of your site.

Mistake #5 - Overdoing the Ads

Ads are not the main reason visitors are visiting your website. Ads are great for making money but they can become a distraction. It's okay to use ads, but focus on your site content instead of your ads. Content and ads should be well balanced too.

Mistake #6 - Obsolete Information

Keeping outdated information is another of those web design mistakes you need to avoid. No one wants to view outdated information on your site. This means you need to review and modify your website regularly to avoid giving people information that is outdated.

Creating an appealing website is important. Make sure you avoid these mistakes and you'll have a website that visitors will appreciate.




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