7 Website Design Mistakes And Tips To Fix Them

man with difficulty reading page text

In this article, we will talk about four specific design mistakes I see website designers and business owners make time and time again. I also provide tips and how to avoid these mistakes in your next website design project.

Website Design Mistake #1: Incorrect Logo Placement

The first common mistake is not placing the website logo in the most prominent spot, i.e. the top left corner.

The best place for the logo is always the top left corner of the website header.

The reason for this is because when we in the English-speaking world are reading a piece of text our eyes always start at the top left and move to the right. 

The logo is part of the company’s brand and the goal is to imprint it in the reader’s sub-consciousness.

Website Design Tip #1

Always put the logo in the top left corner because this is what we want the reader to see first. 

Website Design Mistake #2: Hard To Find Contact Info

Have you ever been to a website and you had like there’s no phone number or social media links and you’re looking and you’re looking and then you have to go to the footer and it’s like in a 6-point font? 

That’s not very easy for people to find you and call you.

And at the end of the day isn’t that why we’re doing this is to get phone calls? So, make sure you have a phone number and social media links that are easy to find. 

Website Design Tip #2

A good place for a phone number is to the right of the logo, so as our eyes are moving left to right we see the logo, and then we see the phone number. Make sure the font used is large enough to be easily seen by users.

Having business social profiles on the biggest social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn is a great way for your existing and new customers to get to know about and communicate with your business.

Not having your social media profiles linked on your website is a missed opportunity to get your brand seen by thousands, if not millions, of people.

Website Design Tip #3

Use social media icons to link to a business social profile. Place these icons where they can be easily found. Ideally, they should be placed right next to the phone number because it is another way for customers to message you or follow you so make it easy for social media icons to be found.

Website Design Mistake #4: Not Mobile Friendly

A vast number of older websites were built long before mobile devices were in common use.

Even today some websites are being built without any thought given to making them work in a “mobile-friendly” way.

Nowadays, over 50% of all searchers are coming to Google via mobile devices so those users must be able to use a website that is mobile responsive. So what is Mobile friend or mobile responsive?

Website Design Tip #4

A website is said to be “mobile friendly” or “mobile responsive” when all the text and images can be clearly viewed on most screen sizes without the user having to scroll left or right. The webpage should not shrink to fit the screen, instead, the layout of the page should reposition itself and the content should still be legible.

Use a template or theme that is responsive from the get-go because this will save you the hassle of fiddling with coding to make the content flow on the page according to the screen size.

Test your web design on different device sizes, there are several device emulators that you can use to give you a pretty good feel for how they will look on the real thing. You can also use the Google Mobile-Friendly Test tool to check your website. Simply put your domain name in there and it will tell you if your website is friendly and if there are any improvements you can make.

Website Design Mistake #5: Too Much Text On The Homepage

The second common mistake is to have too much text on the website’s homepage.

Many business owners want to use their homepage as a way to tell visitors everything about their company and what they do. The problem with this approach is that people generally don’t read text on websites, they scan it.

If you have too much text on your homepage it will be overwhelming for visitors and they will quickly leave your site.

Website Design Tip #5

The solution to this problem is to keep the text on your homepage to a minimum and to use bullet points whenever possible.

Another way to reduce the amount of text on your homepage is to use images and videos to convey your message.

Website Design Mistake #6: Not Enough White Space

The third common mistake is not using enough white space in the website design.

White space is the area of the page that doesn’t contain any text or images.

Many designers try to cram too much information on a page which makes it difficult for visitors to find what they are looking for.

Website Design Tip #6

The solution is to use more white space in your design. This will make your website more visually appealing and easier to navigate.

Website Design Mistake #7: Not Optimizing Images

The fourth common mistake is not optimizing images for the web. Images are a vital part of any website design but they need to be optimized for the web or they will slow down your site. The website page speed is a ranking factor so it needs to be as fast as possible especially when it comes to mobile devices that might not have the bandwidth normally seen on desktop devices.

Website Design Tip #7

The solution is to optimize your images before you upload them to your website. There are many free online tools that you can use to optimize your images.

Summary Of 7 Website Design Mistakes And Tips To Fix Them

So, when you’re thinking about redesigning your website or you’re sitting down and you’re talking with the website designer about how you’re going to reiterate and refresh your website, don’t break the rules. 

  • Put the logo in the top left corner so it will be seen immediately.
  • Make phone number visible and prominent
  • Put links to social media profiles on the website in a highly visible spot
  • Make sure the content is clearly visible on mobile devices, users should not have to scroll right or left.
  • Use the Google Mobile-friendly test tool to check if your site is mobile friendly
  • Don’t place so much text on the page that it becomes overwhelming to the reader, use images or videos instead.
  • incorporate plenty of whitespaces which will make the page easier to scan with the eye.
  • Make sure to optimize images because this will not make the page load faster but could also improve the website rankings.

Stick to those essential design tips that every visitor to your website is going to expect. Don’t break those rules or it breaks our brain and then we just go to the next competitor in Google search. By avoiding these mistakes, you will create a better user experience for your visitors which will lead to more customers and sales.

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