The Most Common Web Design Blunders of Small Businesses

22 Mar The Most Common Web Design Blunders of Small Businesses

Aside from the biggest web design blunder of NOT EVEN HAVING A WEBSITE, many small businesses fall trap to some stale and ineffective faux pas. You’ve seen them before! However, if you’re committing these web design crimes on your own business’s website, you probably don’t even recognize them as epic FAILURES!

Some of the blunders we’re going to discuss are more overt in nature, whilst others are certainly more covert. As a Long Island, New York web design firm, we witness blunders running the gamut! However, regardless of how obvious these mistakes are, you should be maintaining an awareness of web design, your competitor’s websites, and what really WORKS! After all, your business is only as strong as the website that preserves your online presence.

So, take a look at the following EPIC BLUNDERS of small business web design:::::::

*Razzle Dazzle OVERKILL:

Unless your business is the Wringley Brothers Circus, you should steer clear of what I like to call, “RAZZLE DAZZLE OVERKILL!” Your website is essentially serving as the FACE of your business. So, you’re probably going to want to be taken seriously, in a business-oriented fashion. Jacking your homepage up with Christmas lights and fluorescent, neon type will make your clients and potential clients flee faster than you can say, “my website is HIDEOUS!”

If you want to achieve personality and edge, do so with cool typography and one or two smart color choices that resonate with your established brand. If you aren’t designing the site yourself, a web design company or web designer will be able/should be able to work with you to lock down the most appropriate look and feel for your business.

*LACK of Industry Research:

Know your business’s demographic, first and foremost! In order to know this, you will need to conduct some industry research and competitor research. Imagine a website for adult assisted living being implemented in neon, Adobe Flash with images changing every 1.5 milliseconds! Considering that your target demographic is for those aged 65 and older, you probably don’t want to distract and deter with small, quickly moving images!

Understanding your target audience allows for wiser design and development choices for your website and, ultimately, your business success.

*Cliché Content:

It’s probably ridiculous to use a super cliché phrase, in order to make a point about cliché content, but::::::::::

CONTENT IS KING!

Keep your content fresh! It’s probably the easiest thing to control as a website business owner, since no one knows your products and services better than you. If your content is rampantly ridden with linguistic clichés, out of date products and services, and the like, your content is NO BUENO!

One of the best ways to avoid this blunder is to read your content out loud. Is it fluid? Do you stumble over your words? Is it interesting? Is it relevant and up to date? Ask yourself these questions and if any of them are answered with a firm “NO,” reconsider your content immediately.

*TOO MUCH or NOT ENOUGH Content:

Surely a web design is a predominantly visual representation of your business; however, a fair amount of language should be in place to communicate your products and/or services. Oftentimes, a business will fill the homepage (not to mention every other page of the website) with extraneous, nonsensical content that forces the reader to scroll down the page for 5 minutes. While content is GREAT, too much can be exhausting and push a potential client away. When you muddy your website pages with dissertations, you run the risk of appearing disorganized and unprofessional.

Conversely, lack of content obviously fails to inform your prospective clients about what it is that you do. People are impatient!! Is that a surprise to you? Thus, if you fail to acknowledge critical information, a future client might not even have the patience to contact you for further information.

When compiling content for your business’s website, imagine that someone has NO IDEA who you are and what you provide. Further, you must communicate this message in a time-sensitive manner. This will help you achieve the necessary and desirable amount of content.

*No Call to Action:

As a business, you want people visiting your site so they eventually decide to use your business. Not to stare at the pretty pages and click away!!

Failing to implement a clear, or ANY, call to action is one of the biggest blunders of small businesses.

When your prospective clients are clicking through your site, they should clearly be able to understand the relative benefits of employing your products or services. That’s your CUE! Tell them what to do next: Sign up for our email list. Visit our portfolio! Check out our services! Visit our products page! Call us!

Don’t beat around the bush. Be assertive! If you want them to look at all of your products so they see how awesome you are and ultimately purchase them, direct them to the right page immediately!

Some of these blunders seem so simple. And, in fact, they are, which is why they are probably committed as failures time and time again.

Don’t let these blunders get the best of your small business website. Take the time to consider them in respect to your business and make sure that your website is in tip-top content shape! Because, as we’ve said before, your business is truly as strong as its digital representation via website!

What are the most PEEVISH web design blunders according to YOU?!?!