Starting up a website for your business? Let’s go over some web design mistakes to avoid while designing your website in 2024.

Mistake #1) Not being clear on what you offer

Studies now show that it takes less than 5 seconds to capture the attention of your audience. It’s important you are clear in your message about who you are, what you do, or what you offer.

If your site has chunks of paragraphs, it is highly unlikely that someone will sit and read through sentence-by-sentence right off the hop when entering your site.

1. Creating a tagline or a crafted headline works best to capture the attention of new visitors and let them know what your business is all about.
2. Know your audience and what value you bring to them.

Web Design Mistake #2) Not being mobile-friendly

With everyone using their smartphones more than ever, make sure that your audience has the best experience viewing your site off of their phone.

1. Make sure your website is responsive. Meaning that the website layout adjusts based on the device it’s being viewed from to provide the same seamless journey.
2. Ensure the mobile view is just as clean and clear as viewing it off of a desktop. If the user has a tough time reading what’s on your website off of their phone, they will likely exit so make sure the fonts and images are in an appropriate size for mobile view.
3. Test it on different devices and browsers. Make sure it works on all browsers such as Safari, Chrome, Brave, Firefox, etc.

Web Design Mistake #3) Your branding isn’t cohesive

When your branding and design aren’t cohesive throughout your website it can be really confusing for the user.

1. Make sure you don’t use too many fonts as it can be super confusing to read and navigate through the website. I would use a maximum of 2-3.
2. Stick to a maximum of 3 colours throughout your website. While most websites stick with 2 main colors some websites use up to 5. Or you can use the 60/30/10 rule where you use 60% of your primary colour, 30% of your secondary colour, and 10% of your accent colour.
3. Ensure the photos you use on your website fit your brand. If you start using photos that don’t relate to your brand or business it will make your website look a bit disorganized and can feel confusing. Also, make sure your photos are not distorted or blurry.

Web Design Mistake #4) Not making it easy to connect with you

If you’re selling a service you want to provide the best user experience possible. Reduce the number of clicks it takes your audience needs to make to click on whatever your call-to-action.

Make it an easy process for your audience! No one wants to click through multiple pages to book a consultation call with you.

Here are some ideas on how to make it easier for your audience to connect with you.

1. First, have a clear call-to-action such as “Book a free call” or “Let’s Chat”.
2. Having a Contact page to let your audience easily reach you.
3. State the benefits of filling out the form on your website. Let them know what’s in it for them!

Final Mistake #5) Cluttered or Disorganized

Have you ever come across a website with just too much text? Did you read through every sentence? Most likely not.

Let’s do a deep clean on our websites to make sure we only deliver messages that benefit the user.

1. Clean up your navigation. Know where you want to guide your users and provide the necessary navigations so they have a seamless journey throughout your website.
2. Remove unnecessary copy (text). Keep only what matters related to your user and your business and skip the rest.
3. Keep your website simple and clean. The use of white space will help the user’s attention go toward what really matters on your site. Remember, less is more.

Check out my previous post, “Am I ready to hire a Web Designer” to see if you’re at the right stage of your biz to hire a web designer or book a free call with me and we can discuss your options further!

Naomi