Top 8 Website Mistakes to Avoid
Creating a website isn’t easy, but making sure it doesn’t have silly website mistakes can be. Even a few simple steps can overall improve how your website looks, while ensuring the website mistakes don’t shine through. A few website mistakes can be as easy as not putting your contact information to something more complex like having low-quality pictures.
These website mistakes are easy to make and even easier to fix. Even one small detail could impact a user staying on your website or having a bad impression about you, your business, and website. In fact, web design and functionality is so important to a website, that 38% of people will stop engaging with a website if the content or layout is unattractive. That’s almost half of your traffic coming to your website and immediately leaving. Don’t let this ruin your online reputation!
Here are the top eight website mistakes to avoid to ensure your site looks the best that it can and that your users are the happiest they can be.
1. When your business name, address, and phone number is missing or not easily seen.
Imagine this: a user is on your website and is absolutely loving your content. They’re scrolling through your blog articles, clicking on your products, or just simply taking it all in. Their interest is piquing and they think, “I need to talk to this person for more information!”
However, there’s no contact information to be found.
While it seems something that should be rooted in common sense, you’d be surprised how many times this website mistake is made. Many people forget to add this information or, equally as bad, make it hard to find. It not only hurts you, but it hurts your business. You can easily lose a customer forever if they’re unable to contact you. You don’t want to do that! So add “business name, address, and phone number,” to your checklist while you’re making your website.
2. A website that is not mobile friendly is a huge website mistake.
Think about how you search for things online. Either you’re scrolling through Instagram and click on someone’s link in their bio, a simple Google search on your phone or laptop, or just spending hours with your computer until you find what you need.
Now in 2018, Google reported that mobile searches have surpassed the amount of desktop searches for the first time in its history.
What does this mean for you? That if you don’t have a mobile-friendly version of your website, Google will actually penalize you. Since March 26, 2018, Google has been using a “mobile first indexing,” which really means that they’re prioritizing mobile versions of websites over desktop versions. Google has even dropped the SEO rankings of websites that don’t have a mobile friendly version so that fewer people see and click through their website.
If this doesn’t scare you, well… it should. Getting SEO rankings is how people find you on Google in the first place, so make sure your website is also mobile friendly, or else you can kiss your online traffic goodbye!
3. Lack of content and poor quality content.
The rule is easy: Content is King. Without any content, there is no reason for your users to stay on your website. With content, your users can stay scrolling on your website for a long period of time either because they’re still searching for what they need, or have just really enjoyed what you have to offer.
Anyone going through your website should know exactly what it is about. For example, you can’t have a travel website about hotels without including content such as “Best Hotels in New Orleans” or “How to Save Big on Hotels During the Holidays.” Someone going through this content will know it’s a travel and hotel related website. Nothing is worse than going on a website and not knowing what it's purpose is. Don’t make this website mistake.
4. Lack of pictures and poor quality pictures.
In the same vein as the previous point, websites are made to be image-friendly and helps your customer find your site aesthetically appealing. A huge website mistake is to either not include any pictures or include awful pictures. Stay away from any grainy images or pictures that don’t have anything to do with your content. For example, if your website is about animals, don’t include pictures of someone surfing. Use your common sense!
5. Website that is not up to date.
This one might not make sense to some people but, hear me out. Not keeping your website up to date can really harm your business. Sure, you might be selling the same inventory for a long period of time, but updating details such as the copy, images, or even prices, can let the user know that someone is actively working on the website. It lets the customer know that the website is alive and they can contact someone knowing there will be an answer.
Technology, the internet, and people are always changing. Whether it’s updating your website’s format, including new plugins to help you sell your products, or simply adding new vocabulary or words that people are using nowadays. You don’t want your website to sound like it’s still stuck in the 1990’s!
6. Not keeping up with your blog.
Like not keeping your website up to date, if you have a blog, it needs to be updated as well. Making sure you always have fresh content helps maintain a breath of fresh air for your users to keep coming back for more. For example, if your website features the entertainment business, posting every day about new television shows and movies will keep your customers to come back and see what else you have to say.
If posting daily or weekly isn’t in your timeline, posting at least once every three weeks is a safe way of maintaining your blog. As long as your last article wasn’t in May of 2013, it’ll be easy to avoid this website mistake.
7. Having a slow website.
You hate it, and so do your customers. In today’s fast-paced life, one of the worst things to do is wait for a webpage to load. Even Google weighs in on your website’s speed and uses that to identify your page’s ranking.
If you can’t do it yourself, hire a professional to work on your page’s speed. We wouldn’t want a lagging website to be the reason why people are leaving your site!
8. Not having social media links.
Think of social media as a good way to tell your story and also allow your customers to learn more about you. For example, a restaurant’s website can have the menu online, but if someone clicks on their Instagram, they can see happy customers and even better pictures of the food. Their mouths might water a bit too.
Simply adding your social media on your website is a huge way for people to not only learn more about your business, but also get to interact with you. A like, comment, or message on Instagram or Facebook can bring you closer to both potential and returning customers.
If all these website mistakes seem too overwhelming, fear not! Perfectly Optimized is here to help your website reach its full capacity and make sure you’re not forgetting your contact information on your page. Whether it’s something complex like ensuring your page’s speed is quick or hyperlinking your social media to your website, Perfectly Optimized does it all – so you don’t have to.