Designing a website for your business is becoming more and more important. This is an unassailable fact that savvy businesses understand; along with the realization that “any old website” will not work. If you need web design in Manchester, the simple fact is that you will want it to attract business not turn it away. Yet there are still websites that are so awful that they have people pressing that back button within seconds. If you want your website to retain the reader, here are a few things to avoid.
Gimmicks
Some people love visiting a site and having animation pop up everywhere, and music and sound accompanying every new page; but not the business world. Many internet users find these things distracting, and will leave your site, simply to stop the annoying interruptions to a serious search. Make sure your website, though interesting, does not become a circus on the net, where only clowns and kids will be happy.
The Maze
According to internet research, 36 million Britons use the internet every day, and many of them do so for convenience. However, if you want to keep even a tiny percentage of these users interested in your website, you must make it easy to navigate. Internet users do not tolerate wasting time; and if they cannot find the way around a maze of pages, links, and headings, they will go to the next website. A maze may be exciting in real life, but on the net it could kill a business.
The Dead End
If you want to really annoy somebody, lead them somewhere they don’t want to go. If you have a link to a service or a separate part of your website, make sure it works. Seeing a line of text or an image declaring “under construction” after finding your way through a few screens, is not going to impress you. If it doesn’t work yet, either don’t advertise it, or tell people it will be available (on the date it will be finished) on the landing page or a banner.
Website Chaos
This can be caused by many things; and that is often the crux of the matter. If you have too many things happening on your site, the important things get lost, and readers have to wade through too much dross to find the gems you may have. Chaos can also come in the form of vibrant colors clashing against each other on your web pages. Color use is a delicate area, particularly as colours affect the mood of the people who see them. Too much color can be a complete turnoff for people, but subtle shades of grey will do little to attract people to your site either.
Media Shambles
Using a video to show off your business can be a great approach (though a video of endless stocked shelves is to be avoided), especially if it involves real people and circumstances. The problem is that if your video is badly shot or lit, it will make you look unprofessional, and if the video takes too long to load or stutters its way through 5 minutes, the viewer will lose interest and go elsewhere. Media can be an excellent tool for web designers, but it has to be quality; and it has to work.
Nobody wants to search from site to site to find what they want, and most people will only visit a few in their search. However, any of these website mistakes will have a visitor to your website skipping to the next. Rely on a proven web design company; and avoid these costly mistakes.
