Getting the website design and brand elements of your business together online can be challenging. There are a lot of elements to consider, including the structure of your site, the content, your branding and the logo design.
Here are some of the mistakes companies often make when putting together their website:
No Clear Branding
All businesses should have a clear brand identity and that needs to come across on those all-important web pages. Without it, your site can vary across pages, especially when different people are uploading content. Branding covers things like the type of content, the style of language, which font you use and how you bring across your unique selling points.
The best way to avoid problems like this is to develop brand guidelines that can be given to third parties when they are adding pages and content to your website. It’s the kind of thing that needs to be set in stone before you actually begin to build your site.
Bad Logo Design and Implementation
Many a good website has been scuppered by a poorly designed logo. While it’s not the be all and end all of your branding, it’s a vital part of your visual identity. Mistakes that business generally make are:
- Having the logo designed by an amateur.
- Designing a logo that contains stock art or looks ‘cheap’.
- Uploading a poor quality file that appears pixelated.
- Not positioning the logo properly or varying the size from page to page.
- Creating an over-designed logo that looks too complex.
- Creating a logo with too many fonts or a poor font choice.
- Using raster images that aren’t consistent across all digital mediums and sizes.
It’s important to get your logo right before you even get to the stage of uploading it to your website. While it may cost you a little extra money, having your logo designed professionally makes a huge difference. Not only do you get a digital product you can use safely across all media (including hardcopy) but it will help you stand out from your competitors and create the strong connection with your customers you are looking for.
Too Much Information
In an attempt to tell their complete stories, new businesses will often push as much content as they can onto a page, particularly when it comes to the home page. This can make your site difficult to navigate and understand.
Look to cut information down as much as possible – say what you have to say and no more. Keep it simple for your customer and they’ll appreciate you more.
Poor Structure
As a business, you want to get your customer from A to B as quickly and engagingly as possible. One of the biggest mistakes businesses make is putting in too many pages or structuring their site so that it’s difficult for their customers to simply make a decision like buying a product. Simplifying the structure of your web pages not only benefits your business but also helps your customers find what they are looking for easier.
You’re Not Mobile Ready
More and more of us nowadays are accessing the online world via a mobile phone or tablet. That means your site needs to be set up for use on mobile. If 50% of your customers are coming to your site using a smartphone and they can’t read your content because it’s too small, then you are likely to lose them to a competitor. Always check that your website looks good on mobile – if it doesn’t, you need to change your design.