While appearance is important, a quality business web design is about much more than just aesthetics. Without a quality design that’s done right, Omaha businesses can miss out on new customers that come to their site. Because Big Red SEO specializes in both designing new business websites and redesigning existing websites, we know from firsthand experience the types of mistakes that businesses make with their designs.
Since one or more website mistakes can directly impact a business in a negative way, we want to cover the mistakes that you’ll definitely want to avoid with your own business website:
Not Optimized for Mobile
In 2015, this is arguably the biggest design mistake that an Omaha business can make. The reason that this mistake is so significant is because mobile Internet usage has grown at a rapid rate. Because there are many sites that get over half of their traffic from visitors on mobile devices, it’s easy to understand why businesses need to ensure that their site is accessible to people using a phone or tablet.
What’s the best way to optimize a site for all the devices that are out in the world? Since screens range from 3” to over 20” in size, the best way to ensure a consistently good experience is to utilize responsive web design. With this type of web design strategy, CSS is used to create a design that will automatically adapt and optimize itself to any size of screen.
The fact that responsive design adapts to any screen size means that visitors will be able to find what they need even if they’re using a device with a smaller screen. Two added benefits of responsive design are that it only requires one code base, and Google actually provides a mobile ranking boost to sites that utilize this type of technology.
Visual Clutter
A common misconception about designing a website is that this process should focus on fitting as many elements on a page as possible. In reality, the best web designs are those that eliminate unnecessary elements and only present elements that have a clear purpose. The reason this approach to design is especially important for business websites is because avoiding the temptation to add unnecessary elements will prevent visitors from getting distracted from what’s important.
When it comes to an Omaha business website, what’s important is that the visitor is able to find what they want, as well as has an easy path to becoming a lead or customer. By avoiding visual clutter, you can ensure that the design for your website is properly optimized to emphasis key elements like contact forms and call to action buttons.
Flash Elements
There was a time when Flash was a very popular component of web design. One of the reasons that both designers and clients liked Flash is because it could do things that weren’t possible with basic HTML or CSS. Although Flash technology had its time in the web design world, the landscape has shifted.
As a result of the rise in mobile Internet usage and ecosystems like Apple’s iOS not supporting Flash, this technology has seen a significant decrease. Add to that the fact that modern HTML offers more functionality than ever, and Flash is officially becoming something that’s obsolete. So, if your current Omaha business website uses Flash, you will continue missing out on potential customers until you update your design.
Auto-Playing Music or Videos
Whether it’s on your About page or on a product page, a video can actually be a useful addition to a business website. That being said, you want to avoid having a video that starts playing automatically. Since that can catch people by surprise, it’s a leading cause of online visitors hitting their back button and never returning to a site. And in regards to music, there’s simply no reason for it to be part of a web design in 2016.
Lack of Clear Navigation
Many people forget that not all website visitors are going to arrive via a site’s homepage. Google and other sources can send visitors to any number of pages on a website. Because visitors may arrive through a blog post and then want to visit a product or about page, it’s crucial for the site’s design to include clear navigation that makes it easy to get around the site. If a website lacks that kind of navigation, it’s going to result in a significant percentage of visitors abandoning the site.
Not Testing the Site for Usability on Multiple Devices
There was a time when Microsoft’s Internet Explorer ruled most of the market. However, people now use a variety of browsers like Chrome and Firefox. Additionally, since there are so many different devices that people can use to get online, it’s critical to test a new design on a variety of devices. Doing so is the only way to spot any bugs that need to be fixed, as well as ensure that the design provides a consistently good usability experience across various screen sizes.
Get a Great Business Website By Working with Big Red SEO: (402) 522-6468
As you can see from the above list, there’s a lot that can go wrong with a web design project. And when something goes wrong or a design is created that’s not optimized, it will cost your business money. If you want to avoid those pitfalls and ensure that your website is properly optimized to help your Omaha business grow, you need to work with experienced web design professionals.
At Big Red SEO, we offer the level of experience and expertise that your business needs. Because we’re fully focused on creating great websites for local businesses, we can ensure that your new site or redesign has all the elements needed to help bring in more leads or customers.
If you’d like to learn more about the ins and outs of working with us on a new site or a website redesign, you can easily get the conversation started by calling us at (402) 522-6468.
