Web Design: Fixing Common Website Mistakes

Even a professional website design firm can make mistakes at times. With the web industry becoming more competitive each year, creating inspiring websites is a challenge. Not only do website designers need to utilize popular web trends; they also have to think about the overall user experience. It's only natural to err due to market demands and/or too much stress.

So for newbie freelance designers or long-time pro developers, here are common web design mistakes and how to fix them:

1. Stale Content

It's not only online users that LOVE fresh content – search engines adore them too. With so much going on all over the world, people are usually in a race to get what's hot now. Updating content these days take only a few minutes; so websites have no excuse not to be in the know. If a site stops delivering something fresh to look at, they will eventually drop in ranking because users would stop visiting. Aside from updated content, the overall web design needs to ALWAYS be a reflection of the brand as well.

THE FIX: Analyze the website first to see which elements need to be changed. Sometimes, little tweaks are all it needs: a new article, an updated contacts page, or adding products and services. Check if SEO is already incorporated in the design. If not, seek help from an SEO company, or a design firm that also handles online marketing. Once the site is given a fresh outlook, be sure to generate updates at least once or twice a week.

2. Missed Target

This is perhaps the most frequent mistake web designers and developers make. In a quest to create something that appeals to most, they end up appealing to no one in particular. While it's important to design a website that almost anyone can relate to; not having a target audience in mind can impair it in the long run. Reaching out mostly to the target market means getting enough leads which will ultimately become solid sales for the company.

THE FIX:Market analysis and testing is vital. If possible, hire the help of expert online marketers to assist in the web design process. For example: when making an online apparel shop for young women, then all the elements in the web design should be convincing enough to that specific audience. Color scheme, shapes, layout, text, positioning, and other relevant content should deal more with getting their attention first.

3. Information Overload

This error is often the byproduct of TOO MUCH research. While it's good to have information readily available for the online consumer, he might find it difficult to search for his exact want through all that data. Too many details, actions, and distractions just isn't good these days (unless it's a research paper).

THE FIX:Follow this simple rule of thumb: less is more. This will take a bit of practice as reducing web elements to the bare essentials can be tough. It's not easy to decide which ones to keep, and which ones to cut. However, with proper discernment and lots of testing, this web design mistake can be avoided in the future.