Understanding Your Ideal Client
In today’s digital age, your website is often the first impression potential customers have of your small business. A well-designed website can build trust, showcase your brand, and convert visitors into loyal customers. However, small businesses often fall victim to common website design mistakes. Here’s 5 of the biggest issues, along with tips on how to fix them:
1. Not Prioritizing Mobile Friendliness:
The Mistake: With over 60% of web traffic coming from mobile devices, a website that’s not optimized for smartphones and tablets is a major turnoff. If you’re using tiny fonts, unresponsive layouts, and slow loading times will frustrate users and send them elsewhere.
The Fix: Make sure your website has a responsive design. That means that it adapts to different screen sizes. Use large, easy-to-read fonts and clear navigation buttons. Optimize images for faster loading times and test your website on various devices to identify so you can find and fix any issues.
2. Confusing Navigation:
The Mistake: If visitors can’t find what they’re looking for quickly and easily, they’ll leave. Complex menus with too many dropdown options or unclear labeling can be a nightmare to navigate.
The Fix: Keep your navigation bar simple and clear. Limit the number of top-level categories and use descriptive labels. Try not to use the old fashioned navigation such as Home, Contact, About. Think of other words you can use instead of them. You can also consider a “sticky navigation bar” that stays visible as users scroll down the page.
3. Lack of Clear Calls to Action (CTAs):
The Mistake: Your website should show visitors exactly what you want them to do next. If it’s contacting you, subscribing to your newsletter, or making a purchase. Customers want to do this within a couple of steps. They don’t want to have to jump through hoops to get to where they want to go. Without clear CTAs, visitors might not know how to take the next step.
The Fix: Use strong calls to action throughout your website. Use clear and concise language like “Contact Us Today” or “Shop Now.” Make your CTAs stand out visually with contrasting colors or buttons.
4. Generic Content:
The Mistake: Photos that don’t fit the content and uninspired content do little to differentiate your brand and connect with your audience. Visitors want to see what makes your business unique, not generic images they’ve seen a hundred times before.
The Fix: Invest in high-quality photos that showcase your products, services, and team. People like to see what you’re doing and your own backstory. They want to learn what you’re all about, so the more you can use your own high quality pictures, use them! Use original content that tells your brand story, a small amount about you, and speaks directly to your target audience.
5. Forgetting About SEO:
The Mistake: Without search engine optimization (SEO), your website might be invisible to potential customers searching online.
The Fix: Research relevant keywords that your target audience might use to find your business. Optimize your website content and meta descriptions with these keywords. This is a hard one. You may take a good amount of time to learn how to properly research keywords, but once you do, you’ll be happy that you spent the time. There are great sites that help you research keywords that work for your website such as google and ahrefs. Build backlinks to your website from other reputable sites. Try not to use backlink warehouses that just put your link up, without any rhyme or reason. These can actually hurt your work instead of help.
By avoiding these common mistakes and making these simple fixes, you can make your website both user-friendly and effective in attracting new customers and growing your small business.