100% bounce rate and your inbox is emptier than a building site below zero. Can’t get the staff to even wrap up these days eh.
Enough thermal clothing talk, when was the last time you reviewed your website, does it look like something from a 16-bit sega mega drive 2 game? Well, do not worry, we are here to help you avoid the most common website mistakes people usually make with their trades web design.
1. A busy website
Just because you can do it all, doesn’t mean you should. Adding lots of content (images & text) to your website is great, but don’t feel like you have to put everything everywhere.
Compact, straight to the point sentences, instead of lengthly paragraphs, are much easier to take in, resulting in your reader actually reading them.
People are barely even reading the newspaper anymore – and that’s supposed to be exciting, let alone your novel on boiler installations.
Has a website ever given you a headache? I have, and it’s usually down to this common website mistake.
The mistake:
Lots of images and long paragraphs of text.
How to solve:
Short snappy sentences accompanied with an image or 2 evenly spaced throughout a page, repeat this no more than 4 or 5 times per web page.
2. Unclear website design
Another common website mistake I often see is an unclear website design and service.
Ask a friend who has no idea about your sector, to go onto your website and ask them if they understood what you offer and would they pick you.
Now, you can probably aready guess the outcome if you’re reading this blog in the first place.
Being very clear about your services and what you offer, using simple non-technical speak and imagery, is the best way to entice your customers to pick you.
Why? People won’t pay for something they don’t understand.
Having a clear website design layout helps your customers navigate around your website easily. For example your homepage might look something like this:
Intro > About > Services > Portfolio > Testimonials > Contact Form.
This takes your customer on a clear and easy to follow journey, which covers the basics, and avoids this common website mistake.
The mistake:
Technical jargon and messy layout
How to solve:
Keep the tech speak to a minimum and draw your design on a piece of paper first, that way you can see the entire design, rather than sections on your screen.
3. Poor website accessibility
Website accessibility is the art of making your website accessible to everyone, think hard of hearing or sight, customers who are only able to use a keyboard or have an older website browser.
There are many areas to improve your website accessibility, which we cover in more detail in our what is website accessibility guide.
I have put together a short list of accessibility essential “do’s and dont’s” to ensure you do not make this common website mistake.
Do
- Text on backgrounds must have high contrast
- Make buttons clear and easy to view/click
- Ensure videos are pausable with subtitles
- Check it works on mobile
Don't
- Overuse technical jargon
- Flashing videos
- Hide martketing email captures
- Collect data without permission
The mistake:
Hard for everybody to read, see, or use website.
How to solve:
A website accessibility tool such as Wave will highlight any issues that you need to fix.
4. Zero website optimisation
Acording to someone on Google who’s article I cannot find anymore to link for proof, nearly 60% of internet users are on mobile. You only have to walk down a busy high street to see everyone staring down, bumping into lamposts, or eachother – It’s a game of human pinball out there!
We’re glued to our phones, everything we need to find can be done within a few thumb bumps. So having a website which works just as well on a mobile, tablet and all sizes of desktops is more important now than ever.
Now, unless you’re proficient in web design/development, this is a common website mistake you’ll struggle to solve on your own.
What you can do, is check your website on your mobile, and ask yourself, is it just as easy to use on my phone, as it is my laptop. Can I read everything clearly, engage with buttons and find contact information.
The mistake:
Websites not designed to work on mobiles.
How to solve:
Hire a professional website designer (like me!) to resolve your mobile website issues!
5. No contact forms or CTA's
You wouldn’t believe the amount of businesses that don’t want their website to bring in more work, or that’s just the impression I get, they have no contact information or messgae forms, and nothing to grab your attention.
Having multiple points of contact around your website is the best idea for grabbing that potential customer.
Why? Well, remember, not every user is going to click and read every single page, actually, they’ll probably only click on 2 to 3 pages to find what they want. So make sure you are contactable at every point in their journey on your website.
This doesn’t mean plastering your mobile number everywhere, but have different options, such as contact forms, email, message boxes and such for customers to reach you in their preferred way.
The mistake:
Little or zero contact information.
How to solve:
Add contact information where people expect to find them. Contact forms at the bottom of pages, email and mobile in the header & footer.
As a digital marketing agency for tradespeople, we offer web design, hosting & maintenance. To find our more, or if you’d just like to know how much a web design costs, get in touch.
