6 Places You’re Making a Fatal Website Design Mistakes — Joseph J Ramirez

The Internet is a vast world of information. There are countless websites out there, so it’s natural that we all make mistakes and slip up occasionally. Check out this article about how When it comes to website design, how can you know for sure if your site is on the right track? The answer lies in checking for these six common fatal website design mistakes:

1. Not having a clear call to action
2. Not using enough white space
3. Too many fonts on one page
4. Poorly placed navigation buttons
5. Using too much text in your design
6. Not making the website responsive for mobile devices

Not having a clear call to action.

One of the essential things for any website is a clear call to action. A visitor should know what they are supposed to do when visiting your site, and it’s up to you as the designer or owner of that site to make sure this message comes across loud and clear with a prominent CTA button on any page you want your customer to land on.

But not all calls to action are equal. Most people spend so much time trying to craft the perfect message to promote their product or service, yet they fall short of winning. That is because the call to action needs to tell the reader what to do, and it needs to be motivating enough for the reader to take the action you want them to do.

A general rule for a call to action is typically five to seven words, but that can vary. A call to action should concisely get the point across and not include unnecessary information such as how you found out about this article or what your opinion on it may be.

Here are five popular calls to action formulas used and are effective:

1. Order your _______ today!
2. Get started now!
3. Start your free ________ now!
4. Get your free _______ today!
5. Try it free for ______!

Not using enough white space.

White space is essential to give the user a break from reading and makes it easier for them to skim your content. White space also helps with how readable text is, even when there are not many words per line.

A good rule of thumb is that you should use at least one more inch of white space than you have text on each page or screen.

White space, also known as negative space, can be described as an area on a webpage that has nothing but blank or empty background. White space allows for easier reading and skimming of your content because it gives users’ eyes a break from the constant text.

A trick that can help eliminate or break up large blocks of content is summarizing them and using them as bullet points.

Too many fonts on one page

Using too many fonts on one page can be distracting for the reader, and it is usually an indication that you are using this technique to make your text more interesting.

While there’s nothing wrong with changing font styles every so often, especially in larger chunks of content, too many fonts can be devastating. If you have too many different fonts on a single page or screen, then they may start competing against each other as well as from what people have initially been looking at when they came to your website. This will confuse readers in which case could result in them leaving without taking any action.

The best solution is to use a maximum of two fonts per webpage unless there is a good reason not to do so (such as conveying multiple moods). It would be best to remember that readability and consistency are most important for anyone looking at your website.

Bad website Navigation

Good website navigation is crucial for any site. Whether it’s a simple blog, an e-commerce store, or anything in between, your visitors need to be able to find the information they’re looking for as quickly and efficiently as possible.

Here are three quick ways to improve your navigation:

1. Stay away from generic wording such as “services” and “products.” It is best to use descriptive words that describe the contents of the page.
2. Try to limit how many pages you have on the navigation bar. Having too many navigation tabs can overwhelm and distract them from the reason they went to your website in the first place.
3. As creative and unique as you want to be, sometimes sticking with the nor can yield significant benefits. Sticking to a horizontal nave bar above the page is something that many people expect to see and is often the first place on the screen they look at while visiting.

Also, when you have large blocks of content on a page without links anywhere nearby, then your visitor will spend time scanning back and forth until they finally find one that jumps out at them. This can lead people to get frustrated with your site because what should only take seconds ends up taking minutes — which means less traffic on your site overall.

Using too much text in your design

For websites with a lot of text, the content can often be too dense and overwhelming. This is especially true for users on mobile devices who are scrolling through your website with their fingers rather than clicking to jump around. Your audience may not have time to read all that information in one sitting, so they’ll get frustrated when you don’t shorten your text or highlight essential words to help readers find the answers your reader is looking for. Try breaking up some of those long paragraphs into smaller chunks instead of packing it altogether if you want people to read through what’s there!

Not making the website responsive for mobile devices

More and more people are using their mobile devices to browse the web. Statista reported that as many as 54% of all Internet traffic is from a mobile device!

But not everyone has access to, wants to be on their computer, or is on the go, so they can’t enjoy your site’s design on such a large screen. That means you’ll be excluding half of your audience if you don’t make sure that it looks good for any size device! You should test how your website works on different computers (desktops, laptops) with varying resolutions and monitor sizes; this will help ensure that the content gets delivered correctly no matter what kind of machine someone is viewing with.

Conclusion

A website is an essential part of marketing your business. However, it can be challenging to know if you are on the right track with web design when there are so many websites out there. One way to ensure that your site looks great and functions well is by checking for these six common mistakes. Have you been making any of these website design mistakes?

Originally published at https://jjramirez.io on May 11, 2021.