Web design: 6 common mistakes to avoid when designing a business website.

One of the most important steps for every business is making a great first impression in all aspects, and a business website is no different. Running a successful online business requires an outstanding and eye-catching website that attracts the attention of users. Creating a website demands for a careful planning, attention to details and avoiding common pitfalls that might slow down its effectiveness.

A professional website from IONOS is a necessity for gaining organic traffic, establishing your brand credibility and fostering strong relationships with clients. If you are looking forward to creating a business website, here are six mistakes that you should avoid.

1. Neglecting a user-friendly design
When designing a website, avoid neglecting its layout and aesthetics. An effective web design should be responsive and intuitive, guiding users through your website easily and helping them find the information they seek. Craft a business website with a readable font size, a search bar, a menu, title tags, and a logo with reasonable colours. Avoid overloading your homepage with many elements to avoid losing users. Additionally, the web design should be optimized for mobile use. This means that a web design should dynamically adjust, reorganize itself and provide the best possible view while accessed through a mobile phone.

2. Overlooking page load speed.
In an ever-evolving digital landscape, users have little to no patience for slow-loading websites. A slow loading website is not only annoying to users, but it also increases the bouncing rate which negatively impacts your site engine ranking. To avoid this mistake, invest in reliable web hosting providers, minimize HTTP requests and remove unnecessary plugins, compress images and media files, and remove unnecessary files and characters in your website.

3. Lack of a clear call to action.
A clear call to action is a prompt that encourages visitors to take a specific action and further engage with your website. A fulfilling website should tell its users what to do, where to go, and how to feel. A call to action will ensure that visitors are focused on what their next step is.

4. Overloading your website with cluttered content.
High-quality content is the pillar of every successful website. However, overloading your website with too much unnecessary content can be overwhelming. Avoid overloading your site with cluttered content, and aim for high-quality content that is well organized with bulleting and plenty of space.

5. Neglecting security features
To safeguard the security of your data and the privacy of your audience, do not make a mistake of neglecting security features. Make your website a safe space where users can confidently engage with your content without being exposed to malicious threats.

6. SEO negligence.
In today’s digitalized landscape, you cannot afford to miss out on search engine optimisation. Search engine optimisations boost your visibility on search engines and garner more organic traffic to your website. To optimize for SEO, make sure you
• Use relevant and targeted keywords
• Create content that answers search engine queries.
• Ensure search engines can easily read your website.
• Do a keyword research.