Websites are a competitive industry and the temptation to throw as many bells and whistles into your design as possible can be high. When well placed and used in moderation, flashy graphics and video insets can add both colour and interest to your site; however, over-using them can distract users from the key messages of your site and create a slower-loading, less accessible page.

The same mantra applies across all aspects of your design, from colour schemes to text. Content is the absolute king of your webpage and needs to be kept as simple as possible, remaining jargon-free and concise to ensure your visitors read what you want them to.

With colours, pick a two or three colour scheme and stick to it. Over-egging the palette of your website can result in a messy and unreadable design which makes visitors want to click off quickly. Excessive colour schemes can confuse and disorientate viewers, making navigation of the site harder and ultimately costing you sales.

Navigation is one of the most vital areas in which to stay simple. The norm for navigation bars is either at the top or the left of the site, with pages easily identified through their home titles. Don’t be afraid to use ‘standard text’ for these links. People searching websites are used to looking for FAQs, so you’re more likely to get a hit than if you headed it ‘Things people often ask us’ or even ‘Popular Questions’. It can also help to repeat your navigation bar at the bottom to save people scrolling up and down.

Even though technology is improving all the time, simplicity is still the number one aim for all websites. So don’t be afraid to rein in your design a little.

Creating a successful website is not as easy as you may think. However by avoiding these common web design mistakes, you will have a much better chance of producing a lucrative site that works for you.

1.    Hard to navigate
Remember that visitors could land on any page of your site. Make sure you have a clear navigation menu to enable people to locate the information they’re looking for.

2.    Generic title tags
If you look to the blue bar at the very top of your browser when viewing a website, what do you see there? A keyword-rich summary of what the page is about or ‘Company X – Home’? No prizes for guessing that it’s the first one you should be aiming for.

3.    Illogical use of links
Links within a webpage take the visitor to another page within your site or to another site altogether. They should be easy to understand and navigate. If you are designing your own website, you will be aware of the importance and simplicity of hyperlinks. If however you want to get your website built and maintained for you, we can help you. (Note: A prime example of a simple hyperlink).

4.    Unreadable font
This may seem very obvious to you, but a very common mistake is to use font which is hard to read – usually because it’s too small. You need to make sure that you use a colour which is not lost within your website and a font which is clear and large enough for people of all ages to read.

5.    Adding too much to your site
While it’s tempting to add as much information as possible, avoid it!  Too much information will make your site look cluttered and confusing and lose people’s interest immediately.