When you build a website for your business, there are so many things to consider. Sure those do-it-yourself drag-and-drop site builders might make it look simple, but if you just take a moment to look around, you'll find that there's a lot of conflicting information out there about what constitutes a useful website. And then there's the question of what makes the most sense for your specific business and your target audience.
As you work everything out in your mind, try to avoid making these mistakes.
Ignoring the Rules of Accessibility
It's very important to understand the rules of accessibility, not just so that people with disabilities can enjoy your website, but also to help search engines access your site better. Plus, accessible sites benefit for a touch more ‘love' from the search engines, too.
Including Irrelevant Content
From images to audio, to text, you want to avoid including any type of content that is not relevant to your audience and the message you want them to take away from visiting your website. Consistency of content and message helps everyone understand what your site is about.
Contact Info Is Not Readily Visible
Nothing is more frustrating than wanting to contact a business but not knowing how. Don't hide your contact information from your website visitors. It's imperative to make it easy to find so they can contact you.
Unnecessary “Welcome” Pages
You've seen websites like that; the ones that you have to “click here to enter.” This is completely unnecessary. It can be an impediment to your audience finding the information they need, and is absolutely a problem for search engines.
Including Automatic Audio
Some websites have sound that comes on the moment the visitor goes to it, or if the cursor goes over it, but this is also a bad thing to do. Let your visitor choose when the sound comes on and goes off so that they aren't irritated.
Not Updating SEO Regularly
Search engine optimization involves ensuring that the right keywords, headlines, sub-headers, and information are in each page, plus that you provide enough information off your page to help get links back to your page. Learn all you can about SEO to make the most of this organic means of getting traffic.
Too Many Graphics
Graphics are important for a website and add to the look, feel and mood of your website. But, you don't want to have too many, because it will make your website load slower and cause your visitors to get tired fast.
Disorganized Navigation
Learn how people tend to look at websites. When they read paper, it's left to right, but websites they read vertically and sometimes in an F pattern. If you can understand that, you can put the important information where they're most likely to view it.
If you can avoid these mistakes, and invest time in making improvements on the items listed here, your website will be that much more inviting and useful to your audience. You'll get more visitors to come to your website, plus you'll get more of them sticking around, answering your calls to action and more. Need help with getting your website in better shape? Let's Chat!