Website Design - 6 Aug 2019

5 Web Design Turn Offs To Address Immediately

If your website is not performing well, it is likely that you are turning away potential visitors or customers who aren’t staying on your website once you get them there.

Once your prospects get to your website, you want them to be inspired to click through your pages and engage with you and your content by reading a blog, filling out a form, subscribing, or buying something.

While design matters when it comes to a professional website, it is necessary to understand the role of functionality in enhancing visibility and also attracting more users.

Here are some turnoffs that may be keeping people away from your website:

1. Slow speed:

If your website experiences slow speeds, you will unquestionably be looking at angry and impatient visitors. They will quickly turn back and look for a different alternative. We’ve all become spoiled by the speed and responsiveness of our hyper-connected world, so when we click on a search result and sit on a blank loading page for three seconds or more, it can seem like an eternity. Always make sure your website is running smoothly by optimizing speed, updating plugins, links, content, etc.

2. Bad Navigation:

Your site should be easy and accessible to move through. It should follow an intuitive layout and structure, which makes it clear to users how they should proceed and how they can find what they are looking for. Include menus on every page and show your visitors where to go next with prompts that direct them. A poorly designed website leads to obstacles right from the moment a visitor lands on your site; even more so if they don’t know where to go and there is no call to action anywhere.

3. Poor Content:

Keep your content fresh. Your website should be a real-time representation of your company, where visitors can turn for the latest news and information online. Failing to update old content can leave a bad first impression. This means that you need genuinely helpful, compelling content, written for human consumption as well as being written for the search engines SEO.

4. Mobile Restricted:

Most Internet users are accessing websites through mobile devices. From smartphones, to tablets, to wearables, everyone wants to enjoy access while on the go. If your site has not leveraged a responsive design, you have a big problem.

A low-quality mobile site can negatively affect your SEO performance as well as the experiences of your users, so it’s essential to get it right.

5. Cluttered:

Most web visitors are on a mission and don’t want to be inconvenienced with content that’s not relevant to their specific search. Excessive pop-ups, ads, or Auto-Play content interfere with the reading experience, and visitors can get overwhelmed and frustrated. These should be used in moderation and tracked intensely to assess their effectiveness. A few recommendations:

• Don’t let ads be the first thing a user sees when they visit your website.

• Avoid pop-up ads that cover up your content.

• Use discretion in your ads and give them their own visible, clean location to boost retention ratings on your website

Creating an engaging and effective website that performs well and is easy to use is very important if you want to attract and retain visitors, and hopefully turn them into customers. So, take the time to ensure that your website is mobile responsive, navigation is intuitive, your layout is clear and uncluttered, your speed is optimized, and your content is up to date.

Nirvana Canada takes pride in more than ten years of experience and success stories developing effective, well-performing websites. Contact us to learn how we can help your business thrive online.