Before you start building your website, there are some things you need to know. If you make these common mistakes, you’ll ruin your website before it even gets off the ground. So read on for the top 10 ways to ruin a website!
1. Not Planning Ahead
One of the most common mistakes people make when creating a website is not planning ahead. They try to just start building without any sort of plan or direction, and as a result, their website ends up being a hot mess. If you want your website to be successful, you need to take some time to plan ahead. Figure out what your website is going to be about, what kind of design you want, and what sorts of features & content you’re going to include. Only then should you start actually building your site.
2. Not Making It Mobile-Friendly
An increasing number of people use their cell phones to go online. This means that if your website isn’t designed to be viewed on a mobile device, you’re going to lose a lot of potential visitors. Make sure your website is responsive and can be easily viewed on all sorts of devices.
3. Making It Too Complicated
Another common mistake people make is making their websites too complicated. They try to pack too much into one page, or they include too many intricate details that just end up confusing people. Keep your website simple and easy to navigate.
4. Not Optimizing for Search Engines
If you want people to actually find your website, you need to make sure it’s optimized for search engines. This means using the right keywords and phrases, as well as making sure your website is easy to crawl and index. If you don’t optimize your site, it’s likely that no one will ever find it.
5. Not including Calls to Action
If you want people to do something on your website- whether it’s buying a product, signing up for a newsletter, or just learning more about your company- you need to include calls to action. These are clear and concise messages that tell people what you want them to do, and they’re essential for getting people to take action. Without calls to action, people will just leave your website without taking any sort of action.
6. Not Updating Regularly
If you want people to keep coming back to your website, you need to make sure you’re updating it regularly. This means adding new content, fresh images, and anything else that will help keep people interested. If your website is stale and outdated, people will quickly lose interest and move on.
7. Not Promoting Your Site
It’s not easy to attract new customers when they don’t know you exist. In order for people to actually find your website, you need to promote it. This entails a number of methods, including social media, sponsored advertising, and search engine optimization. If you don’t promote your site, no one will ever know it exists.
8. Not Monitoring Your Traffic
If you want to improve your website, you need to monitor your traffic. This means keeping track of where your visitors are coming from, what pages they’re spending the most time on, and what sort of actions they’re taking. This information will help you figure out what’s working and what needs to be changed.
9. Not Collecting Emails
One of the best ways to keep people coming back to your website is to collect their email addresses. This way, you can stay in touch with them and let them know about new products, services, or content that you’ve added to your site. Email marketing is a great way to build a relationship with your visitors and keep them coming back.
10. Not Testing Your Site
Before you launch your website, you need to make sure you test it out. This means trying out all the different features and making sure everything is working correctly. You also need to test it on different browsers and devices to make sure people can actually view it. Launch your site without testing it first, and you’re likely to run into a number of problems.
Bonus! 5 common errors website creators make when designing a website
1. Not having a clear purpose or target audience for the website- before you start designing your site, you need to have a good understanding of who you are trying to reach with your content, and what kind of message you want to communicate. Otherwise, your site will likely be cluttered and confusing and fail to engage its intended audience.
2. Creating a website that is too text-heavy- people are more likely to skim through a website than read it word for word. So, it’s important to keep your content concise and make use of headlines, lists, and other formatting techniques to break up the text and make it easier to scan.
3. Overusing images or using them inappropriately- too many images on a website can make it look cluttered and unprofessional. Likewise, using images that are irrelevant or low quality can also negatively impact the overall look of your site.
4. Failing to proofread content- it’s important to proofread all of the content on your website before making it live. Any typos or grammatical errors will make your site look unprofessional and could turn off potential visitors.
5. Not making use of whitespace- incorporating white space into your website’s design is important in order to create a clean and organized look. Too much crammed-together content can be visually overwhelming and difficult to read.
Conclusion
Building a successful website takes time, effort, and planning. If you want your site to be successful, avoid making any of the common mistakes mentioned in this article.
Take the time to do things right, and you’ll be rewarded with a website that brings in plenty of traffic and helps you achieve your business goals.