5 Web Design Mistakes Small Businesses Make
By Steve Grant | October 28th 2020
By Steve Grant When you’re investing in a website for your small business, you will usually have a clear vision in mind of what you’re going to get in return. Boosted visibility. Enhanced brand reputation. More leads. Increased sales. But in reality, you’re only going to achieve all of this if you invest wisely, and importantly, avoid the common mistakes that small businesses make with web design. What these mistakes are, and how to avoid them, is precisely what we’re looking at in this post.
Mistake 1: Not factoring in SEO
If you are expecting your website to perform well in the search engines, it will need to be built for search engine optimisation from the ground up. A well-designed website will incorporate a number of elements that support search success. It will also strike the right balance between good design and SEO.
A website optimised for SEO will incorporate all the necessary keyword-optimised meta tags and descriptions. It will have fast loading pages, with images and media files nicely condensed. Rich, relevant and well-written semantically enriched content will feature, as opposed to thin, poorly compiled content that lacks detail and substance and is full of errors. And the site will be secure and backed by an SSL certificate. All these critical SEO factors must be kept in mind when it comes to small business web design.
Web design should include in-built SEO strategies
Mistake 2: Failing to go mobile friendly
Google is now ordering its search results using a mobile-first approach. This means it uses the mobile version of a website as the starting point for indexing, rather than the desktop version.
If a website’s mobile experience is poor, it will suffer in the search engines. With 60 per cent of Google searches done via mobile devices, it is vital to ensure your website is designed around a positive mobile experience, otherwise you could lose out on visibility, and sales.
Mistake 3: Not focusing on user experience
The user experience on a website is of exceptional importance, because it directly affects dwell time and ultimately, conversions into sales.
A positive user experience will incorporate a nice, simple navigation that avoids confusion. Easy to use, frustration-free features. Straightforward contact signposts. Fast page loading speed. Good levels of interactivity, and visual stability, and a swift route to purchase. Google’s new ‘page experience’ ranking signal pivots on a positive user experience, which doubles its importance because now, not only is it vital to keep visitors happy, it’s also a crucial contribution to search engine positions.
Mistake 4: Not investing in website maintenance
A lot of small businesses make the mistake of thinking web design is a one and done thing. But the fact is, with so much happening in the background of your website, it really is so important to invest in a maintenance plan to ensure it stays ticking over smoothly. Because you don’t want to find out from your customers that your site is down, or find that you are losing sales or enquiries because something isn’t functioning properly.
Website maintenance ensures your site is up and running 24/7. That pages are loading error-free, that all those vital things we talked about that affect SEO are working properly, and that the website remains secure and up to date at all times. Think of it as an insurance policy that protects your reputation, brand and sales.
It is important to invest in a maintenance plan to ensure your business website stays ticking over smoothly.
Mistake 5: Not using a professional bespoke web design agency
Whilst for some companies, a simple template website may be adequate and offer a quick and low cost way to get an online presence, if you are looking for something that’s more than just two or three pages, is bespoke to your business, built to scale as you grow, and representative of your brand, then it is going to be a worthwhile investment to use a bespoke web design agency.
There are numerous benefits to bespoke web design compared to template websites. From future-proof scalability to a personalised user experience, built-in SEO features and an overall professional appearance, the bespoke option tends to provide the most favourable return on investment.
Avoid web design mistakes with help from Figment, the bespoke web design agency London businesses know they can trust
If you are looking for a London web design agency with a proven track record of achieving exceptional results for small businesses in terms of online visibility and boosted sales, talk to Figment. Our friendly, family-run team is ready to help support you to success, with a five-star client experience you’ll be happy to recommend.