| Effective web design is critical to the success of any | | | | sense to pay attention to design basics like |
| online venture. In most cases, potential customers will | | | | symmetry, balance and repetition as a way to draw |
| make up their minds about your business within | | | | visitors into your site and keep them there. |
| several seconds of landing on your web site. | | | | 2. Inconsistent Branding and Marketing Message. Does |
| Therefore, you will want to make sure that the | | | | your web site relate well to your offline marketing |
| overall layout and design is consistent with the | | | | materials? If not, you may want to rethink your |
| message you want to convey. Without question, a | | | | current strategy. Without question, effective web |
| lackluster web design concept can negatively impact | | | | design should incorporate key elements of your |
| your bottom line and limit your chances of achieving | | | | overall brand and marketing message (i.e., your |
| long-term success. | | | | company logo, color scheme and marketing tagline). |
| Here are 3 Common Web Design Mistakes (and How | | | | This is important because it helps potential customers |
| to Fix Them): | | | | differentiate your business from your competitors |
| 1. Too Much Clutter. When it comes to web design, | | | | and helps build trust and credibility in your prospects' |
| less is almost always more. Web design choices that | | | | minds. A well-recognized brand and a clear marketing |
| result in a visual hodge-podge of conflicting | | | | message are hallmarks of an established and |
| messages, overbearing color schemes and other | | | | reputable enterprise, so your web site should reflect |
| unnecessary elements should be avoided for a couple | | | | the effort you've put into developing your corporate |
| of reasons. First, too much clutter will distract web | | | | image. |
| visitors from the primary purpose of your site. For | | | | 3. Too Many Steps. Above all, your web site should |
| example, if your main goal with a landing page is to | | | | be easy to use and navigate. Web surfers have |
| capture contact information, everything on that page | | | | notoriously short attention spans, so you will want |
| should directly lead your visitors toward that desired | | | | your layout and design to be simple and intuitive. |
| result. You can't assume your visitors will | | | | Don't make your visitors wait for a time-consuming |
| automatically take that next step and if you have | | | | Flash intro to load or expect them to jump through a |
| too many other things competing for their attention, | | | | bunch of hoops to get to what they are looking for |
| your odds of a successful outcome will be greatly | | | | on your site. Every time visitors to your site have to |
| reduced. | | | | wait or click through a bunch of pages to get to |
| Another major reason to avoid too much clutter is | | | | what they want represents a barrier to doing |
| that most human visitors simply respond better to | | | | business with you. Effective web design eliminates |
| visually appealing layouts. The more time potential | | | | these obstacles and greatly increases your chances |
| customers are willing to spend on your site, the more | | | | for online success. |
| likely they are to buy from you. Therefore, it makes | | | | |