5 Important Mistakes to Avoid When Building a Website

It doesn’t matter if you’re building a new business or if you’re trying to maximize the efficiency of an existing company, there is no denying that you need to have an online presence. In the digital world, having a thriving online presence can mean the difference between long-term success and closing your doors for good, so the first and most important thing is to build an amazing website.

Your site is the face of your brand in the online realm, your storefront, and your main way of communicating with your audience and target demographic. Without it, you can’t hope to be a successful freelancer, solopreneur, small business owner, or leader in any industry. 

Now, there are many tactics to building a thriving website, but there are also some important mistakes that you need to avoid. The mistakes we’ll be talking about today could jeopardize the future of your entire brand, so you need to avoid them during the website-building process instead of trying to fix them later. Here are the mistakes you should avoid and the best tips to build an amazing website.

Edgy design vs the designs that work

There are two key mistakes you can make when designing the visual aspects of your website: going to extremes or looking like any other website in your niche. Both are wrong, but the mistake that many entrepreneurs make out of a desire to stand out no matter what is to break every norm and create a design that’s completely out of the ordinary. Sure, you’ll turn some heads, but you’re also more likely to turn people away with that approach.

The key to successful visual design is following the industry data, and applying what works. If your target demographic likes a certain look and feel, then you shouldn’t deviate from it – rather, you should follow the trends but put your unique twist on the design. On the other end of the spectrum, you have a design approach that completely mimics other popular sites, and you should avoid that as well. As with many things in business, it’s about finding the sweet spot between uniqueness and functionality. 

Poor performance optimization

The next mistake you should avoid is focusing so much on the content and the layout that you put the performance of the website on the backburner. The last thing you want to happen is to launch a beautiful website that loads slowly with a slow response time. If the site is too heavy or poorly optimized, it will take forever to load (with inevitable loading errors as well), which will completely alienate potential customers.

If your website takes more than two seconds to load, you’re already testing the visitor’s patience. With that in mind, you should run a website speed test like Google Speed Insights to see how your site is performing and what you can do to make it faster. Be sure to choose the right hosting plan, scale down your visual elements, and use a content delivery network to start. 

No SSL or TLS certificate

Website security has become one of the most important ranking factors for Google in recent years, and it has also become a crucial factor for potential customers. People want to know that your site is secure, especially if you are handling sensitive customer data, and Google will rank your site based on the security of the connection between the user and your site. With that in mind, it is imperative that you elevate your site’s security as quickly as possible.

The best way to do that is to use the SSL/HTTPS protocol to rank higher and build a secure website connection to show Google and the online users that the information stored on your site is safe. It will show that the website itself is secure for continuous browsing and use. If you don’t have an SSL or TLS protocol, then Google will display a popup notifying the user that the connection to your site is not secure, which will not only alienate people, but will invariably lower your ranking in the search results. 

Poorly devised and absent CTAs

CTA buttons can make or break a website’s conversion potential. Placing call to action buttons strategically on every page of your site will guide the visitors on a journey and towards a desired outcome. 

You can use catchy CTAs to inspire people to learn more about your brand, check out your products or services, sign up for free trials and download your free digital products, and of course, make a purchase. If you don’t have CTAs that complement the copy on every page, people won’t know what to do next, and you will lose leads. Create engaging CTAs that focus on the visitor and their needs, and use them to take your site to the next level.

Unclear and inconsistent branding

And finally, your website needs to portray your brand identity in the best possible light. The branding on your site needs to be clear and constant across the board so that the visitor can establish an emotional connection with your business immediately.

You should brand your site with a unique tone of voice, a distinct personality and visual identity, and a set of values that resonate with your target demographic. Don’t let your website become just another in a sea of faceless sites in the online world – make it stand out with a powerful brand image.

Wrapping up

Every business venture, personal or corporate, needs a website. However, building an amazing website is more than just choosing a WordPress theme or designing a layout. Be sure to avoid these common pitfalls and use the tips we talked about today to make your website rank higher and capture the attention of your online audience.