Today’s digital economy has made starting a business more popular than ever before. But just because it’s popular doesn’t mean it’s easy. Getting your business off the ground is notoriously difficult.

You’re learning as you go, figuring out new things every day, and consistently putting in long hours. It’s practically a given that some things will slip through the cracks.

However, your website doesn’t have to be one of those things. If you’ve got the budget for it, enlisting professional web design services for your website can be very rewarding. But whether you decide to go with a web design agency, a freelancer off the internet, or the DIY route—there are some mistakes you must avoid making.

Of course, the biggest mistake is not having a website in the first place, but that goes without saying. Without further ado, let’s take a closer look at the others and what you can do to fix them:

Mistake 1: Your Website Isn’t Optimized for Mobile

It’s 2021, so you can bet that most of your traffic is coming from mobile devices. It’s been a few years since the number of people accessing the internet on mobiles surpassed the number of people going online from desktops or laptops.

It’s not difficult to see why—smartphones are becoming even smarter with each subsequent innovation and update. Their ubiquity has turned mobile internet users into a massive category of its own.

This is why when you don’t optimize your website for mobile use, you do so at your—and your business’s—peril. On the one hand, your website will show up garbled on a mobile screen and instantly drive visitors away. On the other, Google won’t be too kind to your website because mobile optimization is one of its most important ranking signals.

Ultimately, your online business will lose potential clients and fail to rank well on search engine results pages (SERPs).

The Solution

Check out Google’s Mobile-Friendly Tool to quickly see whether or not your website is mobile-friendly—but don’t assume that mobile-friendliness automatically translates to user-friendliness.

Even when you’re optimizing it for mobile, your website should still follow design best practices.

Leave some space in your website’s design and launch timeline for a testing phase. Get some family and friends to visit your website on desktop and mobile in your presence. Pay attention to the following:

• How they engage with your website
• Which buttons they’re clicking
• Whether they’re going where you want them to go.

Ask for honest feedback and see what needs to be improved. Alternatively, you can get a quality web design services provider to take care of the mobile- and user-friendliness parts for you.

Mistake 2: Your Website Features Walls of Text

Opening a website to find a wall of text is quite similar to running into a wall in real life. It’s unpleasant, and something most people try to avoid. The simple fact is that people never read everything you write on a page.

Instead, they’ll scan your webpage, zero in on the parts that are most relevant for them, and then move on. This is why it’s all but useless to write a novel’s worth of text discussing your products and services. It’s highly unlikely that your clients will read all of it.

Having said that, you don’t need to eliminate text altogether. Here’s what to do:

The Solution

Yes, readability is important—but so is being able to scan. Format your text in a way that helps your clients scan it as quickly as possible. Here are a few tips:

• Break up larger paragraphs into smaller versions. Aim for 2–3 sentences per paragraph, no more.
• Make generous use of headings, subheadings, and bullets to separate your text into easily understandable sections.
• Write with your clients in mind. When you’re writing for an audience, their needs have to be prioritized.

Running a business means you’re probably acutely aware of your niche’s ins and outs. Remember that your readers are your potential and current client, and they probably won’t have your background or knowledge. If your writing pulls them in, you’ll have a better shot at impressing them in person.

Mistake 3: Your Website’s Loading Speed is Terrible

No one who’s ever been online can claim that they always wait around for websites to load. If a website refuses to load quickly, people simply move on to the next one. That’s one of the universal truths of the internet, and something you should remember as a business owner.

Your website has less than ten seconds to load fully and make the right impression on your potential clients. Any longer than that, and your potential customer will move on to your competitors.

On top of that, load times matter to Google, too, so a slow website will never make it to the top of search rankings.

The Solution

Images are often responsible for slowing down a website. If you’re using high-quality images of your products on your website (which you should), compress them before you add them.

Moreover, don’t confuse compressed images with low-quality images.

You should always use images of the highest quality—but keep their visual quality intact while reducing their physical size. Your website will still be engaging, but it will also load faster.

Google speeds up the loading speed optimization—pun intended—with its free tool called “Think With Google”. You just need to enter your website’s domain to test its speed and see ways of improving it.

Mistake 4: Your Website’s Got Broken Links

Link building services can go a long way in setting your website up with a backlink strategy. But your website’s own links are just as important. As a small business owner, one of the last things you want to do is make your clients put up with broken links and 404 error pages.

Dedicated, longtime customers can be more forgiving—but potential clients will just get frustrated and close your website.

The Solution

You have to do this the old-fashioned way. Get in the habit of regularly inspecting your website for any broken links. There are many online tools—many of them free—that you can use to do this.

The more frequently your business’s website is updated, the more important it is to be diligent about link inspection.

By the way, a 404 error can also provide you with a good opportunity for conversions. Make it catchy and entertaining enough, and new clients just might give your website a second chance to prove itself.

Mistake 5: Your Website Lacks Consistency

Business owners understand the importance of brand consistency better than most people. Unfortunately, many of them forget that the same rules apply to their website too. There’s a lot more to your brand than your business logo, and your website has to consistently embody all of it.

All elements of your website—design, content, and everything else—should connect with what your brand is and what your business stands for. Many business owners try to shake things up by using different elements from one page to another.

This is a bad practice from a design perspective, but it’s also very jarring for your clients. Ultimately, they’ll get a bad user experience from your website, and what’s bad for your clients’ user experience is bad for your search rankings too.

The Solution

If you’re a new business owner, you’ll need to work on some ground rules for yourself and your brand. Before you start working on your website or its content, create some guidelines that you’ll adhere to.

Here are the basics elements that your guidelines should cover:

• Logos: You’ll need different versions of the same logo, for use in various areas of your website.
• Color palette: Different colors can signify different things on your website, and that’s alright. Just try to follow the same palette.
• Fonts: You could want to use different fonts for banners, headings, and content. Try to avoid any clashing pairs—such as Comic Sans MS and Arial Narrow, for example. The result will be harsh and unappealing.

If you’re working with web design services, you’ll need to communicate your visual guidelines as clearly as possible to avoid any unwanted surprises.

Conclusion

These are the five biggest mistakes that your website could fall victim to. Left unchecked, they can be damaging for your business’s online presence. But with the solutions discussed here, you’ll be well-prepared to solve them and create an attractive and highly functional website.

If you’re struggling with a particular aspect of designing your website, consult web design services to find out how they can help you.