subject: 4 Critical Mistakes to Avoid in Website Design [print this page] The design of a website can seriously affect its traffic viability which will ultimately affect how profitable the website will be. Ideally, websites are supposed to be user friendly in order to make visitors enjoy using it. There are a couple of website designs that make this task to be very easy, such that anybody can implement a nicely designed user friendly website that is appealing to visitors even without programming or coding knowledge.
Some of the commonly observed mistakes people make when designing their websites are discussed below. These include -:
Avoid the Use of Splash Pages
Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like "welcome" or "click here to enter". These pages may deter some visitors from entering your website. It is always better to allow visitors have access to your home page directly without having to go through a splash page. Splash pages sometimes can be responsible for high bounce rates on a website. Do not turn away your visitors.
Avoid Excessive Use of Banner Advertisements
Several visitors get annoyed when they see banner adverts covering the whole web page with little space left for content. Do not forget that it is the search for information that has brought them to your website. Rather than covering the whole page with banner adverts in a bid to make some money, it is better to provide valuable information to the visitors and include affiliate links in your content. You can limit your banner adverts to very few of them while exploring other means of monetizing your website.
Website Navigation Should be Simple
Website navigation menu should be simple and straightforward. If visitors find it difficult to navigate your website, they will leave. This will affect your traffic and revenues seriously. Make navigation from page to page to be simple such that even a kid should be able to navigate round your site easily. Avoid use of complicated flash based navigation menus.
Avoid Using Background Audio
Audio sound that may be playing continuously on your website can be a distraction to your visitors. If your visitor is going to stay for a while at your website, reading your content, you should ensure they are not annoyed by some audio looping continuously on your website. If you insist on adding audio, ensure visitors have some control over it with volume or muting controls. Also labeling the audio clip will be very helpful.
For anyone looking to shorten website design time and at the same time avoid all of these mistakes, you might want to check out the Remix theme. It produces great web pages with all the options you need. Also, programming or coding knowledge is not needed to be able to use it.
