9 common website mistakes to avoid

Even with all the slick, streamlined design platforms and tools we have today, it’s still very easy to make mistakes when building your website.

What kinds of mistakes? Well, anything from bombarding your visitors with way too much information, to more “functionality faux-pas” like slow-loading pages and baffling navigation.

And while some of these issues might seem minor on their own…your website is making a poor first impression or needlessly frustrating potential customers before they have a chance to discover how awesome you really are.

We’re here to help you gracefully glide past the most common issues and get straight to the goodness!

Avoid these nine common website mistakes now!

1. Way too much information

Remember: you’re not trying to write the next Canadian novel. At least—not now! Most people will skim your website content, so make sure your copy gets right to the point and clearly explains what you do, who your product or service is for and what makes you unique.

And of course, that’s not to say you can’t be fun and creative. Just do it concisely and you’ll have people lapping up your bite-sized cleverness.

2. Unclear or weak calls-to-action

In this context, subtlety is the enemy! Think about what you’d like someone to do when visiting your website. Should they try a demo? Book your services? Reach out to you for more details?

Whatever the case, make it absolutely, undeniably clear. Lead your visitors through to the next step of their buying journey with good, strong calls to action.

3. Confusing navigation

Don’t turn your website into a multi-layered labyrinth. Instead—make it as easy as possible for people to understand why they need your services… and to give you their money!

Start by making your main navigation menu highly visible, don’t overload it with dozens of options, and then name those options clearly—e.g., “contact us,” “our story,” “products,” etc.  

4. Lack of social proof

We all get the warm n’ fuzzies from doing business that we trust. In an age of countless internet scams and bad actors, folks (unfortunately) can’t just take you at your word.

Having real-life testimonials, like Google Reviews, provides convincing social proof that you’re legitimate and provide a good service or product.

5. Slow page load times

Things like massive photos, tons of popup ads and animated video backgrounds can cause glacially slow loading times and drive your customers away in droves. In fact—research shows that 40% of consumers will abandon a website that takes more than three seconds to load!

Cut down on those bloated loading times by optimizing and compressing image sizes and getting rid of unnecessary plugins.

6. Burying your contact info

Look—you’re awesome and customers will probably want to get in touch with you. So, make sure your contact info is easy to find on your website, and that it’s accurate.

7. Ignoring accessibility

Designing your website with accessibility in mind ensures that everyone regardless of disability can interact with and experience your content in a meaningful way.

It’s also the right thing to do and only serves to expand your audience!

Here are a few easy, and painless steps you can take right now:

• Break your content up into smaller, digestible chunks with clear headlines and subheadings.
• Make sure there is high enough colour contrast between your text and background images.
• Add alt-text for all your imagery so that people with visual impairments can still get the essential details of what’s on the page.

8. Not thinking about SEO

Your website could be an engaging masterpiece. But if no one sees it…that’s…kind of a drag, isn’t it? Bitter disappointment aside, you also aren’t getting any traffic and zero conversions.

And that, friends, is why you need to prioritize SEO (search engine optimization) when building out your content. Good SEO practices can include:

• Targeting keywords that your customers are searching for
• Creating high quality, original content that answers your customers’ most burning questions.
• Adding in meta descriptions and alt text for images
• Making sure your site works well on mobile devices

9. Having a confusing or overly elaborate domain name

Coming up with a good domain name is an art. Take our word for it: we’ve created a whole domain name-ing guide!  

Here’s the short version: keep things brief, memorable and easily typeable. Avoid intentional misspellings, repeated letters, random numbers and epic character lengths!

Steer well clear of these nine most commonly-made website mistakes, and you’ll be well on the path to creating a high-impact website that does plenty of heavy lifting for your Canadian business!

Need a little help getting started? Check out our comprehensive guide to building out your website now.