We have a wealth of experience of website design, so we thought we would compile a quick guide of the design “no-nos” for your website…

1) Slow page loading times

Slow websites not on frustrate the visitor but also creates a bad impression. Visitors will abandon your site and go elsewhere. Almost 50% of consumers expect a web page to load in 2 seconds. A one second delay is proven to decrease user satisfaction by 15%. Page loading times can be effected by many things from bad code, images being too large, videos and a range of other factors.

2) Difficult to navigate

Can a visitor easily work out how to navigate your site? If not they will leave. There should be a clear path through the page leading to a “call to action” using similar principles as the design of a poster or press advert.

3) Pop-ups

Excessive use of pop-ups will annoy your customers. Use them sparingly and only where necessary.

4) Not responsive

If your site isn’t optimised for viewing on all platforms it becomes difficult to use on smart phones, so users will abandon it. Also Google now penalises sites that aren’t mobile friendly!

5) Stock photography

Cheesy imagery is very off putting. ‘Real’ photography showcases your business and is worth a thousand words. It will make your company or organisation stand out from the competition.

6) Music and autoplays

A sure fire way to annoy your visitor. Even startle them!

7) No proper contact details

A contact form may seem like a great idea but can be seen by a prospective customer as too much work. It’s often easier use the telephone or fire off an email. If there’s no address, then why should a prospective customer trust you?

8) Copy for robots

Using keywords may be great for SEO but not for the easy of reading. If your site is aimed at humans, write the copy for them!

9) No blog

Nowadays blogs are a great way to keep your site up to date and also answer a customers questions. They are also a great way of increasing content in a productive way and improving search engine optimisation.

10) Slow image siders

If part of your website design and sales messages are on sliders, you want your customers to see them, not to be waiting or even leaving your website.

Andrew Burdett Design are experts in website design. So if you want to avoid a bad customer experience, save time and money commission the experts. Checkout our some of our website design work here.