Some things are worse than others when it comes to making your website look outdated and just plain ugly. Sometimes it’s a do-it-yourself issue and other times it comes from hiring the wrong web designer. It can also mean it’s high time for a redesign. Whatever the cause, here are a few of my (least) favorites.
1. Tiny Fonts
Your website should be usable by your visitors. This means the people who are your potential customers. People don’t put signs in store windows that have tiny, unreadable font. Neither should it exist on your website.
2. Little Blocky Menus
You know the ones, might have a mouseover drop down effect. But the tiny blocky menus have to go. I think it’s all the menu creators available that purport to give you attractive menus. Trust me, they don’t!
3. Tacky Stock Photos and Videos
We all know those people in business suits smiling are not your team. We know the smiling model isn’t smiling about your website. We know the promo video was taken from a stock flash site and adding your site name to it. Whoever told you to do that, shame on them.
4. Pixelated Images and Graphics
One of the biggest downfalls of doing your own website is that people usually don’t know their way around their graphics program and all the graphics end up being a mess. Your nephew probably does not know his way around the graphics programs either. And trust us, he’s not as creative as you believe.
5. Color Schemes that Don’t Work
Color schemes are great and everything, but some colors just don’t work together. One of the biggest giveaways of a do-it-yourself or outdated website is a terrible color scheme. We all love a bright blue sky, but a bright blue website might not make people feel the same way. We can all tell it’s not really a blue sky. It’s a website. We aren’t fooled.
6. No clear Delineation of Body Text from Titles
One of the things that nobody will tell you about building your own website is that separating the titles from the body text is not as easy as using bold. Usually people’s efforts at this end up as a jumble of text. All over the place.
7. Messy Lines
Did you ever stare at the ocean for a while? Isn’t it fun to look at the horizon and see if you can see any boats or islands? It’s mysterious how everything fades into the horizon. Lines can really be powerful. So why do so many websites have lines that don’t work? Stuff just falls everywhere and nothing lines up.
8. Too Many Ads
One of the myths of making money online is that it’s as easy as creating a website, putting ads everywhere, and relaxing while the money piles in. Truth is, you have to work really hard to make money online too. And the ads all over the place do nothing but make your visitors eyes hurt and make them want to leave your website. Don’t make them leave!
9. Lack of Color
The flip side of the color problem is so use no color at all. Or to use it too sparingly.
10. Confusing Message and no Call to Action
Part of web design is strategy on how to share your message effectively. When your nephew builds your website, or you did it yourself, this might be the #1 problem. How to make your message clear, and a call to action that is easy to follow. Too often I see websites with muddy messages and no matter how badly I want to take an action, it’s too hard to follow or it’s hidden. This is really the whole reason behind your website, don’t mess this up.
That’s why at 6WebDesign we follow the 6 Steps to creating your website. We want to make sure we capture your vision and we give you many chances to tweak it until your are completely satisfied.
