Ilya Dudkin 20/05/2019 #Tips 9 min read Sooner or later, every business owner starts thinking about launching their own business website. However, if you would like your website to generate revenue and gain the trust of your clients, then you must responsibly approach the site creation process. There are certain common mistakes that small, medium, and large businesses make when creating their websites. Today we would like to share with you some of the most common web site mistakes businesses make. Not Enough Planning One of the biggest website mistakes companies make is that they do not a good job planning out the website. Just like launching a business requires extensive planning and detailing, so does your website. You need to carefully think about the information that will be on your site to build page awareness. This is very important because if you have original quality content, it will help you establish credibility and authority in your industry and will give you a boost with the search engines as well. Having Long Pages If you have a long web page, you are asking your visitors for a lot of concentration, which you are not likely to get considering that their favorite cat video or celebrity gossip page is only a click away. You will not be able to retain the audience’s attention with a huge page full of text. Try breaking up big blocks of text into smaller chunks. You can also divide your content into subgroups which will have their dedicated pages. Many readers will scan the text for the information that they are looking for. Therefore, it is best to use subheadings and numbered lists. Too Much Focus on Products and Services While it is true that you created your website in order to sell something, you must have an element that makes you unique. Bad website design will lack personality. It will be very straightforward and try to sell your product or service head on. Tell the audience about your personal “why” i.e., what is the reason for your product’s existence, what needs does it fill? You should also tell the audience your own story about why you decided to start offering your product or service. All of this information will give your clients more of a unique experience and help you stand out in a crowded marketplace. Unclear Call to Action Now that the customers have made it to your website, you must tell people what you are asking from them. This could be downloading an e-book, making a purchase or anything else, but you need to nudge them towards making this action carefully. If the user has made it this far, that means you have done a great job hooking their interest with your design and content, but now it is time to take your relationship with the customers to the next level. Using Slide Shows for Your Homepage When developing a website for your business, it is tempting to use a slide show since it is visually appealing, but it will not help you deliver your message to the user. For example, a viewer can start reading the information on one slide, only to have the next segment appear before they finished reading and digesting the previous one. It would be a stretch to assume that the user will go back to read the information. Therefore, it would be better to avoid slide shows altogether. One Size Fits All Content Not all of the people that visit your website will end up converting into customers or even moving on to the next stage of the sales pipeline. You should segment your audience into categories such as cold audiences, website visitors, previous buyers, and many other groups. If you have content aimed at audience segments based on where they are located in the sales funnel, you are much more likely to see higher conversion rates and return customers. Forgetting About the NAP NAP stands for name, address, phone number, and you must always make sure that all of this information is up to date. If you have recently moved to a new location, changed the name or phone number of your company, it is essential that the latest up to date information is displayed on your website, so you do not confuse your customers. Underestimating Your Blog Even though the blog is essential for businesses of all sizes, it would be especially useful when creating websites for small business owners because it can be beneficial for building your authority and reputation as a thought leader. If you can provide your audience with valuable content that deals with current issues and includes steps customers can take to overcome the problems, they will keep coming back to you over and over again. Overlooking Internal Pages It’s easy to get caught up with designing your homepage since it is the first thing that people will see when they come to your site, but the internal pages are also important. They need to contain useful information because otherwise, they are just empty weight. Instead, use these pages to give detailed and valuable information about your product or service. Bad Navigation One of the most common web design mistakes is making it easy for your visitors to get lost. If this happens, you are likely to lose them as your customer. You can avoid this situation by including a navigation bar at the top of the page as well as a site map that will let your users jump between all of the various pages of your site. Be sure to avoid these common mistakes when creating your site and you will be well on your way towards making a website your customers will love.