Website Design Crimes against Humanity

I remember using a computer as a child, I remember when the internet was for the privileged and Windows 98 was in its prime.

Connecting your computer to the modem entailed having to disconnect from your phone line after which you were forced to sit through that awful fax modem jingle for however long it would take.

Once connected the test of patience began with page loading times giving you roughly enough time to take a slow walk to the kitchen, pop the kettle on, make tea and consider your various lunch options.

The internet was a scary place and the word Google had very little meaning for me.

But 10 years down the line and look where we are now!

The mobile phone is touch screen, Windows 10 has hit us and most of the world has some or other permanent connection to the internet.

It’s undoubted that businesses have moved more digital and the role the internet plays in any business has increased tenfold.

Fact:

A well-managed website; one with great user experience and the right digital marketing strategy has the potential to become your business’s only form of marketing necessary.

Fact:

Accessibility and visibility of your business’s products and services becomes far greater when using social media and networking channels.

Now the question is…

Firstly do you have a website? And does it work for your business? Or does it actually work against your business?

Time and time again we come across websites that have felt the raw end of neglect.

Outdated & incorrect content

• Businesses forget about the importance of having fresh new content.
• They forget about the actual purpose of a website – driving new business.
• Without well-written content how do you expect to attract the right type of customer?
• With incorrect content how do you expect to attract any customers at all?

No Blog Engine

• Today, consumers are performing in-depth research of their own before even contacting your sales staff.
• They want to know about your business, your static “About Us” page just isn’t enough for the new-age information driven consumer.
• Your blog allows you to regularly connect with new and old customers.
• Having the correct keywords, content and customer understanding is one of the most effective forms of driving business.
• Having an informative blog (like ours) puts you a step above the rest, people are looking for relevance, credibility and locality.

No SEO, Poor SEO and the in-between.

• SEO driven content – Yes, Google rewards “good” SEO but remember they also take into consideration your website’s user experience.
• If your website is purely SEO driven content and adds very little to your potential customer’s life then be prepared to suffer the consequences.
• Keyword stuffing (Using the word “luxury hotel” 28 times in a blog of only 400 words is not clever or technical SEO, it won’t bring the “luxury guests” it’ll bring Google penalisation, low rankings and an irritated “lost” customer)
• Broken links (HTTP 404 Not Found Error – rookie error)
• NO GOOGLE ANALYTICS?????? – I honestly don’t know what these businesses were thinking of when they forgot about the NEED for Google Analytics, but I definitely know what they weren’t thinking about – Website traffic analysis, Google ranking, Visitor segmentation.

Pop up Ads

• By far one of the most annoying forms of advertising.
• It disturbs the flow of browsing of your website and inevitably the sales funnel you were “trying” to create.
• We thank the Google Gods each and every day for the “Pop-up Ad Block”!
• Have you thought about how pop up Ads affect your own personal browsing?

Generic Stock photos

• There is nothing worse than arriving at a web page that is filled with awkwardly happy people pretending to enjoy their 8 hour straight business convention.
• People notice the amount of effort your put into your website and by choosing powerful , good quality images you are saying to them and the rest of the world that your business is about quality and customer relationships.

Technical jargon not even the business itself understands

• I’m not sure if you’ve noticed but no one really understands the technical terms used in your business unless they are actually in the business themselves or luckily have some sort of background knowledge.
• Taking time to write content that is reader friendly is vital.
• It doesn’t benefit anyone by having paragraphs of content that might as well have been written in Pig-Latin.

Bad website navigation

• Can you use your own website?
• Once again businesses forget the whole point of a website, engage CUSTOMERS!
• How do you expect Susan the technophobe to navigate through your website when there is little or no navigation at all?
• When landing on any page of your website Susan should be able to easily find her way around.
• Each and every element of your website should be navigational not just menus and sub-menus. (Pictures, logos, sliders, gallery items, icons, maps, search, and tags – Come on people!)

No Social Sharing

• Have you heard of Facebook? Or Twitter? Or any social network?
• Well to put it simply the number of Facebook users can be described as the third largest continent in the world.
• Social networking is the new-aged form of pamphlet advertising, word-of-mouth, radio ads, and newspaper/magazine ads.
• Imagine being able to reach 50 000 “targeted” customers for a fraction of what any other type of “old-school” advertising would cost.
• Now what use is it if someone by chance lands on your website, LOVES your products but can’t share with their friends because there is no social sharing available?

No Call-to-Action

• Request a quote
• Contact us
• Give us a call
• Tell us your problem.
• Whichever one relates to your business will do, people need to be able to click-through to a contact page where they can then either find a number, an email address, a Google Map, or at least fill out and process a contact me.

Disorientating layout

• A layout from a distance is confusing and when up close is disorientating does not work in your favour.
• When thinking about layout you HAVE to think minimalistic.
• You have to think user experience and navigation. Think user!
• Contrasting colours, aligned text boxes, neatness – all important.
• People need to feel comfortable on your website, they need to know you thought about them.

Mobile Responsive Websites

• I left this for last because unresponsive websites really grind us.
• Your website HAS to be mobile friendly! Why?
• Since April 2015 Google started panelising website ranking for being mobile unfriendly.
• Do you have smartphone or a tablet? Yes?
• Well if you do imagine how many of your potential customers do too?
• Then imagine how many of them use that device to search the web for businesses like yours?
• By simply fitting the web page onto a devices screen is NOT mobile responsive design.
• If you need to zoom in to read your content and then scroll across the screen to read the rest of the paragraph – then you have sadly missed the mobile friendly target.

The DON’TS of website design could go on and on.

The truth is these “website design superheroes” and “SEO & Marketing Guru’s” take advantage of their clients, they take advantage of their client’s lack of knowledge and understanding of what it takes to have a great looking website.

By placing words such as “the best” in front of “website design” for example “The Best Web Design Cape Town” these design predators capture new clientele. (Only because apparently the “the best website design” must be the number one best, Duh!)

There are hundreds of website design companies out there promising their clients the world and a free packet of chips. But do they actually deliver on their promises?

Yes, some do give their clients the free chips or in website design terms they throw in a “free additional webpage or two”, or offer a misconstrued SEO service that often doesn’t assist your website at all, or the best two that we’ve seen recently “free listing on search engines” or “free SEO meta-tags”

Chips are not sustainable, they’re unhealthy and in the long run won’t do anything for you and your business’s physical appearance.

If you or anyone you know has been a victim of any of these web design crimes please contact us.

We focus on organic and health conscious business growth. Get A Quote.