Your web design, more than ever, is a key element for success. It's difficult to attract and retain prospective customers when your main source of information looks outdated or doesn't properly represent your brand. However, businesses are not always experts when it comes to website design and therefore may cling onto outdated web design trends. Unfortunately, businesses can't get away with the "retro" look as customers are becoming exceedingly tech savvy everyday. As a business, you need to stay ahead of the game and abandon the old web design trends that ultimately loses customers and sends the wrong message to new prospective customers.
A Content Overload
We our in a era of skimmers. People don't want to read a novel to find the information they are looking for so it's important to only highlight the important elements. It used to be an SEO technique to overload a page with content for the ability to stuff as many keywords as possible for higher rankings. This technique is not only outdated and turns people away from your website but is actually deemed an SEO black hat method that penalizes your website for essentially "cheating", which pushes you even farther down search engine rankings. Of course, this doesn't mean that your content isn't a vital component. You need enough content to creatively inform and engage with the audience what your business is all about and how you can help the consumer. A good rule of thumb to effectively represent your brand and improve your SEO is to have around 300 to 500 words per page. In conclusion, be concise, informative, highlight the components that best represent your brand and provide a solution to the users' problem.
Another issue people have with their content is they attempt to be creative but end up going overboard with their font styles. Don't try to fill up the page by using outdated or oversized fonts. People instantly judge and analyze your website down to the last detail, including the font that you use. Early design techniques like using Belevel and Emboss on titles or in the content on your homepage, is an outdated web design trend that makes users instantly leave a website. A customer feels that if your website is outdated and tacky, then your products and services probably will be too. If you don't know which font to use, try a more classic and simple font such as Times New Roman, Arial and Comic Sans (Source).
Automatic Video & Audio
Motion animations is one thing but automatic video and audio is an annoying element that quickly deters people from your website. Imagine sitting in a coffee shop or a café with your laptop when all the sudden loud audio awkardly starts to play and you have to scramble to turn it off. Chances are your not going to stay on the website that just embarassed you in front of other people trying to quietly relax. There's not much to say except to ditch automatic video and instead give people the option to click the video and watch it if they so desire.
Design & Image Overkill
Organize your images and creative elements for an open and creative appeal. Cluttering the page with unrelated images and too many bright colors becomes overwhelming to the eye and will confuse the people who visit your page. Colors are important not just to make the website more appealing but also to build your brand and enhance corporate identity. Colors increase web recognition by 80% (Source). The colors on your website should resemble who you are and appeal to your targeted audience so a considerable amount of thought should be given when deciding what will work best for your brand. You should chooser a color scheme and stick to it, keeping in mind that more than 3 colors will distract and deter people from your website.
Adding too many images on your website also creates unnecessary clutter rather than a creative touch. Kiss image overload goodbye and implement new web design trends like using one large, striking image that utilizes shadow effects or motion animations that adds a little movement in the background.
Annoying Pop Up Ads
Nothing is worse than trying to get to the content you need and constantly be interrupted by obnoxious pop up ads. People see pop up ads as spam and relate that to viruses, making the website look fake. A "fake" looking website is especially hurtful for ecommerce sites because people need to know that their information is safe. To be viewed as a credible source consider, putting your ads off to the side or creating appealing Call To Actions that people can click on if they want more information or to be redirected to specific products or services.
Not A Responsive Web Design
The business world has moved beyond mobile. With different technology coming out everyday, your business can't ignore the best ROI comes from fully integrated marketing programs. Instead of creating different websites to work on various devices, a responsive website allows you to have the same system function effectively on each. A huge benefit of responsive designed websites are that they are specifically coded for screen size, not device. No matter the screen size someone is viewing your website, it will still have the proper look and feel for that device. As new devices, like TVs, computers, tablets, or mobile phones, emerge in the future, your responsive site will be able to adapt, and still retain it's original design. This means, ignoring mobile screens as well as other devices is just not an option from a modern marketing standpoint. When it comes to catering to normal desktop computers and mobile devices, you need to be proactive. If you aren't, you are really just hurting yourself by limiting your website and it's usability.
ImageWorks LLC | Website Design & Redesign
Whether you are a start up and need a new site, or a re-design of an existing site, our team will work with your team to create a new Web presence that will energize your business.
Our custom designed solutions are built around your individual needs, and focused on your specific messaging, functionality, and inbound lead generation needs in mind. Our state of the art knowledge and continuous research and development efforts always take advantage of the newest technologies, insuring your project will be cross platform compatible, mobile ready, and easy to use.
Get started creating a powerful website with the latest web design trends by clicking the redesign session below. 