Stock Images Make For A Stock Website

In the infancy of business websites, stock images were normal, especially for high-end professional websites. However, lately the tides have turned and stock images are often thought of as "cheesy," sending out a poor first impression to people viewing a site for the first time.

The main issue with free stock images (or even some paid stock images) is that you risk having your website use the same images as another site on the web. If you can't use your own photos, use alternative sources with modern, less tacky and awkward imagery. If applicable, modify stock images to make them your own. Image quality ultimately affects conversion rates, so take time to focus on image quality.

Vague Navigation

Confusing navigation can be an immediate turn off.  Customers are looking for the easy way out and if they don’t find what they’re looking for right away they will leave.  If tabs are non-existent or use vague headlines it may make it more difficult for customers to find what they’re looking for.

You need to make sure that your site user-friendly.  Use well worded headings on your links so that your viewers know where he or she will end up by clicking on the page.  Make your site is clear enough that you could say with confidence that your tech-challenged parents would be able to navigate it!

Content That Doesn't Gel With User Expectations

Not all content is necessarily good content and while you may think you have a ton of information that needs to be on your website, usually not all of it needs to be included.  Aside from this, all of your content needs to be relevant. 

Customers shouldn’t be confused while looking at your website and should understand what it is you are trying to accomplish.  Additionally, keeping your content relevant will help increase your SEO.

Simplicity is key and it is essential that your company gets right to the point.  Viewers don’t have time to waste trying to figure out what it is your website is trying to state.  A simple way to keep content relevant is to look at your company’s mission statement and keep that in mind while you are creating all the other content.

No Call To Action Leads To No Action

This is a simple problem that can easily be avoided. Once you have a well designed website you need to make it clear to your customers what the next step is.  CTA’s will help generate leads for your company.

Simply create CTA’s and post them throughout your website.  Make sure you are posting them on pages where they will fit in.  CTA’s can be very simple or complex so make sure you design ones that are a right fit for your company!

Anti-Social Sally

Websites should also be used to help boost a company’s social media presence.   Social media offers things that a website simply cannot; it provides customers with additional information and provides a two-way relationship between the company and the consumer which allows for interaction on a social level. 

Without social media links on your site, your company is completely missing out on this aspect of marketing.

If your company isn’t active on social media sites, the first step would be to create accounts and get posting!  If you are already using social media then all you need to do is imply add buttons to your site that connect your customers directly to your social media pages. 

Text Eyesores

Avoid these at all costs: fancy fonts, excessive use of bold and underlined text, and poor color choices. While it may seem simple to use a traditional dark color font on a light background, it works.

It is important to keep this in mind: many of the visitors to your site have already spent some time staring at their screen, so you do not want to give them a headache with a pastiche of garish colors.

ImageWorks, LLC

If you steer clear of these web design disasters, you will be able to create a fresh, user-friendly experience for your visitors. Using terse, readable content will give visitors an incentive to come back.

If you partner with a company like ImageWorks LLC that specializes in both responsive web design and inbound marketing, you can merge your design and marketing goals together to create an appealing website that effectively draws in website traffic, converts leads into customers, and makes it easy for users to find what they are looking for and communicate with your company.