The 10 Most Common Web Design Mistakes To Avoid

1. Don't use fancy web programming. Keep your website plain, simple and use basic technologies - Do not use Flash on your website,if a user doesn't have flash, they will not see that content, so if your navbar is flash, the visitor will not be able to navigate and you will be dead in the water. Don't use aggressive javascript. If you use aggressive javascript, security warnings will popup and scare the visitors, also many people set their browsers to ignore and warn when there is aggressive javascript. Don't use poorly written DHTML, it will look misaligned and not consistent on all browsers and operating systems. Poor written DHTML is also known to confuse the browsers sometimes and will keep the page from loading at all.

2. Don't use unnecessary words. On your website, make sure to use words and phrases that are only 100% necessary. Be direct, say what you want to say and that is it, especially if it is a professional, business website. Don't start writing and go off on tangents or bring up unrelated content. Most website visitors leave a site after 30 seconds, you better make sure your website content and text says what you want them to read while they are there on their short stay, if not, you will lose sales, customers and leads. Be direct and stay simple with you website content.

3. Don't assume your visitors will know what you are talking about. Just because you know what you are talking about, doesn't mean your website visitor will. Make sure you use simple words, terminology and ideas to translate the purpose of your website to your visitors. By using descriptive words, stories, examples, testimonials, etc, you will easily be able to translate the important message and ideas your website is trying to translate. Remember, your goal isn't to be clever in your writing, it is to get your purpose across to everyone who visits your site.

4. Don't forget that repetition works. Repetition is key when explaining your strongest point and benefit of your website. Make sure to repeat your main point at least 3 times, some people will miss it. Remember websites read in a linear way, up and down, so if someone visits your site, quickly looks at your important headline, but doesn't really read it, you will have problems, make sure to repeat the important message of your site multiple times farther down your page. Repetition is key.

5. Don't use big paragraphs of content, people like to skim on the internet. Think about when you are waiting somewhere, like a dentist office or something, and you know you will only be there a few minutes, you skim, you don't really read, just look through quick and read main headlines, sub headlines and look at pictures. It is the same type of feeling for your website visitors, they don't think they will be there long, so they skim, big time skimming. That is why it is important to make your content as legible and powerful as possible. Cut your big chucks of ideas into smaller ideas with strong headlines and sub headlines, this will insure more of your ad copy gets read.

6. Don't use content that is unrelevant. Make sure to use relevant content your target market visitors are looking for. If they type in 'make money at home' and you tell them about how to cook a good grilled cheese, this isn't going to sell your product or service. Make sure your site has relevant content and keywords that pertain to whatever you are selling. Not only will your visitors thank you, but they will keep coming back for up-to-date information about what your site is offering.

7. Don't give your visitors a headache. Keep your web design consistent and use style sheets. To keep your website easy to read and not give your visitors a headache, keep the font style consistent over your entire site, use caution when making text bigger, bolding or italic. Yes, you want to use these options for highlighting key points, but do not make the whole page a bunch of bolded, underlined, italicized text. It will give your visitors a headache and all your hard work getting them there will be lost.

8. Don't use big words that might confuse your visitors. Not everyone is as smart as you! Make sure every single person from every single area of the world who understands English will be able to understand, internalize and interpret your website. If they don't know a word and have to look it up, it will confuse them, make them feel stupid and hit the back button. Don't get fancy with the language

9. Don't forget to highlight main selling points. As I said earlier, don't use many variations of text all over your website, keep it clean and consistent, but in cases of selling words and phrases, make them bigger, change the color, and by all means, use bolding, italics, underlining, etc. Highlighting your important selling words and phrases is why variations exist, they make the user focus in and ask themselves, "Why is this text different?" As soon as they ask themselves this question it makes them read the text slower and internalize it more than the other parts. By combining these highlights with your key selling phrases, you will exponentially grow the power of your key phrases!

10. Don't forget that what really captivates people is emotion. Use words and phrases that create emotion. People will magically become more interested in your product or service if they are emotionally attached. If you have emotion in your web ad copy, some people will buy strictly because of the emotions and excitement they get while reading. Use stories and personal experience to induce emotion in your ad copy. At first this may hard, but keep thinking about it and trying to add more and more emotion to your website and I guarantee you will see the results!