Web development companies are on the rise, as more and more people recognize the importance of online presence in today’s business world. However, not all web development companies are created equal, and it’s easy to find yourself paying too much or too little for services you don’t need or that aren’t even done right the first time around. Here are some common mistakes that website development companies make and how you can avoid them when hiring a company for your own needs.
Being Unprofessional
A website development company that isn’t professional in their interactions and dealings with you probably isn’t going to be very professional in their work. If you can’t speak with them directly or your questions aren’t being answered, or they seem disorganized, move on. You deserve better than that. Find a website development company that communicates openly and clearly about your project and does so in a professional manner at all times. It’s important that both you and your website developer are clear about everything from start to finish.
To ensure everyone is on the same page from day one, it may be worth writing out expectations for everyone involved to ensure everyone is meeting deadlines. Whether you agree on how much time a certain task should take (measured in the number of hours) or whether something needs to be completed within a certain time frame (measured by dates), anything agreed upon should be listed as part of your agreed-upon deliverables in your contract. Also, be sure to include who will provide materials and when these materials need to arrive.
Choosing Wrong Colors
While your website development company may know all about creating an effective, user-friendly interface, you need to make sure that they’re also choosing suitable color combinations for your site. It may seem counterintuitive, but having too many colors can actually distract from a site’s usability. Stick with two or three complementary colors and your website will be more visually appealing. For example, if you use pink and purple together, keep a light shade of each in place; dark purples often clash against brighter pinks.
As always, don’t forget to test drive each palette on-screen before deciding on one that works best for your site. What looks great on paper sometimes doesn’t work nearly as well online. A Website Developer Can Help You Plan Properly: If you want your website design done right, do yourself a favor and hire an outside source—like a professional website developer—to come up with concepts for what your site should look like.
Poor Navigation
Even if you’re a small business with limited marketing funds, it’s worth taking some time to make sure your website is designed with visitors in mind. One common web development mistake we often see here at IdeaPaint is poor navigation design. Start by testing all of your links to make sure they work and each page has a clear call-to-action and easy-to-read content. You can use tools like Google Pagespeed Insights to check how fast your website loads; that extra split second could be costing you conversions!
If you want to dive deeper into user experience (UX) best practices for your website, download our free White Paper for Website Design & Usability Guidelines for Beginners – it covers everything from creating an easy-to-navigate menu to writing effective headlines. Make these tweaks now and watch as your conversion rates improve before your eyes!
Missing Calls to Action
When it comes to website design, a company’s call-to-action is a crucial element. If you want users to take an action—subscribe, sign up for email updates, buy a product or service. You need to make that request as clear and easy as possible. Website development company often miss out on creating CTAs, which means they’re losing potential customers because they can’t easily follow through with their desired action.
This not only hurts your business in terms of revenue but also leads to a poor user experience when trying to get something done on your site. To avoid making these mistakes, check out our list of resources on call-to-action buttons. Also, use real text next time! If you don’t know how to optimize a CTA button properly, definitely reach out to someone who does!
Not Using Grids & Alignment Principles
Even if you’re not designing your site from scratch, it’s important to use grids when designing a website. Grids ensure that your site is easy to read and scannable, and keeps navigation consistent throughout. Sites that lack proper grid design can look unprofessional, amateurish, or just plain messy. Professional website development company implement grids as part of their design process for a reason:
They’re proven to make designs more readable and usable—and thus make them more appealing. (source) And while we’re on the subject of alignment principles, using misaligned types or elements on purpose is generally considered poor practice (unless you want to give off an amateurish vibe). It might seem like a cute trick at first glance, but misalignment should be avoided when possible; text blocks that are ragged right often don’t feel right visually.
Not Tested on Mobile Devices
If you’re building a website, it should be easily accessible on all types of devices. Web users are increasingly using their mobile devices to browse, so if your website isn’t mobile-friendly, you might lose clients. In addition to considering how users will access your site on desktop computers and laptops. Make sure it looks good and functions properly on tablets and smartphones.
It only takes an hour or two to test websites across all platforms; small businesses shouldn’t neglect these tests, as they can yield big results. For example, Verizon says that 74% of consumers will abandon a purchase (if they even started) if a website fails to load within 3 seconds. If your business is serious about web development and user experience. And you should invest in proper testing now to avoid losing customers down the road.
Overloading Pages with Ads
Excessive ads on a page are distracting and make it hard for users to find what they came for. Be wary of websites with an ad banner on every screen. A good rule of thumb is that if you can’t find a way to navigate around or away from them, they’re probably too numerous. In some cases, these excessive ads might be enough reason to hire a different web development company. If you feel like your website design isn’t serving its purpose anymore. There may be more issues at play than meets the eye.
It may require more than just refreshing your design; your content strategy or website business model could require an overhaul as well. If you’re in need of new strategies when it comes to web design, check out our guide here! Don’t sacrifice usability for style: The website itself should help sell its product in terms of features. But don’t put form over function. Visitors want fast loading times, easy navigation, and consistency across pages (i.e., no headers of one color on one page then something completely different color on another).
Consider which areas of your site see heavy traffic and focus on streamlining those pages first. If your entire site slows down under heavy traffic load. Consider redesigning your architecture so that it doesn’t cause bottlenecks under such conditions. Keep current with best practices: Staying up-to-date regarding best practices is important because research changes constantly.