How Bad Web Design Costs You

Have you ever thought about the first contact potential clients have with your business? In some cases, people hear about you through referrals; they may actually go to your business if you own a physical store; they can find you through an ad displayed on social media; or they may receive a business flyer from your staff or partners.  Many times, they research products and services online and find you listed in Google search results, from which point they access your website.

And this is the crucial moment when your web design can make the difference between securing a new customer and scaring them away. Your website can either give users confidence and establish trust or do the opposite – creating doubt, distrust, and a feeling of uneasiness about your business.

Even if your website is not always the first point of contact between your business and potential customers, people will usually check your company website. Their perception of your organisation will definitely be influenced by what they see. If your online presence is very poor, the prospect will hit the ‘Back’ button and most likely go to one of your competitors, who may provide inferior service, but simply have a better website.

Common web design mistakes

Many small businesses have limited budgets so they decide to cut corners and cheap out on web design, hoping this won’t have a negative impact on company growth. However, inadequate web design and content are very visible, with the most common mistakes being the following:

• Hard to find contact information

Your address and phone number and email address should be prominently displayed on every web page. To make it easy for people to contact you, provide a contact form on your website, as writing to your company directly from your website involves less friction compared to making a phone call or writing an email.

• Neglecting professional web design

Make sure your website is professionally designed and doesn’t look like it was hastily built by an amateur.

Every word and every picture on your website matter, and too much content can represent a distraction that prevents you from communicating your overall message effectively. Only keep content  on your website that communicates the value you provide, make sure you balance content with white space, and organise content in a way that is easy to navigate.

Potential customers tend to trust their peers more than businesses, so if you tell them how great your services are, they won’t believe you. Instead they will ask other people what they think about you. You can include testimonials from actual customers, with their pictures if available, to benefit from the power of referrals.

• Not updating your website content

Visitors like to see content that is current and relevant, so if your last post in the ‘News’ section is a product launch from 5 years ago, you urgently need to provide some updates.

• Not talking about people in your company

People like to do business with other people and want to know who they will be dealing with. Tell your company story and present your team on your website; visitors will trust and like you a lot more.

• Not checking for typos and errors

Misspelled words and grammatical errors are a major turn-off, especially when you are selling to a category of customers with higher education. Take your time to proofread to find any typos and grammar mistakes – it is a simple action with amazing results!

Negative implications of bad web design

Not making a positive first impression through your website can seriously harm your business as 93% of online experiences of Australian Internet users start with search engines. Lack of search engine optimisation is a serious problem, too, since 75% of Australian Google users never scroll past the first page of search results. Other general Internet usage stats will also tell you that poor web design will slowly kill your business:

• 57% of Internet users say they won’t recommend a business with a poorly designed website on mobile;
• 85% of Internet users think that your company website viewed on a mobile device should be just as good or even better than its desktop version;
• 38% of people stop engaging with a website if content or web design are unattractive;
• 88% of online consumers are less likely to return to a website after a poor experience;
• 47% of users expect a maximum of 2 seconds loading time for the average website;
• 75% of users admit to making judgments of company credibility based on its website design.

Why web design is an investment for your business

Your website represents the start of your conversation with a customer and you rarely get a second chance on today’s Internet. More than just a simple attribute of your business, your website represents your company’s image and brand representation and should be one of the areas you wisely invest in to get a greater return. Your website design is an important part of your online marketing presence for the following reasons:

• It gives people the first impression of your business

This process lasts just a few seconds and the first impression rarely changes. This is because prospects are bombarded with too much marketing information every day to take the time to re-assess your website;

• It helps with your SEO strategy

Good web design will have a positive impact on how search engine spiders crawl and index your website. Without good visibility on search engine result pages, you will lose the large majority of the potential visitors of your website;

• It sets the impression for customer service

People can judge how you will treat them by just looking at your website. If you don’t put effort into web design your audience will assume the same from your  customer service, and think that you will not put effort into helping them either;

If your audience sees poor design or information that looks outdated, they won’t trust your business. Building trust with your audience encourages visitors to remain on your website, and the longer they stay there, the more opportunities your business has to capture those leads;

• You have the chance to stand out from the crowd

Your competitors are already using web design and you have the opportunity to produce a better, more stand-out site than theirs. When you have the same services and similar pricing to your competitors, appealing web design can make the difference between you and similar businesses.

Have you decided to use web design to improve your company’s performance? Excellent option! The next step is securing the services of a professional in order to enjoy optimal results and get the best return on your investment. Visual Marketing Australia can help with web design and development as these represent two of our core services enabling us to effectively assist our customers with their digital marketing strategy. Having a good website is crucial for the success of your business and VMA makes the process easy and affordable. Here’s what to expect:

• Working together to create your online presence;
• Getting a website that is secure, mobile-friendly, and easy to navigate;
• Websites that are search engine optimised;
• Assistance with logo creation and branding;
• Reliable customer service;
• Marketing services for better visibility and more traffic;
• Catering our web design services to your needs and budget.

Contact us to discuss your web design needs today and create the website that your business deserves. We make sure you avoid all those mistakes that could cost you customers, reputation, and profit!

With over 38 years’ experience in Print Media, Sales and Marketing, Online Services & Marketing plus Financial Service industries. John brings a wealth of knowledge to Visual Marketing Australia. As a Certified Google Partner, his Digital Marketing knowledge includes: Web Design & Development, SEO, Mobile App. Development, Online Marketing, Online Video Marketing and Email Marketing Solutions. With 8 years experience of using Zoho CRM it is a natural progression to become and Authorised Consulting Partner so we can now ad Sales and Marketing Automation to the list.