Paragraph upon paragraph of dense text, large picture files, heavy-handed Flash animations, generic stock-photo images and static content. These are some of the common mistakes businesses make when establishing an online presence or website.

The web is known for rapid change, so it is crucial that your business website meets a customer’s expectations.

Most small businesses want to be found on Google. However, a home page full of text doesn’t help it rank higher in a Google search and may turn potential customers away.

If users have to read a lot to do anything on the site, they may simply choose to click away to your competitors site.

We suggest you keep your home page simple and have short, sharp text that will engage the visitor. Avoid too much color because it can be difficult to read.  Make sure your text is a good font size and keep your paragraphs short.

Another area where websites commonly get it wrong is in the use of images. Large picture files or flashy content takes time to load. People will move on to some other site if your website doesn’t load quickly.

Pictures should also be unique and reflect your brand. Avoid using stock photos. Being online is about being found and when you’re found, you should have something different and inviting about your site.

You can use interactive elements on the site to really focus on your brand and how you want it to be perceived.  These can include Google Maps, video, commenting and other user interactions.

Once the website is built, it should also be updated regularly.

The biggest mistake a lot of business owners make is that once they’ve got their website up, they don’t pay any attention to it. If people can see something happening on the site every day, they know it’s a functioning website and business.

Businesses also need to analyze how visitors spend their time on the website. Business owners should use Google Analytics to help gather this data to see what is needed to improve their site, where customers go on the site and how long they spend there.

And if your business uses social media such as Twitter and Facebook to promote customer interest, be sure to link to these accounts from your website to make it easy for customers to join.

Before you put any design or copy on a page, you need to understand your users.  So, research your customer base and find out what information they are interested in, and what they need to do or learn to make their purchasing decision.

As the nature of the web keeps changing, so has the nature of website design. Websites are moving from a magazine-style format of pictures and text to being more interactive and dynamic.

Your website is the cornerstone of your marketing and communication activities. Today’s generation doesn’t look at the Yellow Pages, they look online and you need to be found online.

The do’s and don’ts of designing a business website.

Do

Keep text to a minimum on your home page and write it to engage your audience to explore your site.

Ensure images are unique and load quickly.

Analyze your website regularly to see where visitors are spending time and what you can improve.

Research your customers thoroughly before building a new website or redesign.

Promote social media accounts on your home page.

Don’t

Fill the home page full of text in the hope of improving your search optimisation.

Use large pictures or flashy content that is slow loading.

Neglect to update your content frequently.

Use colors on colors for text, making it difficult to read.

Use generic stock images.

Most of our customers approach us with great ideas for the graphic design and features they would like to see on their websites.  When meeting with customers for our kickoff meeting and planning process, we avoid these topics.

Why? Isn’t the graphic design and features of a site important?  Yes, however, our process starts with the main objective your site visitors have when landing on your site.  If your website is selling or marketing products or services, your visitors are there for INFORMATION.  They don’t really care about colors, web 2.0 whiz-bang features which cost a ton, or how cool your blog software is. They have a question in their heads, and our job as website designers is to answer that question.

So the first most important step in website design is called ‘Information Architecture’.  We spend a fair amount of time talking about menus, pages, sidebars, page layouts, headings, and CONTENT.

Our goal in working with you to design your website is to deliver the key information that your customers need in a way that is easy for them to find.  We don’t want to keep them guessing which obscure menu name they have to click to find the information they are looking for.

If we can answer your prospective customers’ questions in one or two clicks and get them moving towards making a decision, then we consider our job well done.

After this process, we get into colors, styles, features, and other tactics to get your site looking top-notch.

If you’d like to hear more, we always offer no-obligation consultations to hear from you and make suggestions as to how we can help make your website work for you.