5 Website Design Mistakes Entrepreneurs Must Avoid

How much business a website makes is the output of some good decisions taken and a great team put together.

Building a website may not sound that daunting, but the real catch is to make it usable. It’s possible with right cooperation and understanding between an entrepreneur and the chosen team. The website reflects how you conduct business and think of your customers, both online and offline.

Therefore, it’s your responsibility to learn to take charge of the things and lead a team of website architect, graphic designer, developer, and copywriter to maintain this quality asset online. Did we just talk about asset? Yes! Your website is a virtual asset with an ever growing value. And to help you get there, make sure that you avoid making following mistakes.

1. More Focus on Making it Pretty

One common mistake generally entrepreneurs make is that they give looks and creativity priority over usability and practicality.

A good design is more about how it works, not how it looks.

It is actually the right mix-up of form and function. Of course, it is important to ensure that fonts are correct, the graphics are good, but such concerns shouldn’t take the driving seat. After all, people aren’t going to compliment your website only, they might have come there to look for their own needs.

Excessive creativity isn’t the way to go. It rather may distract. In fact, some websites have differently designed web pages on one website, hoping it will look awesome. It doesn’t, period.

Moreover, image-rich, flashy websites won’t look good on mobile devices. It’s an important consideration with a large majority using smart devices to access the internet. So, know where to draw the line.

2. Ignoring the Foundation

Entrepreneurs when over-zealous about getting a graphically astounding website tend to ignore the foundation and the basics of web design.

Before building your house, you get a floor plan done. Similarly, the website needs the architecture to serve the audience right. The foundation is to plan things early and develop a website blueprint before you let a graphic designer and developer turn your imaginations into reality.

Many entrepreneurs make the mistake of hammering nails without putting in some effort to create the proper plan. And later end up feeling sad that designing company didn’t do a good job. In fact, the designing team might have done their best already but they were sailors without a caption.

Get a strategist in place to help you with planning and architecture. Not having a plan or having a flawed plan will lead to unforeseen obstacles and the final web design won’t show as much potential as it should show.

Your website architect knows it all – and together with the whole team, he or she gives you the website you’ve planned along with promising returns.

3. Spending Time on Researching Others’ Websites to be Different

Don’t waste your time checking others websites only to be different. The best web design is the one that works and connects with your audience. An experienced strategist & web design company together will share impressive work based upon the given visual concept. So, don’t just sit on the fence or aimlessly jump from one site to another to figure the elements you ‘shouldn’t’ have on your website.

4. Thinking too much about the Spend

Whether you’re an established organization or a fledgling start-up, it makes sense to determine how much you can spend. This may include funds for development, content, web design, web hosting, and discussing it all with a right marketing strategist.

Remember, taking the DIY route and writing your own content or designing websites may save you money, but it will keep you from creating a good first impression unless you’re a professional in this industry.

A good website starts at USD1000 and goes up to USD20k depending upon your business and goals. Anything less than that may turn into a compromised presence.

5. Take Control Of Your Properties

Last but not the least to conclude, make sure that you register your domain and buy your web hosting yourself. Keep control of these two things. 90% of the Entrepreneurs hand over the booking and hosting to designing company only and I personally have seen nightmares happening with a few friends. No matter how trusted the development company is, control these two initial steps of your digital presence yourself.

The bottom line is that planning a website ahead of time will pay big time – it’s a great investment actually. With a plan in mind, you can have such digital presence that serves you well for years to come.

If this post helped you, it would be great to have you share it with your fellow entrepreneurs and networks.

Disclaimer: This post was originally written by me for BizDivas magazine. Looking at the value of the information for the entrepreneurs, I have shared it for my blog audience.