Your website’s design is the most important variable in your web project.

A lot of people often forget that any web project starts with planning and design. These two steps are crucial and will dictate how any website and functionality is website builder developed, especially on eCommerce and content managed websites.

Design will affect the user experience, the flow of the website and ultimately whether the site even works properly. Some say web design is not about making your site look pretty, but about whether it works to generate results.

We say that this is false advisement, without first website design addressing how your site will look and whether your potential visitors will like it, you cannot say it will generate results.

It is true, that all visitors to your website will on a subconscious level have an emotional connection with your website’s design, and will make critical decisions based on it – this is a proven fact and is a result of testing how different visitors react to different design stimuli.

So What Does This All Mean For My Website’s Design?

A good website design should give you the potential to draw back your visitors continually. They will want to return because they had a good experience, the design related to them and they easily got what they needed.

Implement this simple advice from the start of your web project and you will see positive results. All the information presented here is industry standard facts and proven methods for successful website design.

Take good note of these common design mistakes which could be causing your site to under-perform.

10 Common Mistakes You Could Be Making On Your Website’s Design.

1. Poor Navigation Poor user interface and navigation will make it hard for your visitors to browse your website. Stick to industry standard and proven navigation methods.

2. Layout consistency Make sure your page layout is as consistent as possible.

Forcing people to change their reading or browsing method halfway into your website will affect how long people spend on your site.

3. Functionality Functionality that is custom developed or bolted on should always be skinned and designed to ensure consistency and user friendliness.

4. Search Ensure there is easy and effective site search on your website. This will help users find relative content quickly.

More applicable to ecommerce and large content websites.

5. Too much or too little content. This is a tricky one and has a fine balance, make sure your web design is as simple and uncluttered as possible for content.

If you do have a lot of content however and cannot avoid clutter, make sure your design is clean and simple so attention is on the content and readability is maximised.

6. Graphical and Content calls to action. All web designs should have objectives that are designed into the web interface and content.