Four common mistakes in web design

This is my first article on Peerlist, so let's try to begin with the right foot forward. I do not know yet if Peerlist allows "hash tags", or will do it in the future, so, just in case, this article is about #web #design, and it is suitable for web #developers and #entrepreneurs.

Why read it? I will give you one very strong reason: Because it was written by someone who began designing web pages in 2003, and began working in online marketing in 2007. That is a lot of experience!, experience that may save you a lot of time and money. If that is not enough, I will give you a second reason: this article is free. That is a hundred percent discount compared to what I usually charge for giving out this information.

First mistake: Not speaking with an online marketer before having your site designed (or redesigned)

Why? Because building and publishing a website is the easy part of the process; promoting it is the hard part. That means that if your website is not ready to compete since its first day on the Web, you will need to edit it. Editing a site, as you may guess, costs. Yet you can easily save yourself from the need of that extra cost by asking an online marketer to help you with your site.

The correct order for any web endeavour is hiring an online marketer first, and a web designer later.

Second mistake: Complicating things

The Web uses one of the simplest technologies out there. It is so simple that you can create web pages with any text editor.

These days, however, the web has become needlessly complicated. Web developers talk about Content Management Sysetms, frameworks, website builders… I do not want to get you bored with the details. The point is that, because of all those options in the web design world, most web pages you open today require downloading over 1 megabyte of information; which is a pity because of two reasons: Because heavier web pages require more resources and more time to display; and because the most effective web pages are exactly the opposite: those that are lighter and display faster.

There is often a difference between what you want and what you need in all aspects of life. Your website is not very different. I recommend you to get what you need and no more than exactly what you need, especially if you are starting. That is one of the most important secrets to perform better online.

Third mistake: Writing to match the web design instead of the other way round

One of the reasons I fell in love with the web (not literally) is the magical sensation of being able to reach all kinds of information with just a few clicks. Yet, ironically, this also means anyone can leave any web page (including yours, of course) with just one click too. **Given that entrepreneurs and marketers spend money and hundreds of hours trying to get people to reach a web page, you do not want them to click away when that happens**.

How can you achieve that? There is one way, and one way above all others, and it is with clarity.

Clarity starts with your web page's layout. If a user will find it confusing, he will leave. If he finds it clear, he will stay a little longer.

Clarity continues with your texts. If he finds them specific, he will know where to click. If he finds them interesting, he will start (and keep reading). If he gets confused or bored at any point, he will close the web page and do something else.

Clarity ends with when he finishes reading and he knows what you are inviting him to do next. If he does not receive a clear suggestion, he might just leave afterwards.

As you may see, and confirm by acknowledging how you browse the web yourself, the beauty of a website is not very relevant for a user who is trying to learn or find something. Design your site so that it will give a nice frame to your texts, and not vice versa.

Yes, that means writing your texts first and thinking about the looks later.

Fourth mistake: Lousy planning

Effecive web design is planned by counting the clicks backwards from your objective. This might not sound very easy to understand, so I will add a couple of examples to clarify:

First, imagine that you want to sell a car online. It is very unlikely that someone will enter his credit card details on a website if he has not seen the car yet, so the objective of the site cannot be to complete a sale on the web. The objective needs to be something different, either to motivate him to visit the store or to ask for a test drive online; in many cases, both.

What does it need to happen to achieve that? Easy, he needs to want to see the car.

Great, how do we achieve that? With great photographs and an incredible (but realistic) description of the vehicle.

Next, how do we motivate a user to get to that web page with the great photographs and the incredible description? He needs to select the car from a list. Aha! This means that the web pages that list the available cars need to be well designed too.

Lastly, how do we motivate a user to see the list of cars? The home page must invite him to do so.

Do you notice a flow? Great, that is the idea.

Another example: Imagine you want to sell a service this time; for example, international events in Punta Cana, like this company does. Again, the objective on this website cannot be to sell an international event planning service online because the business does not even know what kind of event a user might be interested in planning yet. The objective needs to be to get a first contact, what event planners know as a request for proposal.

What does it need to happen to get a request for proposal? The user needs to get a general knowledge of the services the event planning company provides, including experience in what this user is trying to achieve.

Great, how do we achieve that? With solid information about the company services, what they usually include, what can be added upon request, and the like. A user may be reading the sites of many potential suppliers while he is trying to find the best one for his needs. He may even have a hundred open tabs in his browser while seeing your web page. It is not enough with being descriptive. It needs to be specific, —again— clear, but above all convincing.

Lastly, what does it need to happen to motivate a user to learn about this company's services? You guessed it, the home page must invite him to do so.

I hope you will find this information useful, and I will close saying that I am interested in meeting more people on this site.