Most common corporate web design mistakes to avoid

Could your website be letting you down? Discover the most common corporate website design mistakes – and how to fix them.

Your website could be the first interaction a client has with your company. And whatever your aims for your website, its design and construction can make or break the goals you set. So could your website be letting you down? Find out about the most common corporate website design mistakes that companies make – and what you can do to fix them.

Your website takes forever to load

Time is a precious commodity for your clients – and it’s not one they’re willing to waste, waiting for your site to load. There are many reasons why a website may be slow to load, but crucially, if it takes more than a couple of seconds for something to happen, your visitors will start to lose patience. Slow page loading could also count as a black mark against you in the search engines, meaning you could rank behind your competitors.

How to fix it:

• Optimise any large, high-resolution images on your server
• Link videos and other media in the cloud, rather than uploading them to your site
• Check for bloated code

Not mobile friendly

One of the biggest web design mistakes to avoid on your business website is a site that won’t display properly on different mobile devices. The number of mobile searches now outnumbers desktop users, so if you’re not catering to this demographic, you’ll be severely limiting your reach.

How to fix it:

• Test your website on different devices to see how well it works
• Use responsive web design to ensure that your website is scaled well to a smaller screen

You have no CTAs (calls to action)

As with every other aspect of business, it’s important to steer your customers where you want them to go. In a physical shop, the layout, signage, branding and staff interactions all provide the nudges that are needed to prompt a sale. In corporate web design, clear navigation and explicit calls to action are the elements that encourage customer conversions, such as a purchase or an enquiry.

How to fix it:

• Create branded buttons that tell users what to do
• Add calls to action in clearly visible places
• Use active and descriptive language so users know what will happen when they click
• Measure your conversions with an analytics package

Website security issues

What’s keeping visitors away from your site? If your traffic is low, it could be a security problem. Websites need a valid SSL certificate to have a secure “https” URL and be considered safe by modern users (and search engines). These allow users to trust that their personal information is safe. If there’s any question about the security of your website, and especially if it causes a browser to warn users that your site isn’t safe, your traffic is likely to plummet.

How to fix it:

• Keep your website software and plugins up to date
• Get an SSL certificate so users can trust your site
• Use a secure web host

Get website design advice from the experts

At Lemongrass Media, we provide corporate web design and development for businesses like yours. Find out more by contacting us on 0800 690 6250 or enquiries@lemongrassmedia.co.uk.