Avoid These 13 Mistakes to Improve Your Website Conversion Rate Today!

Jan 20, 2022

<a href="https://www.ewrdigital.com/author/qays-zubaidiewrdigital-com" target="_self">Qays Zubaidi</a>

Qays Zubaidi

Senior Web Developer

Although there are many different digital marketing strategies, the end goal is conversions. Undoubtedly, conversion rate is the most important factor in the digital marketing world because converting website visitors to customers equals business for your company.

While each type of marketing benefits from the idea of converting, none are as important as the aspect of web design. This is especially applicable for the mistakes that need to be avoided during the design process.

What Is Conversion-Focused Web Design?

Before we jump into conversion-focused web design, you need to know what conversions actually mean. Conversions occur when a site visitor takes a particular action and responds to the call actions embedded in your ads, offers, or notifications. Through call-to-action, website owners attempt to persuade site visitors to either make a purchase, sign up to their email list, watch a video/webinar, or any other action of their choice.

Coinbase Website Image

In the image above, the buttons invite the user to take a specific action. Once the user takes that particular action, we consider it a conversion. Now, if you want your visitors to take specific actions while navigating your site, your designer must pay extra attention to the call-to-action button.

This article will go over conversion-focused web design and point out the possible mistakes that are killing your conversion rate.

Mistake #1: Your Design Is Not Promoting the CTA Buttons Properly

Your designer is expected to keep their focus on getting those conversions. The layout of your webpage, the color scheme on your site, the fonts, and the images are all important. But if your visitors aren’t taking the actions you want them to take, you’re leaving money on the table.

Adopting conversion-focused web design means that call actions are central to your web design process. The rest of your web design components are intended to complement your efforts to get users to respond to call-to-actions on your site.

Also, note that you cannot afford sloppy CTAs in your landing pages if you want to improve your conversions.

Mistake #2: Ignoring the Need for a Mobile-Friendly Site

The second place where a lot of business owners go wrong is they overlook the need for a mobile-friendly site. People use different devices to access the web, and because of the convenience offered by smartphones, a lot of people will visit your site on their phone or their tablet. Mobile-friendliness is something you need to keep in mind, so you’ll want to work with your web designer and have your site optimized for mobile.

In addition, mobile-friendly sites are also important from an SEO perspective. If people have a poor user experience while surfing your site on their mobile, they won’t be tempted to try your product/solution. Instead, they’ll be repelled by your website’s user interface and go elsewhere. Users not converting will increase your bounce rates and hurt your SEO positioning.

If you’re running an eCommerce store and cannot afford a mobile-friendly website, people won’t feel confident in their purchases or trust those purchases are secure.

Mistake #3: Too Many Hyperlinks!

Like it or not, we live in an age of distraction. If you’re trying to get conversions from your marketing materials, you’ll want to ensure that your web pages are not distracting people. If you’re trying to get more people into your email list, you’ll want to plug in your email opt-in forms on pages that are getting the most traffic.

Mistake #4: Promoting Complexity & Ignoring Simplicity

To maximize your conversions, you need to embrace simplicity and eliminate complexities. Eliminating complexities means that the copy on your landing page needs to be worded in an easily understandable manner for your target audience. If your readers struggle to understand what your product or business can do for them, you’re hurting your chances of getting those conversions.

In a similar vein, if you’re putting out content through your site, focus on reader comprehension. The takeaway is you don’t want to overwhelm your visitors with hard-to-understand content, but instead, you want to make your value proposition clear and have meaningful CTAs on your landing pages.

Mistake #5: Poor Quality Product Images

Another faulty web design mistake that people sometimes make is that their design doesn’t always promote top-quality product images. High-quality product images are vital for setting expectations when running an eCommerce store. You never want your site visitors to feel confused; you want customers to see exactly what your product can do for them.

If you don’t have the budget to hire a professional photographer, that’s okay too. You can use your phone’s camera to take top-shelf product images that you can use to impress your site visitors. Whatever you choose, make sure to avoid low-quality images at all costs, as this makes your customers flee.

You might wonder what to do if you’re not an eCommerce business. Well, you could once again shave costs by doing your own photography, or you could use high-quality stock photos to improve your digital positioning.

Hestia Website 2

Mistake #6: Your Site Is Difficult to Navigate

Making your site difficult to navigate is a big no. When surfing the web, people prioritize speed and convenience, and if you can’t offer that to them, you will lose out on customers. Don’t make your customers play a detective trying to find that elusive menu button. Make your site easy to access, and your customers will be happy to do business with you.

If you feel that your site is suffering from faulty navigation, you might want to take a few corrective measures like:

  • Highlight your nav bar so that it stands out and immediately catches the visitors’ eyes.
  • Order your most frequently visited pages strategically to make it easier for visitors to find what they are looking for.
  • Create relevant menu bars for mobile-optimized sites.

Poor site navigation might seem like a problem that you don’t need to pay heed to, but it can cause you real issues later down the line. Visitors are more likely to feel frustrated and leave your website if it’s hard to navigate, increasing your bounce rate and adversely affecting your SEO rankings..

Mistake #7: Eliminate Inconsistencies

It’s super important to maintain consistency throughout your web pages. Different elements of your site having different attributes can possibly hurt your conversions. Using a red subheader on one page and a totally different color scheme on another page will mean that your web pages will appear inconsistent. Something like this can be a source of distraction for the site visitor.

It’s generally a good idea to maintain a consistent style throughout your site.

Mistake #8: Ignoring the Need for a Design Makeover

If your site is old, you probably want to be open to the idea of giving your site a makeover. If visitors feel that your site is ancient or outdated, they might feel let down. That’s the exact reason why you might want to renovate your website with updated design elements. Having a modern, stylish look will help you craft a favorable impression that will help you generate more conversions.

Mistake #9: Trying to Be Too Fancy

Another area where website owners go wrong is that they often try to be too fancy with their web design.

They jam-pack their website with elements like:

  • Animations
  • Autoplay Videos
  • Carousels
  • Popups
  • Sliders

Including design elements because they look “cool” or trendy is not a smart move for two key reasons:

  • Features like animations and sliders slow down your website load time. Longer load time is something nobody likes to experience.
  • Overly fancy features distract the visitors from your core message. Either the website visitor sees the feature and overlooks the message, or the feature irks the visitor.

You only want to include design elements that amplify user experience and align with your bigger purpose — improving conversions.

Mistake #10: Poor SEO Practices

If you have a web presence and aren’t leveraging SEO campaigns, you’re making a big mistake. Here’s a quick rundown for those who don’t know much about SEO.

SEO refers to a set of practices that improve your site’s ability to rank in search results. Without SEO, your website won’t be discovered, and as you can imagine, this will mean that your business will fail to attract the right kinds of prospects.

SEO strategies include things like:

  • Keyword research
  • Content creation
  • Content marketing
  • Content distribution

As you can see, it’s a fair deal of work which is why a lot of business owners hire SEO specialists to help their sites climb up through the organic search rankings. You can find the best SEO agencies when you scroll through a directory like clutch.co.

Mistake #11: Lack of White Space in Your Web Pages

Whitespace is among the most underutilized and overlooked elements for quality web layouts. Often, whitespace is viewed as empty space that wastes the screen’s utility. But in truth, it’s among the most crucial parts of the design. Your first and foremost goal is to have a simple and uncluttered website that the readers enjoy and embrace, and that’s what whitespace helps you achieve.

Simply put – your web pages need to be designed so that it’s easy on the eyes. The copy and content must be easily readable, and you ensure that you are using adequate white pages in your web pages. No one needs or appreciates a layout jam-packed with text and images for delivering a clear message.

Mistake #12: Forgetting to Include Proof Elements in Your Web-Design

If you’re running an eCommerce store, you must include proof elements in your product pages. Let your visitor know about the different payment processors your eCommerce site supports by strategically placing relevant logos.

If you are running an eCommerce store, you must include proof elements in your product pages. Let your visitor know about the different payment processors your eCommerce site supports through the strategic placement of relevant logos.

Mistake #13: Poor Page Loading Times

Bit wallet website

Conversion-focused web design also considers page loading times. No one wants to be patient while a site takes too long to load. Long loading times frustrate the visitor, thus causing them to leave, in turn hampering your conversions.

There are several reasons why a website loads slowly. Some of the common ones are:

  • Too much use of Flash.
  • Unoptimized, large-sized images.
  • Excessive use of plugins.
  • Poor coding.
  • Broken links.

You’ll want to work with a web design company that understands the importance of page loading times and how they can affect your SEO performance. Here are some quick tips on reducing your site’s loading time:

  • Optimize the images.
  • Limit 301 redirects.
  • Minimize HTTP requests.
  • Make use of server side caching.

To Sum Up the 13 Mistakes to Avoid to Improve Web Conversion Rate

These are some of the many factors that can hamper your conversions. Making these small changes can make a big difference to your bottom line. Taking the time to work on these areas of your website can help you engineer higher conversions from your web traffic and ultimately help you grow your business.

Do you need help with your digital marketing efforts? Are you ready to dominate your market? If you answered yes to either of these questions, let us help! We strive to help you create a long-lasting consumer experience with your customers as well as our own. Contact us today, and let’s discuss how we can work together to achieve your company’s goals!

Learn More