OK, you know that having a website isn’t just a priority, it’s a necessity to compete in this day and age.

But having a website isn’t enough — you need to have one that is well-designed, responsive, and informative. Bad website design will make you shoot yourself in the foot, while a great one brings in excellent revenue.

Follow these tips to learn the web design mistakes that are costing you dearly.

1. Your Page is Way Too Slow

Speed kills.

In a Web 2.0 world, people simply aren’t going to wait for your site to load — especially if it’s their first time accessing it. Because of this, you need to put a good portion of your energy toward making your site fast.

When your website is too slow, you lose precious ranking potential. Thankfully, you can use tools like Google PageSpeed Insights.

With this tool, you get the benefit of a complete site audit that will help you improve your site speed. You’ll be given a score, along with a breakdown of the matters that you need to fix.

Some of the issues that Google PageSpeed Insights can help you correct include landing page redirects, busy CSS and JavaScipt processes, and slow-loading above the fold content.

No matter what sort of business you run, you need to always keep your eye on speed. The more you fix it, the easier it will be to get great conversion results.

2. The Site is too Busy and Confusing

When your website has too much going on, it confuses people and makes it difficult for them to access it.

Years ago, we were all encouraged to load websites up with lots of bells and whistles and features. But now, with people constantly moving and with attention spans waning, the last thing you’d want is to have a congested site.

Instead, map out the principles and information that you most want to get across, and prioritize it in your website design. Having too much clutter will only confuse your users, and cause them to bounce to another site, unlikely to ever return to yours.

3. You Aren’t Mobile Optimized

Right now, more than 50 percent of all Google searches are mobile.

The last thing you would want is to bring in these visitors, only to scare them off because your site isn’t mobile optimized. Taking the time to design your site to work efficiently across any and all mobile platforms is the best investment you can make.

4. Readability is a Concern

You will need to make your website as readable as possible.

People need to feel connected to you, and we’re in an age where content is incredibly important. The best content in the world doesn’t matter if you are using poor fonts or color schemes that don’t work.

The more work that you put into readability, the easier it’ll be to get conversions.

5. The Website Doesn’t Have Engaging Multimedia

If you really want to convert, it is important that you have multimedia that engages your users.

Get the help of a web design shop that can audit your site to make sure it’s super engaging and informative. Most website owners are lacking video content.

There are so many different ways to tell a story these days, so make sure that you are embracing video content to the fullest. This way, you can have a sales video to match your written sales page content.

You will also need to brush up on your use of search engine optimization (SEO) and the way that you integrate social media into your website.

6. The Call to Action Isn’t Strong or Clear Enough

No matter how much detail you put into your site, it’s not complete until you have a dynamite call to action.

This call to action directs people to spend money with you. If you have a weak call to action, you can only count on weak conversion rates.

Put as much time and effort as you can into creating impeccable calls to action, and use them in a way that will be useful to you. It might be worthwhile to outsource your writing services to be sure that you’re making the best use of this part of your site.

You will also want to come across personable and convincing on video. Having an excellent video-based call to action will also help people know exactly what you are asking for, and will lay out every piece of information.

If you really want to ramp up your conversions, you should consider sweetening the pot with freebies and promotions. For instance, you can create a call to action that gets people to sign up for your e-mail list, in exchange for a free product that they can use.

The more you swing for the fences with the close, the better conversions you can expect to receive.

7. Your Navigation Isn’t Clear

Finally, make sure that you are also focusing on basic navigation principles.

Make the best use of white space, learn the Rule of Thirds, and position the most important facets of the site in a place that maximizes visibility. The easier it is for people to navigate, the more effective your entire website will be.

Consider These Bad Website Design Snafus

These bad website design mistakes can cost you dearly! Thankfully, you can get great conversions when you shore up these mistakes and get the help of a web design company.

Make sure to contact us for all your web design needs!