They’re out there; poorly done websites that look like a five-year-old’s drawing. It makes you cringe or even momentarily feel nauseous.

Why did you or anyone put up such a website?

Could one of these horrible-looking websites appear eerily like yours? If so, you’re likely losing out on potential customers and need to make changes ASAP.

Examples of Bad Websites

If you’ve been fortunate enough to have never come across a bad website, the below examples will give you an idea of some of the pain web users can experience:

Online Technology World’s 10 Worst Websites

Elegant Theme’s Terrible Websites From Around the Web

Website Design Mistakes to Avoid

Many of these horrible websites have many elements in common. They use outdated technology and design. They are also not mobile-responsive.

Whether you’re new to building websites or you want to improve your website so it ranks higher and leads to more sales and leads (and to avoid being included in the worst website list), here are web design elements to avoid:

Using Flash

Adobe Flash Player is outdated, takes too much time to load and asks the user to install the Flash Player onto their computer to watch the featured video, thereby taking them briefly away from your website. Flash Player is also not compatible with Smartphones, making it non-responsive.

The Use of Stock Photos and GIFs

Stock photos, GIFs and animated GIFs are cheesy and are of poor quality. With stock photos, you also run the risk of someone else using the same photo which highlights your brand’s lack of creativity and uniqueness.

With images and GIFs, you also need to be sure to avoid any copyright or trademark issues.

Use of Poor-Quality Video

Even if you’re not using Flash, a grainy, and jumpy video with poor audio will be quickly abandoned by visitors to your website. You want them to stay on your page for as long as possible, not quickly click away because they got frustrated or got a headache from watching a few seconds of your poorly-made video.

Multi-Colored Font and Highlighted Keywords

Highlighting certain words in bright red, green or blue to draw attention to them is so 90’s. Nowadays, websites that use this design are looked down upon as being untrustworthy and unprofessional.

Drawing attention to your SEO keywords is not only lame looking, but it is unnecessary. Visitors to your website demand that you write content for them, not the search engines. When it is obvious you’re writing for search engines rather than website visitors, a lack of transparency and trust will occur, making your website unsuccessful at converting.

Poor Content Design

Going back to basic design concepts, the colors of your website should correspond to the emotion you want your site to illicit in your site’s visitors. The font size should match the style and feel of your site. The text also needs enough contrast with the background to be easily seen and read.

Long blocks of text with more than necessary information will overwhelm site visitors so they will quickly leave your site. It has been found that website visitors want quick, bite-sized pieces of information and content. If you give them too much, they won’t be interested.

Non-Responsive Design

This is 2017. More web browsing is not done on mobile devices than on desktop computers. Websites that aren’t responsive (meaning they are built in a way that doesn’t alter the look and layout to compensate for the small screen size of mobile devices) miss out on many possible customers.

Music, Sound Effects and Voices

How many times have you’ve browsed the Internet, clicked on a website and immediately get your eardrums blasted with horrible elevator music? You’d probably admit that the slight heart-attack wasn’t a pleasant experience.

When you’re trying to browse a website but are bothered by an annoying tune, sound effects or a voice, you can opt to turn the speakers of your computer down, or you can spare your ears and exit the website as soon as possible.

Create a pleasant website experience for your site visitors. They will reward you by staying on the site longer and are more likely to return.

If you’ve been guilty of implementing any of these on your website, disable and remove them immediately and return to the website design drawing board.

It isn’t enough to just throw a website online. With the high volume of websites, you need to be done well and stand out.

One of the additional ways your website can stand out is by having a premium domain for your site. A quality domain will give your brand and website authority, and it will make it easier for online users to find and remember your site.

For more information on website domains or to make a purchase, contact me at Domain Market today.