Helpful Corporate Website Design Tips — And Mistakes That Can Cost You Clients
What makes a website good? Is it modern design, striking images, or smooth transitions? Well, it’s all that but also much, much more. Sometimes it’s not about looks at all — it’s about convenience, conciseness, and motivation. Today, we look at four of the most common mistakes web designers make when trying to impress their clients, and offer our website design tips and web design ideas to help you achieve more.
Corporate website design needs to be about function, not form
Corporate website design problem #1: Confusing navigation
“Oh, but it’s not confusing at all!” your designers might say because they, unlike a chance visitor, remember exactly where the search bar is. Still, many modern websites aren’t clear at all. It’s usually because designers make a mistake of creating too convoluted a design, where menu items are hidden behind a barely noticeable icon, and the search bar appears to be missing altogether.
Your user doesn’t want to play detective on a website they just found. They want to see the navigation items in the places they expect them to find. Design should be about creativity, but some things should be in the exact spot where you expect them to be.
Corporate website problem #2: Botched CTA
Most sites want to make users do something — sign up for a newsletter, make a purchase, etc. And an excellent design will take you only so far without a good, clear CTA. What’s a CTA? It means a call to action, and it’s how you make your visitor do whatever you want them to do.
CTA is rarely inconspicuous — on the contrary, it should be the center of the page, attracting all the attention. Make that button stand out, and in your content, tell your users exactly what they should do. Be concise and explain why listening to you will benefit the client.
Corporate website problem #3: Wrong Target Audience
Before you even start thinking about a website, you should first think about who you are making it for. This matters especially for a small business. What even is a good design if you don’t know your audience? Age, a field of work, or product type matter. A serious topic requires your site to have a professional tone. A site that offers creative services can afford a jokey tone and wackier design. Mess up your Target Audience, and your website simply won’t work.
Essential website design tips that are easy to fix
Website design tip #1: Use analytics tools
You can’t just make a website and be done with it. Now it’s time to monitor its performance — it’s the only way you can check what works and what doesn’t. In 2022 it’s easy as ever to track your website performance. Google Analytics is a tool we like, and if your site is built on WordPress, you can use a free plugin to connect it to Google. And then you’ll have a wealth of information about your visitors and their engagement. A site is constantly changing — use new knowledge to perfect it.
Website design tip #2: SEO rules are constantly changing
Let’s imagine that your site is excellent. Nothing to add. One problem: no one is there. Why? You must have forgotten about SEO. Search engine optimization is what gets you the visitors in the first place. Your job is to retain them.
“But I did it all back in 2016!” you might say. True, but what worked in 2016 will most certainly not work in 2022. Google continually changes, and stiff keywords and other “hacks” that were all the rage back then now do more harm than good. Google values consistency, quality content, and an active userbase. It’s smarter, and you should be, too. Don’t save money on good content, and read about what is considered good SEO nowadays.