It’s always an exciting thing to create your very own website design for the very first time. However, as exciting as it all is, it’s very important that you don’t allow yourself to get carried away and add in anything that you want. At the end of the day, it’s important to remember that you’re creating a website in order to get more customers and drive more users to your business, not use it as a canvas for your wildest web design creations.
Your website should be designed with the customer in mind, and with your personal preferences taking a back-burner. So no matter how much you want to add this particular element, if you know that it will definitely not be well-received by your target audience, then it’s probably best to leave it out. If you’re in the process of creating a new website design, or already have an existing one, keep an eye out for these elements that you should consider removing or reconsidering.
Vague headlines and copy
A website is supposed to be designed to be informative by using as little words as possible, which is why web copy is such an important thing to introduce to your website. Web copy is meant to be compelling enough to convince users to check out your site, try your products, or want to learn more about your services.
Evaluate your website text and web copy. Does it accomplish what you originally intend to do? Avoid using language that allude to some sort of vague achievement, like simply saying, “we provide the best services”. What is that service? What does your company do? Users come to your site to look for information, and using vague language may end up confusing them.
Embedded YouTube videos on your site
Videos in a website design should be used with caution. They have a tendency to take longer to load, and may make it difficult for mobile users to access your website because of this longer load time. However, if you must include video, avoid allowing YouTube to include suggested videos when the video finishes playing.
These suggested videos are usually related videos, which may include your competitors, which defeats the purpose of a content marketing strategy. There is an option to disable the suggested videos feature, or you can try an alternative video hosting site that doesn’t have that feature.
Large, blocky paragraphs
White space is an important element in any website design, especially since minimalist web designs are making a fast comeback. While everybody knows the importance of allowing your site elements to breathe, not many people understand the importance of letting the text breathe as well. Avoid long, blocky paragraphs by breaking them up into smaller, easy-to-read, chunks of text.