7 Reasons Why Your Website is Ugly
U-G-L-Y Your website ain’t got no alibi…it’s ugly…hey! hey!…It’s ugly!
When users visit your website, the main goal is to get them to stay, browse around, and get the product or information they need. It’s important that your website be inviting, attractive, user friendly and doesn’t make the visitor feel as if they just contracted a virus. Here are the Top 7 reasons why your website is ugly. (But it can be fixed!)
1. Bad Fonts! Baaaad Fonts!
Fonts are important. They can portray a certain image or branding. Pick a font that not only represents your business, but is also easy to read.
Under no circumstances should you ever, ever, EVER use Comic Sans. It’s horrible. Seriously horrible. Some of you may be saying, “but I like it. It’s whimsy and fun.” It’s not. I did come across this interesting read about the Origins of Comic Sans.
Also, be sure your font is big enough to read and if using a background color that there is a contrast so your readers can, well, easily read the information on your site.
Remember – No Comic Sans. Ever.
2. Flash Dance
Hopefully, the picture to the left of this content has deemed you temporarily blind. It’s seriously so ugly.
Using Flash is out of date and therefore makes your site look out of date. Here’s what’s really going to get you: search engines (ya know like Google) can’t read them. That means they aren’t indexed and if they appear, it’s more than likely on page 10 which no one even sees. Most mobile web browsers do not have Flash support. One more reason, Flash typically lends to bad web design.
3. Auto Plays = Click Away
I hate auto plays. If I want to listen to music or watch a video on a site, then I will choose to click the play button. For real, more than likely the people visiting your site are doing so at work, during a meeting, or any other time they are not suppose to be on the internet. We advise no music. (Maybe if you’re a DJ, but, again, let the user choose to listen) Videos are cool. Just be sure to let the user choose to click play and it’ll be golden.
4. Sloooooooooooooow Load Time
All those O’s above probably irritated some of you. So we are all in agreement that if a site loads slowly, that equals frustration, user irritability, and fleeing your site. Literally, users will be fleeing away from a slow loading site. There are many reasons why your website loads slowly. Images could be too large, database problems, elements on a specific page, etc.
5. Mobile What?
What’s everyone on at all times of the day and night? You guessed it. Mobile devices! What fits on a computer monitor doesn’t fit on a smartphone. Again, your site might be beautiful on a computer screen, but annoying and difficult to navigate on a smartphone.
6. Me No Spell Good
Spelling and grammar errors lead people to believe you don’t know what you’re talking about. Not only does this lend to an ugly website, but it also undermines your business as an authority. Have someone read over your content before you post it as a double check.
You can also upload your content to Grammarly to proofread. It’s not free, so having one of your friends read over your content might be the way to go if you’re on a tight budget.
7. So Confused!
The navigation on a website should be organized and take users to where they want to go. If contact information is buried or if it’s difficult to find products or information, users will more on. Ask your friends and family members to go through the site to see if it’s easy to navigate.
Distillery Web Design and Marketing is a feature website builder, online marketer, and advertising specialty consulting group working with businesses in the Lebanon, Camdenton, Osage Beach, Springfield, and St. Robert areas of Missouri. Facebook, websites, online promotions, print media, radio promotions, online newsletters, graphic design and direct mail campaigns are our specialty. We know how to get the Internet, social networking and new media to work for you!