20 Common Web Design Mistakes for Small Businesses to Avoid in 2021
Learn what website design mistakes you're making on your small business site and how to avoid them. It's a mistake to design your site based only on what looks good or your preferences. Instead, you need a strategic design that converts.
We’ve pulled together a list of the top twenty design mistakes made by creative entrepreneurs and small business owners that we commonly see. We’ve also included resources and tips for fixing these mistakes if you’re using Squarespace.
*Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. I never recommend tools that I don’t personally use and love.
Design Mistakes
1. Not having a clear call-to-action
Your website should have one main goal that you want visitors to accomplish. This might be purchasing a product, inquiring about a service, or reading a blog post. No matter what your goal is, your website should have a call-to-action that used consistently to lead people through your website strategically.
Learn more about creating an effective call-to-action in this Process to Profitability episode.
2. Not allowing enough whitespace
Whitespace, or the space around your content, is the key to good design. All the best websites you see have lots of whitespace and use it effectively to provide separation, highlight what’s most important on a page, and give visitors room to breathe.
The content of your website shouldn’t span the width of your site. Some images will be full-width, but copy should never be as wide as your site. Aim for 12-17 words per line with whitespace on either side, as well as above and below each content section.
One of the advantages to Squarespace is that each block has whitespace built in. While you can still make your site overcrowded, they give you a good base. Squarespace does, however, have a default site width that most designers agree is too wide. To learn more about choosing your website’s width, check out this post.
3. Hiding your navigation
Your menu should be visible on the desktop version of your website, not hidden in a hamburger menu. While this might not look as clean, it’s better for SEO (because Google will read it as soon as it scans your site) and it’s much easier for visitors to find where they want to go.
4. Not including a favicon
If you don’t know what a favicon is, you aren’t alone. It’s a common thing that many people (including designers) forget to add to a site. A favicon is the image that appears in the browser tab (you see them every time you open a website).
Your favicon should be a simple piece of your brand design with good contrast. They are generally a PNG that’s 16x16 pixels and has a transparent background.
In Squarespace, you can add a favicon under Design > Logo & Title.
5. Using a generic 404 page
A 404 page is the page of your website where visitors land if they go to a URL that no longer exists. This usually happens if you’ve moved, renamed, or deleted pages from your website.
A generic 404 page isn’t the worst thing in the world, but you can get a lot more out of your site if you strategically design this page. A good 404 page includes a few things
An on-brand headline letting people know that they’re in the wrong place
3 options for where to go next
In Squarespace, you can design a custom 404 page just like you would any other page in the Not Linked section of the Pages menu. You can then choose that page as your 404 in Design > Not Found / 404 Page
6. Not having enough contrast between your text and background color
This is a mistake I see so many people, including designers, making. Light gray might look great in your color palette, but it’s too hard to read for many people. Contrast is an important factor in your website’s accessibility, which more and more people are recognizing as important in 2021.
Use a tool like WebAIM’s Contrast Checker [SM1] to make sure your colors are legible to all visitors.
Typography Mistakes
7. Using a font size that’s too small
This one goes to accessibility as well. If your website’s paragraph font is too small, many visitors won’t be able to read it clearly (and they aren’t going to zoom in). Your minimum font size should be 16px. It’s better to go even larger, especially on copy-heavy pages like blog posts.
I recommend making the font size of your blog posts larger than the rest of your site. This might look strange to you, but it’s much easier for visitors to your website to read. You can use CSS to target just the paragraph font of your blog posts. Just add this code to the Design > Custom CSS section of your site.
.BlogItem p {
font-size: 19px;
line-height: 1.4em;
font-weight: 500;
letter-spacing: 0px;
}8. Using all caps
It’s difficult to read text that’s all uppercase if it’s more than just a few words. While uppercase text can help visitors scan your website by distinguishing headlines or titles, it should only be used for one headline type. If a headline is going to be more than 7-10 words long, it shouldn’t be uppercase.
9. Using too many fonts
Unless you’re a pro at typography, your website design should stick with 2-3 fonts. I generally choose a sans serif and a serif font that work well together and then add one fun branded font for limited use in places like headlines.
If you need help finding good font combinations, I love checking out Typewolf’s featured sites and font recommendations.
Imagery Mistakes
10. Choosing generic stock images seen on other websites in your industry
I love using stock photos for website design, but you have to be careful not to use the same images that everyone in your industry has on their site. Instead of pulling the first result from an image search on a website like Unsplash, dig a little deeper and find something that’s truly on-brand.
Better yet, mix free stock images with paid images from services like ColorJoy Stock or SC Stockshop.
11. Having blurry images
Blurry images automatically make your website look unprofessional. Make sure that no matter what images you’re using, they don’t become blurry at larger sizes. You should check your website at the largest screen size possible and make sure that your images still look good.
12. Missing image meta data
Every image you add to your site should have meta data relevant to that image. The best meta descriptions are short, but very descriptive. For image-heavy website and pages, make sure your meta data includes keywords.
If you haven’t been updating the meta data on images as you’ve built your site, slowly go back through and make updates starting with your most popular and important pages.
In Squarespace, you can update the Image Name when you upload or edit an image.
Content Mistakes
13. Not writing copy with your ideal clients in mind
This one should be simple, but it’s easy to stuff your website full on content just to have something to say. Instead of writing about anything and everything, it’s important that your website’s content, including blog posts and images, be relevant and helpful for your ideal clients.
If you aren’t sure what types of content you should be creating, check out my interview with Reina Pomeroy about using verticals to connect with your dream clients.
14. Missing important pages (or having too many pages)
If you’re creating a website using a template, it’s easy to get caught up in trying to fill in every available page. But the best websites make things simple by focusing on the most important pages and doing away with anything extra.
Not sure what pages you need? Start with a sitemap. List out the pages you need on your website to take visitors from landing on your homepage or blog post to taking action. These pages might include:
Home
About
Services
Contact
Resources
Blog
Policies
Shop
15. Having website content that isn’t scannable
People don’t read websites that same way they do books. Instead of reading every word in order, visitors to your website will scan to find the information that’s relevant to them. You should use headlines, bullet points, and images to make your content easy to scan and highlight the most important points.
As a bonus, Google reads headlines before paragraphs, so keyword rich headlines will also help your search engine rank.
16. Not using keywords and phrases in your content
If you’re writing great content aimed at your ideal clients, but they can’t find it, your website isn’t working for you. That’s where keywords come in. You need to know what people use to find your website (and what you want to be known for) and use those keywords and phrases throughout your site.
I love using KWFinder* to find keywords and see what is easiest to rank for and suggestions for related words and terms you can use in your long-form content.
17. Forgetting to add SEO descriptions to your site
In addition to your content boosting your search engine rank, including SEO descriptions for each page and post on your site will also help you get found by the right people.
You should have SEO descriptions for every page, blog post (or podcast episode), portfolio, and product on your site.
If your website is on Squarespace, check out my post about Squarespace SEO tricks to help you get everything set up correctly and take advantage of all of Squarespace’s built-in SEO optimizations.
Usability mistakes
18. Not answering visitors’ questions
Your website should answer the most important questions a visitor will have without making them dig. This doesn’t mean you need a list of questions and answers on your homepage – people know where to find these answers as long as they’re available.
These are some of the most important things that your website should be clear about:
What services or products do you offer?
Who do you work with (and who don’t you work with)?
How can someone get in touch with you?
Where are you located (if your business is local)?
How do you handle refunds and exchanges?
What is your privacy policy?
What do you do with the information people give you?
19. Making your checkout/inquiry/sign-up process too difficult
You want to have the least amount of friction possible while still making sure that visitors understand what they’re getting. Present just enough information to get someone to take the next step, but don’t overwhelm them.
For example, your sales page should include the same call-to-action in a few places and then link directly to the next step (checkout, contact form, etc.). You don’t want people to have to navigate through multiple pages just to add something to their cart or book a call with you.
20. Having a site that’s slow to load
Site speed is incredibly important to both your website visitors and your search engine ranking. If your website is slow to load, visitors will just go elsewhere. You can check your website’s speed using Google’s PageSpeed Insights. If your website does load slowly, make sure you are using optimized images, minified CSS, and the least amount of extras like Javascript and custom fonts possible.
Avoiding these 20 common mistakes that I see in website design won’t guarantee that your website is designed well, but it will turn a good website into a great one. Pus anytime you can better serve your website visitors and ideal clients through accessible design, you’re showcasing your expertise and how much you care about all the people who land on your blog or check out your products.
