With various tools available online today, many consider creating their own website to reduce their costs. However, these self-created websites can be easily spotted. Below are some of the most common mistakes made by amateurs when designing/creating a website:

Using Free Web Templates

Although marketed as personalised, these templates are somewhat generic-looking, making your website look like every other website. Free or low budget templates tend to have poor structure, lack features, and provide no technical support. User experience provided is usually poor as well. This can affect your credibility resulting in low web traffic, as the site fails to look unique and draw users in. Also, free web templates are loaded with features and functionality unnecessary to the side, thus making the website more complicated, vulnerable to attacks, and slower to operate.

Missing Call to Action

Many people do not realise that their website is the most powerful marketing tool ever. A successful website must have the ability to quickly convert visitors into customers. But without a clear and obvious Call-To-Action such as driving visitors to purchase your products or services, sign up to a newsletter, download something from your site, etc, your website won’t be able to do that. Without a strong call to action, your website would just be an online business card.

Search Engine Optimisation (SEO)

SEO makes your website viewable to people searching for companies that provide similar services or products to yours. Users will not be able to find your website if it isn’t to search engine optimised. It is crucial that you have the right tools and knowledge to optimise your site and bring the right people to your website. Without SEO, your website will be virtually invisible to potential visitors, thus basically pointless. Read more about SEO Optimisation.

Mobile Responsive

The majority of people now access the web via mobile devices. It isn’t just a good idea to have a responsive website, it’s a must. Creating a responsive site is a daunting task since you’d have to take into account clickable link sizes, different screen types, sizes and resolutions, fonts, image optimisation, and many more factors. Users expect to have a flawless mobile experience. With well over half of all internet traffic coming from mobile devices, having a website that is not mobile responsive will cause your business to suffer.

Even though creating your own site may seem like an easy and cheap solution, in the long run users will quickly spot the mistakes and become deterred. Your website is the first impression you give to a potential customer. To have a professional site, you need professionals to build it. Web Theoria creates professional, personalised custom websites and would be honoured to build one for you.

Click HERE to enquire about how to get your own, fully customized website.

Published on August 28, 2017