Monthly Archives: August 2018

10 Most Common Website Design Mistakes

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Because most of us use our smartphones to find products and services, all websites must now be “responsive” designed, i.e., optimized for any-sized device. If your site is not responsive, and you plan a facelift sometime soon, this list of the most common website design mistakes can make the time and thought into a redesign more productive and profitable.
top 10 mistakes

  1. IGNORING MOBILE
    Did you know that Google penalizes non-responsive sites in mobile searches? Since 75% of searches come from Google and over 90% from the Chrome browser in mobile phones, if you want your site found in searches, your website must be responsive-designed.
  2. BEWARE OF THE FREE WEBSITE BUILDER
    It’s tempting to use the “drag-and-drop” website builders that claim to give you a full-functioning, responsive website in minutes. The problem is that because they have to be “all things to all people” regardless of your unique message and needs, these time- and money-savers use long lines of code on the back end causing them to load more slowly. If budget is a problem, we’re happy to advise you on the best, inexpensive solutions.
  3. ACCEPTING BAD DESIGN
    A website’s design requires balance. We all agree that the purpose of a website is to lead a consumer toward a favorable decision: to opt in to your newsletter, request information, make a purchase, visit your store, decide to select you to solve their problem, or share your site with colleagues and friends. Over-the-top design can be a distraction. Minimalist design can be a turn off.
  4. NOT CAPTURING INFORMATION
    Every marketer knows that to generate revenue, you need to have strategies to keep your name in front of a potential customer. Remarketing and retargeting enable your website to be easily found and opened again. These are good strategies, but pale in comparison to actually collecting names and email addresses so you can send personalized emails, newsletter, coupons, or discount notices to all who sign up or register on your site.
  5. POOR QUALITY CONTENT
    Did you know that the #1 criteria for your website ranking in search results is high quality content? It’s not uncommon today to see absolutely beautiful websites with huge images and fancy fonts deliver content as though it was afterthought. For the 20+ years that we’ve designed websites, we’ve never wavered from this: content first—then design.
  6. INFORMATION THAT’S HARD TO FIND
    When a user wants to find your address, phone number, email address, or store hours, where do they go? Not the Yellow Pages; no, they bring up your website. This information must be extremely easy and intuitive to find. If you sell a product, make it easy to find directions to your store or, if an online store, return policies, FAQs, and shipping details. When designing your layout, list what your audience must know, and make this information the easiest to find.
  7. FORGETTING ABOUT UPDATES
    Does your business stay the same year after year? Probably not. Whether you add new products or services, hire new key employees, revamp your marketing message, hold an event, grow or downsize—it’s always changing. Your website needs to reflect that.
  8. HTTP INSTEAD OF HTTPS
    Check those four letters in front of your domain name! If yours is HTTP instead of HTTPS, we recommend updating to HTTPS. Why? The simple reason is, Google prefers it. The “S” stand for “Secure”. Not having that “S” makes it easier for an attacker to deliver malicious content to your website and shut it down. To avoid cybersecurity risks in general, be sure to update your site’s framework on a regular basis.
  9. NOT CHECKING YOUR SITE REGULARLY
    There’s nothing more irritating than getting a “Page Not Found” error. This happens when something is wrong in the site’s code—usually a broken link. We recommend going through every page on your website at least quarterly; weekly if it has high traffic. If you find an error code, have your developer fix it—sometimes it takes someone who knows how to find and fix bugs and problems.
  10. NOT USING OR EVEN HAVING ANALYTICS
    Google Analytics should be installed in the code of every website. It’s free and the most useful tool you have in your online marketing arsenal. It helps you find underperforming pages, know where your visitors are spending their time, and from which page (or on which product) visitors leave your site. Another mistake is having Google Analytics on your website and never going there.

Is Your Website ADA-Compliant?

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The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 is a Federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability in areas of public life—on the job, using public transportation, school—in fact, all public and private places that are open to the general public. And there’s no place more “open to the general public” these days than the Internet and your website.

The Justice Department has taken the position that the ADA does cover Internet website access, mobile applications, and all forms of information and communication technology. So far, the DOJ has only hinted that private commercial sites are at risk of a lawsuit. But disability proponents are actively and aggressively moving the countdown clock to just that.

ADA-compliant_websitesAs website designers, we have for some time integrated most of these guidelines, not as ADA issues, but as SEO issues (see May’s blog regarding SEO). We also pay great attention to the User Experience, for example, instead of posting a photo image as a number, we give every image a descriptive name. A photo of a “red sunset” might be named “red_sunset.jpg”, not “345209876.jpg”.

Designers like us will need to build new elements into new and existing websites. For example, adding a type of code that allows screen reader technology to convert text to audio for the visually impaired.

We are reviewing our current customers’ sites to assess what’s needed to follow the new WCAG 2.0 standards. If you are our current customer, you can expect to soon receive our assessment.

If you own a website designed by a developer that is no longer in business, or one that is not interested in getting your website into compliance, ActiveCanvas may be able to help you.

If you are not sure whether your website needs to be brought up to WCAG 2.0 standards, please give us a call at (772) 932-7969 or drop us a note and include your website address.

Website Content Accessibility Guidelines 2.0 Quick List

  • Provide text alternatives for any non-text content so that it can be changed into other forms people need, such as large print, braille, speech, symbols or simpler language.
  • Provide alternative for time-based media.
  • Create content that can be presented in different ways (e.g. simpler layout) without losing information or structure.
  • Make it easier for users to see and hear content including separating foreground from background.
  • Make all functionality available from a keyboard.
  • Provide users enough time to read and use content.
  • Do not design content in a way that is know to cause seizures.
  • Provide ways to help users navigate, find content, and determine where they are.
  • Make text content readable and understandable.
  • Make Web pages appear and operate in predictable ways.
  • Assist users to avoid and correct mistakes.
  • Maximize compatibility with current and future user agents, including assistive technologies.

How to Choose Your Website’s Domain Name

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Choosing a domain name for a new website, is an important business decision. Updating a domain for a current website to improve traffic results is an important business decision. Let’s look at some of the best practices and a few things to avoid when it comes to choosing domain names.

whats Your Brand

Make it match

Match your domain name to your brand—your company name. Why? When people hear about your product or service, they will type your company name into a search engine or a browser address bar.

Say what you mean

Short is good, but meaningful is better. When combining words, be sure the name says what you mean. The site for teachers, Teachers Talk, probably wishes it had not used the plural form for its brand name (teacherStalk), and therapist group’s site visitors keep seeing theRapist.

Check your results

Do a Google search for your brand. The results you see will be what others see. Be sure the domain name you choose, when googled, won’t put you in embarrassing company. You want to stand out in the crowd as honest, relevant, and meaningful.

Remember spellcheck

If your business is new, finding an available domain name can be a challenge! To get around this, company names are intentionally misspelled, like Flickr and Blnk. Keep in mind, someone searching for your name may see spelling correction suggestions at the top of search results and overlook your site even if it’s listed.

Think longterm

Choose a name and stick with it. It’s hard enough to print new business cards, but changing a domain name once registered and used on the web is much harder.

Use exact match domains safely

An exact match domain (EMD) is a domain name that precisely matches a search query that will likely drive traffic to your website. For example: buycheapjeansonline.com The problem is that Google sees EMDs as spam and may not even rank your EMD domain at all because they give an unfair advantage. But, if you are a solid, genuine business that just happens to have a brand name that also looks like an EMD, then you should be fine. Just be sure that your content supports your claim—and never forget that when it comes to websites, content is KING. Nothing else matters as much.