Avoiding Outdated Websites: 5 Web Design Practices to Avoid (And What to do Instead)

Jonesen TeamIndustry Insights

Are you a small business concerned that your website is outdated?

It takes only 50 milliseconds for a user to form an opinion about your website! That’s 0.05 seconds for a potential customer to decide whether or not they want to stay or click away.

This means that your website’s design can be an important aspect of customer retention and generating new business.

But, how can you ensure your website is appealing to users on the internet?

Check out this list of five design practices to avoid outdated websites!

1. Use of Sliders

Sliders were once part of the majority of pages on the internet, but that’s not the case today.

Sliders can create a poor user experience because they can be hard to navigate smoothly. These sliders can also impact the load time of your web page.

And in today’s online world, speed counts.

Amazon found that just one second of loading lag time on their website would cost them $1.6 billion in sales each year!

Another reason is that the popularity of mobile web browsing can pose challenges for the use of sliders. You need your website to be easy to browse around regardless of if someone is on a desktop or their smartphone.

2. Boring Graphics

In today’s digital age, boring graphics are out and use of video content is in!

Did you know that Cisco predicts that more than 80% of web content will be video by 2019?

A bad site design uses many different large, low-quality images. If you want to use pictures, you should only include high-quality photographs. Better yet, post video footage that is well-edited and easy to understand.

Besides being more stimulating for a viewer, it can also keep them on your website longer!

3. Above The Fold Content

Above the fold content does not have the importance it used to have on the internet.

You may be asking, “What is above the fold content?”

The term “above the fold” originated with newspapers. When a newspaper is folded in half for delivery, the portion “above the fold” served the important purpose of drawing a reader’s attention.

In the early stages of web design – when everyone was accessing the internet on a desktop – above the fold content was important. On a computer, this content was the information that a user first saw when they loaded a website.

But these days, users access websites from smartphones, tablets, and desktops, among others. This makes “above the fold” content a little different for each screen size.

Simply put, all content matters these days and you want to ensure a user can scroll through it without issue.

4. Uniform Typography

Keeping your font uniform across all web pages was a design characteristic for many designers years ago.

But fast forward to today and it’s commonplace to see many different kinds of typography across a website. That’s because web applications like Google Fonts allow for virtually unlimited kinds of fonts of all sizes.

This feature has made it one of the common website design practices to use multiple fonts on a single page. But, also remember not to use too many, as this can be visually unpleasant and harder on a reader’s eyes.

5. Non-Mobile Website

Your website should be optimized for both mobile and desktop access.

You risk losing internet traffic if your website cannot be navigated seamlessly on both platforms.

For example, not optimizing your website for mobile access may require visitors to pinch and zoom in on the screen to read the text.

Besides being irritating, this can also cause users to leave your website. In today’s society dominated by mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, this matters.

In November 2016, mobile internet usage surpassed desktop browsing for the first time in history. The popularity of mobile internet browsing is expected to grow in the future.

Don’t miss out on the present and future by not paying attention to the mobile version of your website!

Wrapping up: Avoid Having Outdated Websites

Outdated websites can make even the best small business seem old and antiquated.

This puts your business at a distinct disadvantage on the internet in today’s marketplace.

Our team of professionals is talented in the field of web design, search engine optimization, and more. We will work together with your business to identify your needs and create a website that stands out from the competition.

Contact us today to learn more about our services and how we can take your website to the next level!