Top 10 Mistakes to Avoid When Launching Your First Website

A website isn’t just a way to make your mark on the web — it’s your digital identity or storefront. It speaks volumes about your brand, values, and personality. That said, building an effective website starts with a seamless user experience (UX).

That’s the last thing you want, as it can impact conversions, sales, and revenues. The good news? You can take certain measures to prevent that.

In this post, we delve into the top 10 mistakes to avoid when launching your first website.

The impact of bad website design on user experience

Let’s cut to the chase — a bad website design is a deal-breaker. First impressions matter, and if your site is clunky or outdated, it can instantly turn visitors away. A poor user experience can damage your credibility and drive potential customers straight to your competitors.

A bad design also impacts your search engine optimization (SEO) performance. For instance, a high bounce rate of 55% or more could signal something is wrong with your site. Examples of poor websites include those with:

• Broken links
• Slow pages
• Poor navigation
• Irrelevant content

This can impact your page rankings on Google and other search engines.

Conversion rates also suffer due to poor web design — issues like slow load times, excessive pop-ups, and cumbersome forms turn away potential customers. On average, websites convert 3.65% of their visitors, but it can get as low as 1% with poor experience.

Mistake #1: Slow loading times

Slow-loading websites can frustrate users and lead to a negative browsing experience. Aim to keep your page speed under two seconds. This is possible by:

• Minimizing large files.
• Using browser caching.
• Reducing HTTP requests.
• Switching to a faster hosting solution.

Google also considers page speed a ranking signal, as the average loading time of a site on the first search engine results page (SERP) page is 1.65 seconds.

Mistake #2: Poor mobile responsiveness

Mobile devices account for nearly 60% of web traffic as of January 2024. Yet, some sites have mobile-unfriendly designs, featuring:

• Tiny, illegible texts.
• Cramped menus.
• Unsized content.
• Horizontal scrolling.

Mistake #3: Difficult navigation

Up to 76% of visitors abandon sites that require clicking through multiple layers of submenus, while 35% say confusing navigation can be frustrating. 

The truth is, they’re right.

If your website navigation is complex and cluttered, visitors struggle to find what they want quickly, forcing them to leave the site. As a rule of thumb, your menu should have about seven links and be intuitive.

Broken links only make things worse. When users encounter dead ends instead of the content they expect, frustration builds, and they’re more likely to bounce. Regularly auditing your site for broken links and keeping navigation seamless ensures a smoother experience, keeping visitors engaged.

These elements can frustrate users on phones and tablets, forcing them to abandon your site.

Mistake #4: Ignoring SEO best practices

Most online experiences start with search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo — ensure you use the best SEO practices to optimize your site. This includes: 

• Reducing duplicate content.
• Optimizing your pages with keywords.
• Using descriptive URLs.
• Linking to relevant resources to improve your search rankings.

Ignoring these practices can lead to poor rankings and less organic traffic, hurting conversion rate and sales.

Mistake #5: Cluttered and overloaded pages

Bad web page examples, including those with visual clutter, such as overused components, unstructured information, and excessive color palettes, increase the cognitive load, forcing visitors to take time to process your site’s interface. 

This can leave customers overwhelmed and frustrated, distracting them from the task at hand and increasing your website bounce rate.

Mistake #6: Unreadable font choices

Typography is integral to web design — the right type makes paragraphs readable and enhances the overall experience. Some of the top fonts for websites include Roboto, Tahoma, Georgia, Arial, and Helvetica—these are popular, accessible, and widely preferred for readability.

Also, choose medium weights instead of light weights to ensure legible text. Avoid extremely thin or curly body text, as it makes text hard to read, especially on mobile devices. Prioritizing accessibility-friendly fonts and proper contrast ensures that all users, including those with visual impairments, can easily read your content.

Mistake #7: Inconsistent branding

Inconsistent branding in web design leads to trust issues, poor brand messaging, and confusion. Using different logos, fonts, styles, colors, names, and tone of voice on your website and across different touchpoints weakens your brand identity. Instead, ensure brand consistency across all customer touchpoints to boost brand recognition and customer trust.

Mistake #8: Lack of clear call-to-actions (CTAs)

Another common mistake is not using CTAs on your website and content. Users can become confused about what actions to take when your site lacks CTAs, and they may leave the site without completing any action, hurting your user engagement and conversion rates.

Ensure your CTAs are clear, visible, and direct—for example, “Call Us Now at 802-XXX-XXXX” or “Get up to 50% off.”

Mistake #9: Missing or outdated contact information

Hard-to-find contact information is one example of a bad website design, and it can be frustrating when customers fail to get through to you due to missing or outdated details. 

Your website should list multiple contact options like chat, email, call, and contact form. These details must be in your header, footer, and “Contact Us” page. Keep the information updated and check your forms regularly to ensure they’re working.

Mistake #10: No social media integration

Social media boasts over 5 billion users, offering a potential source of customers or web traffic for your new website. Don’t forget to integrate different platforms like Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, TikTok, and X (formerly Twitter) with your site. 

Social integrations allow you to create an omnichannel experience to: 

• Boost engagement.
• Drive traffic.
• Build a wider online presence.

Avoid bad website design by getting started with Name.com

Launching your first website is a major feat, and starting on the right foot is vital. Much goes into setting up a successful site and a key aspect is the user experience. Your website color palette, page speed, branding, font, content, and navigation can make or break its success.

Before launching your first website, take the time to review every aspect to ensure it’s user-, mobile-, and SEO-friendly to optimize your web design. 

Name.com makes this process simple. 

Access best-in-class tools for building a stunning web design for your business or personal venture. Our domain search tool makes domain registration easy and our business website builder lets you develop a professional website. You can also use Titan Email or Google WorkSpace to obtain a professional email through Name.com.

Get started with Name.com today to launch your first website.

 

 

Sources:

1. Hotjar. Bounce Rate: Definition, Calculation, and How to Improve It. https://www.hotjar.com/conversion-rate-optimization/glossary/bounce-rate/.
2. Adobe. Average ecommerce conversion rate benchmarks. https://business.adobe.com/blog/basics/ecommerce-conversion-rate-benchmarks
3. Backlinko. We Analyzed 11.8 Million Google Search Results https://backlinko.com/search-engine-ranking
4. Statista. Mobile internet traffic as percentage of total web traffic in January 2024, by region. https://www.statista.com/statistics/306528/share-of-mobile-internet-traffic-in-global-regions/
5. Hotjar. 7 stats that prove user-centric websites win in 2024 (with tips on how to improve UX). https://www.hotjar.com/blog/website-experience/
6. Statista. Number of social media users worldwide from 2017 to 2028. https://www.statista.com/statistics/278414/number-of-worldwide-social-network-users/