Top 5 Web Development Mistakes Small Businesses Must Avoid

Are you online? Being online is insufficient. Businesses, whether small or large, now need a professionally designed website; it’s no longer a choice. The website needs to be developed in a way that it converts; only then can you build a successful brand. A poorly designed website may have a more negative impact on your company’s reputation than not having a website at all.

Yes! You heard it right. Most consumers or viewers judge your business based on its website presentation. You can find the percentage difference in each study; some studies report a difference of 65%, while others report a difference of 90%, depending on the size and scenario. However, a Stanford University survey found that 75% of consumers judge a business’s legitimacy by examining its website, 85% of B2B buyers look up products online before deciding to buy, and 94% of first impressions are influenced by design.

However, the fact is that all of them are accurate. Therefore, it is essential to avoid frequent web development mistakes that could damage your company’s reputation. So, what can be done to eliminate these errors? It is very simple: first, ask yourself a few questions. If you have the answer, then there won’t be a problem. However, if you don’t have the answers, it’s best to consult a professional web development company that can guide you properly and help design a website tailored to your business needs. Before I discuss those questions, let’s examine the mistakes you could make while developing your website and how to avoid them.

Top 5 Web Development Mistakes

You are neglecting Mobile Compatibility.

Almost a third-half of all website traffic comes from mobile devices. You must have visited some websites on mobile that have awful mobile designs or take ages to load. What did you do then? You have waited for about 5 seconds only and then clicked away, right? This is what happens when the same mistake occurs on your website if you neglect mobile-first web design. That is highly frustrating for users waiting for your site to load. Even if they stay and your site opens, the chances of taking your service or products will be below 10%.

So, you should

• Use responsive design which ensures your website adjusts to different screen sizes.
• Regularly test your website using mobile-friendly testing tools.
• Enhance loading speed by removing unnecessary elements and optimizing

If you want to know more about the compatibility/responsiveness to avoid, then you can check out this.

You are choosing cheap web development over quality.

For any small business, it is crucial to cut costs wherever possible. However, going too far with cost-cutting for website development can also have consequences. Your website might be poorly designed, unsafe, and unreliable, and later you will spend more than the build cost just for its maintenance and security. Additionally, you may need to redesign it multiple times.

So, do you want the same situation for your website, or are you more focused on quality than cost? Well, there are a few of the best web design companies in Nepal that can build your website, maintaining all standards and quality at an affordable price. Yes, you heard it right, and it’s the best thing to

• Invest in a trustworthy website development company with a proven track record and experience working with multiple well-known
• Ensure the service package of that company has future security updates and maintenance.

Your content is weak and outdated.

Yes, during the development of the website, web technologies are the core, but from a user perspective, content becomes the core component. You should update your content regularly, optimize the content for search engines, and ensure that it is both visually appealing and engaging. If you have an outdated, unattractive presentation and a lack of trustworthy content on your website, you will lose the faith of your visitors, which can lead to failure. So, this is how you can maintain your credibility

• By adding new, informative, and accurate blogs and other content, such as events, updates, news, and trends, on a regular basis.
• Using captivating content formats, including testimonials, info-graphics, videos, and accreditation

You are ignoring the website speed.

You may have heard from most web developers, enthusiasts, and business leaders that conversion rates decrease when your website’s speed is slow, but no one has explained to you how that happens. So, let’s understand that.

First is the impatient nature of the people. People have become so accustomed to technology that they expect everything to be quick. If your site behaves slowly, they will indeed move to your competitors unless you provide services or products that no other does. Even if they wait for a few more moments and keep trying, but the result remains the same, then that viewer will likely cancel out of frustration. Then, the issue won’t be about your site performing slowly; it will be more likely wasting the viewer’s time.

Also, the slower your site loads, the less authentic it will be. People will think it’s a scam and never revisit your website. This will also appear unprofessional and outdated, which can undermine your credibility. Lastly, if this continues, you will most likely be removed from the search engines, not entirely removed, but search engines will rank you lower, and this will be the worst condition.

So, you should

• Use the image compressor or WebP image formats to compress the images that will get uploaded to the site. You should explore more about the compressed and optimized image.
• Have a Content Delivery Network (CDN) and enable browser caching.
• Minimize the use of unnecessary JavaScript and CSS, which helps reduce website load time.

Your site does not have a Clear Call to Action (CTA)

Your website is now live, and a steady flow of customers is arriving. So, what do you want your customers to do when they arrive? Do you just let them wander the website or provide a gateway to direct them somewhere? This is what a proper CTA does. You should either give a link to your product or service page or take them to your contact page. This means that including a CTA wherever necessary is the best way to prevent confusion for users. CTA also helps users remind themselves of the purpose for which they are visiting the website. So, what you need to do is

• Use a persuasive text in the button, making it more action-oriented, such as ‘Get a Consultation‘ instead of ‘Contact Us.’
• Ensure CTAs are prominently displayed on key pages.
• Experiment with the visuals of the CTAs that could increase click-through rates.

Therefore, it is essential to be aware of these common mistakes that can harm your website, lead to reduced traffic, and lower your internet ranking. Besides these five, there are others you should consider.

Yes, you get to know about the top 5 web development mistakes but there is always more. You have read this article till here which means you are really interested to know about the web development mistakes. So, lets provide you some bonus. And trust me, these bonuses are also crucial and these web development mistakes also need to be taken care of. Bonus! You have not followed best SEO practices. Without thorough and proper SEO, many websites have lost their genuine and essential traffic. Along the way, they will sink in the search engine ranking and lost somewhere. Genesis Web Technology’s SEO score is 100%, indicating that the site is fully optimized for search engines and has been performing exceptionally well.

But, if your site is lacking the good SEO score then you really should focus on optimizing. So, what needs to be done? You should increase your visibility in search results by avoiding keyword stuffing, optimizing meta tags, and focusing on high-quality backlinks. You have broken contact forms and social media links How do customers contact you? Please note that the Contact Us page is the primary means for customers to contact you for their specific purposes. Therefore, it is essential to structure the contact forms properly.

Additionally, most people are fond of social media, so it’s best to avoid including broken social media links on your website. People should be easily redirected to your social media page, and you should avoid keeping links to social media platforms where you won’t update content regularly.

Contact Form

The image shows the contact forms, details, and social media links and they all are functioning well. Also, contact form has the minimal field which is the most crucial only, which increases the higher chance of people mailing us. If you form has multiple mumble jumble questions then user will directly left the page and find some other whom they contact easily. So, how do you do it?

You should test the contact forms on a regular basis and ensure they are performing well. Live Chat and WhatsApp are also good options to add to your website, allowing users to communicate directly with the experts. Then, yes, you should also continue to check your social links.

Generic 404 page Generic 404 page is a landing page where your site will take the user if they click on the URL that is invalid or removed from the server. appears when a user attempts to view a webpage that is not available on the server. So, you should design this page beautifully. This page should include a message explaining why users reached this page, followed by a button or search box to allow them to resume navigation on the site.

Conclusion

The first impression does matter. You should not allow viewers or customers to form a negative impression of your business with a poor website experience. Make them understand your business, services, and value through a responsive, functional, and visually appealing website. Steer clear of these costly web development mistakes to boost conversions, enhance search visibility, and enhance the user experience. However, you can join the webinar on “Web Development for Small and Medium Businesses in Nepal,” hosted by Genesis Web Technology, to learn more about web development tips and solutions.