3 Easy Ways to make Your Site more Beautiful!

After I reached Top 100, I started receiving some PMs from WA members asking for my opinion about their websites. Since MY MOTTO is " HAPPY TO HELP!!!", I always review the requests (for free) and give my honest opinion. I will keep this post very simple and keep my observations to three broad areas.

Please do not read this post as a criticism. I also make the same or very similar mistakes. My goal is to help you build even more beautiful sites!

1. No branding

I am surprised how many sites leave branding as an afterthought.

First of all, the logo. Many sites don't have even a basic logo. Pehaps some text, but no logo. To me a site without a logo is like a child without a name. Abandoned and forgotten. If the site owner did not bother with a logo, what about the substance? What about the credibility? Many questions and worries start surfacing immediately.

This is an easy one to fix. Make a nice logo and upload it on your site. If you can't make a logo, hire a freelancer. I wrote a number of posts about hiring a freelancer in an easy way.

Second, make sure you plan and implement a consistent color and font theme. In some cases, visiting a site can feel like riding a carousel. The head starts spinning from looking at the small fonts becoming big fonts and then shrinking again..., black fonts turning red, and then green etc. The lack of consistency in design can seriously question the credibility of your site and your intentions.

Be consistent in your choices and stick with your branding plan. A consistent branding and style will make your visitors comfortable and will keep them reading and clicking!

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PROBLEM: No branding.

EASY SOLUTION: Get a logo. Implement a consistent color and font plan.

2. Clutter

The main and the biggest issue with many sites is the clutter. It comes in may forms. The most obvious is the excessive use of social media sharing buttons, all sort of links and images. In some cases, the main body text tends to be buried beneath all sort of clutter.

My first reaction is to leave such a site (before I get swamped and lost), and I can bet that most of the visitors would do the same - abandon the site as soon as possible. People don't like to be overwhelmed. If you are not sure, just err on the safe side and keep it simple!

A similar problem, albeit less common, also resurfaces in the main text body - too many images, the text is not prominently displayed, no calls to action, and too many ads scattered around!

Once again, nobody will want to spend too much time on such a site. You might have a great text, and great ideas. However, excessive clutter will discourage your visitors from spending any time reading your text and discovering your ideas. They will click away and go to your competitors instead!

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PROBLEM: Clutter.

EASY SOLUTION: Keep it simple.

3. Missing mobile functionality

Do you know that the majority of people will reach your website with the help of their mobile phone? On the other hand, most of us are using either a desktop or a laptop to build our websites.

The end result? What might look nice on the desktop will look very different on a mobile phone. In many cases, it will look like another site altogether: different navigation functionality, different design, fonts, size of images... etc...

In some cases, this might mean that your visitors will not be able to effortlessly navigate through your site, and will not be able to benefit from all the valuable information that you have prepared for them!

The fix is rather easy. Before publishing your site, make sure you check it using a mobile preview feature. Do it on a regular basis, as an update or a new plugin might change the feel and look of your mobile version. The more often you check the mobile version, the more aware you will become of the mobile phone user needs! If you do it consistently, this will be one of the best investments of your time!

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PROBLEM: Mobile version features lacking.

EASY SOLUTION: Always preview your site for mobile usability. Address shortcomings!

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I hope you found my post useful. Have you noticed some other common website design flaws, and did you manage to fix them? Any lessons and tips to add? I would love to hear your views and comments!

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Nellya