When it comes to a quality website design, there are many effective schools of thinking. However, quite often we end up ineffective websites. If you are interested in getting the most out of your website design and avoiding some typical pitfalls, you should read about some of the common misconceptions of web design.
1. A professional designer cannot guarantee viewers: Creating high value, well indexed content is the only way to guarantee views. But, a great website design is important because it creates an impression of your brand. With the average small business commanding a budget of around $1,200-$3,500 for concept to launch services with a professional, these fees can grow quickly. Even average stock images cost around $10 each for licenses and a designer may command a higher price to edit and incorporate these into a template design for your content. While this may seem excessive, it is important to note that this doesn’t cover your marketing or content, which can account for the main day to day costs of running a website.
2. Flashy page elements get your website noticed: Many websites include animated banner elements, flash elements, JavaScript features and other fancy stuff. The problem with these elements is that they can cause irritating compatibility issues. While, a flashy page design can make your page stand out, many times it doesn’t display well across multiple browsers or on a mobile platform. These page elements can also hold you back from ranking well in search engines because they often do not index well over search engine crawlers.
3. Long and detailed code leads to a better website: When it comes to quality search engine results and fast loading times, web designers today need to include a properly optimized and concise code. . In order to properly optimize the code for your website it is important to spend time minimizing and testing it. Simplifying your website can take some practice and it may even take multiple design revisions, but search engines like Google place a big emphasis on highly compatible, fast loading content. It’s also important to note that a slow loading page can lose your site many visitors. In a recent Google study it was determined that a 1 second delay on a loading page can result in 7% less sales and conversions on that page.
4. Using content management systems like WordPress is only for beginners: While you may think that using a content management system is for beginner lever websites, using a system like WordPress is extremely effective and comes with a vast number of benefits. A content management system can not only optimize the content on your page, it can help you perform design tweaks, backups and monetize your site. A management system like WordPress or drupal is by no means something only beginners should use. WordPress comes standard with an excellent design suite as well as thousands of plugins that can help you accomplish goals for your site. Industry professionals and even fortune 500 level companies are use WordPress and other content management systems.
5. Security certificates are just for e-commerce: Security certificates are needed for a wide variety of websites and serve to protect your own personal data. Spending a bit of extra money for your security certificate could help you to keep your data safe and ensure that all of your website content and the content that others share with your website is properly encrypted and kept safe from online threats.
6. It isn’t worth starting a website on a subdomain: When it comes to website design, one of the best places to get started is with a subdomain. In the early stages of a project, you may have no idea whether or not there will be any interested parties or if you can even get your website design off the ground. With a subdomain, you can help to flesh out your design and your idea at 0 risk to your finances. Hosting and top-level domain registration can get very expensive and for a short while a subdomain may be just what you need to garner interest.
Now you can avoid at least these top misconceptions about the web design and creation process. Feel free to share these with friends and use them in your own future web design projects!