It’s never been easier to build a website, but newcomers to site design frequently make avoidable mistakes that hinder performance.
Sites can look great on the surface but suffer from poor usability, low search visibility, and poor conversion rates because of underlying problems. Read on to learn about five common website building mistakes along with how Elementor stops you from making them.
Building Without a Structure
There is nothing more frustrating than landing on a website that looks nice but doesn’t have a coherent structure. Visitors shouldn’t have to scratch their heads trying to understand how your website is organized. Users want clear paths to navigate your website and find the information they need without frustration or confusion. Every page should have a distinct purpose that guides visitors to take action, whether that means filling out an inquiry form or making a purchase.
Elementor Helps With Page Organization
Elementor’s visual design tools help you create websites with clearly defined structures. Sections, columns, and content blocks can be stacked to create logical groupings while holding everything together with consistent spacing. You can use the drag and drop editor to design organized pages before publishing them to the live site.
Including Too Much Content
Wanting to include enough relevant information on your website is good. Wanting to fit as much information on each page as possible is not. Weak website design often includes huge blocks of text, oversized images, distracting animations, and oddball design features that take attention away from your primary offerings.
The solution isn’t to include less information, but to structure your website in a way that lets your content shine. Users are easily distracted when browsing cluttered websites. Keep your website simple and highlight your best offerings.
Elementor Makes Simple Layouts
Editing your page layout with Elementor is simple with generous margin, padding, and centering options. You can create consistent spacing throughout your site by adjusting alignments and dragging content blocks into place using Elementor’s visual design tools. Several features allow you to create simple website designs.
- Custom margin and padding controls
- Section based layouts
- Pre-made design templates
- Alignment and centering controls
- Responsive content stacks
Keeping your site simple doesn’t mean you should sacrifice good-looking designs. Elementor helps you create websites that put your content front and center.
Optimizing for Desktop Users Only
The mobile web is huge. If your website doesn’t look good on mobile devices you could be ignoring a large portion of your target audience. In some industries mobile devices account for the majority of website traffic.
Text that is difficult to read, images that are too small, links that are too close together, and scrolling issues are surefire ways to drive visitors away from your site. Don’t make the mistake of caring about mobile users once your website is finished. Consider mobile responsiveness at every step.
Go Mobile With Elementor
Responsive web design has never been easier with Elementor. You can adjust your layouts to look great on mobile phones, tablets, and desktop computers without wrestling with complex CSS media queries. Elementor allows you to preview any page on different screen sizes and tweak your design as needed. You can adjust content size, spacing, and positioning to ensure everything looks great on any device.
Adding Fonts and Colors at Random
Visit 10 random websites and you will notice fonts, colors, button styles, and spacing vary from site to site. While having complete design freedom is nice, some of these sites come across as unprofessional. Random design elements detract from your message and can cause visitors to question the credibility of your content.
Stand out from the crowd by making sure your website follows a consistent theme. Pick your favorite fonts and colors, and use them consistently on every page. Well executed designs increase trust and create a much better user experience.
Stay Consistent With Elementor
Elementor allows users to create global font, color, and format settings so you can make website wide design decisions in one place. Adjust these settings and watch your changes propagate throughout your website. Elementor has several tools that help you create a cohesive design.
- Global Typography menu
- Consolidated color picker
- Drag and drop templates
- Library of shared styles
- Custom button styles
Establish your brand with Elementor by consistent design.
Forgetting About Calls to Action
All great websites tell visitors what they should do next. Whether you want them to make an inquiry, book online, learn more about your services, or make a purchase, your website should make that action clear. If your visitors don’t know what they are expected to do they might as well leave your site and go somewhere else.
Ensure your visitors always know what they should do when they land on your page. Design enticing calls-to-action that guide visitors to the next step in your conversion funnel.
Don’t Forget About Cta With Elementor
Elementor includes buttons, forms, banners, and dozens of other website elements that help guide your visitors to desired actions. Create stunning calls-to-action with tools that are designed for beginners and professionals alike. Improve conversions by making sure your visitors always know what to do next.
Ignoring Page Load Times
Even if your website looks good and offers great value you can still fail to meet expectations if your page takes too long to load. Users don’t like waiting for websites to load. According to multiple surveys, slow loading times are the number one frustration for website visitors.
Optimize your images, reduce your plugins, and turn off effects that aren’t adding any real value to your site. Speed should be something you consider during the design process, not an afterthought.
Building Faster Websites With Elementor
Website performance is impacted by many different factors. While Elementor can’t optimize your server or make your images load instantly, it does provide users with tools for creating efficient website designs. Efficient websites load faster which improves user retention and SEO.
Improve website speed and performance by following these tips.
- Resize images before uploading
- Limit unnecessary plugins
- Invest in quality hosting
- Keep your plugins up to date
- Avoid useless animations
Combine best practices with Elementor’s lightweight editing tools and you’ll build fast, beautiful websites that load quickly and perform well on mobile devices and desktop computers alike.
Conclusion
As with most skills, practice makes perfect. The more websites you build, the better you will become. Eliminate the learning curve by starting with Elementor and WordPress. Our web-building platform empowers you to create professional looking websites without any coding knowledge or hassle. Avoid these common website design mistakes and you will be well on your way to creating awesome websites.