Here’s How you could Be Harming your Own Website
Building a website may seem like a simple task. After all, all you have to do is write some text, select a few royalty free images and then click publish, right? This couldn’t be further from the truth and building a site is actually a complex project that requires years of technological experience. That being said, even professionals make mistakes from time to time, so here’s a look into the ones you should be aware of.
Not Having a Responsive Design
A responsive design is one of the most important features that you should have on your website. When you have a responsive design, it doesn’t matter where your customers are coming from or what platform they are viewing your site on either. Your design will work to suit their needs, and nothing can quite compare to this. It is possible for you to turn your site into a responsive version, but it will take some work.
No Favicon
A lot of site visitors like to have a lot of tabs open when they are browsing the internet. Some users leave tabs open on their browser so they can come back to them later. It helps to have a visual cue so that they know who you are, and by doing this, you can also solidify your brand too. If you don’t have a favicon then this can make you look unprofessional and in some
instances, it can make your site look unfinished too.
Generic 404
A 404 page will really turn users away from your site. Viewers expect the highest possible service from your site and if your site goes down then this can really hinder your brand. They
may never come back to your site because they don’t know if they can access the page they need and there is nothing that you can do about this.
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Not Using SEO
It is so important that you integrate SEO right onto your site. If you don’t then this will cause you
a significant amount of issues in the future. You may find that your site never quite gets the ranking it should, and that you struggle to get traffic. SEO can include everything from metadata to alt tags and even keywords. If you aren’t quite sure what to do here, then consider hiring a service to help you out with that.
Slow Website
If it takes more than 4 seconds for your site to load, then it is far too slow. If your site is slow then your users are far more likely to bounce, and you may even find that your website ranking is hindered as a result. Of course, if you want to try and help yourself then you need to keep your website images to a minimum. It also helps to choose a fast and reliable server for your website, as this can help you to load up pages much faster. If your site is still slow then this could indicate a much deeper problem with your general site structure.
Image credit: Pexels.com
Hi, I'm Kelly O'Donnell.