Tips for the Business Owner Creating a DIY Website
Today I am sharing some tips for business owners who choose to DIY their website—more specifically I am discussing what to avoid! If you take nothing else away from this “letter to the DIY’r”, hear this—LESS IS MORE. My hope is that this blog post will provide some helpful takeaways for what to be mindful of as you approach building your site.
Keep your design simple!
Okay, okay—maybe not as simple as what you see here but you get the picture. Doing too much creates a confusing user experience and clutters the site unnecessarily.
Read on below for what to avoid and how I would recommend approaching your website design. Definitely keep in mind you will need to have the time and energy to figure out how to design and build with a bit of a learning curve but it can be done.
5 Mistakes to Avoid
Too many graphics and animations
This is a HUGE area where LESS is most definitely MORE! Just because your website builder offers built in animations doesn’t mean you should use them in abundance. Words bouncing into the frame as you scroll can be very distracting and off putting for the user. Not to mention the fact that these types of features can be extremely detrimental to someone trying to navigate your site who has any sort of vision impairment. Some tasteful and infrequent animations are okay but if things are popping off left and right, it is a NO and can take away from the user experience.
It is equally as important to keep in mind the use of random pops of imagery in the form of graphics. If you have these types of illustrations, do make sure they are not covering any product images or descriptions. This could also be a potential accessibility issue if the graphics impede someone’s ability to read the text or keep the screenreader from being able to pick up what’s written due to the poorly placed graphics covering text.
It is imperative that when using these types of images on your website, you ensure they are thoughtfully placed. You do not want to distract from your product imagery. Also make sure you check the view on various screen sizes including mobile and tablet to make sure they adjust properly. The mobile experience is the most common viewpoint so be mindful of how these work with the design on most handheld devices to ensure a positive user experience.
For e-commerce especially, you do not want to distract from your merchandise unnecessarily turning people away due to frustration. Let the product displays thoughtfully convey the brand experience drawing people in to shop your store. There are many creative ways to layout an e-commerce store on a platform like Shopify. Use these layout options to enhance your online store experience and drive conversion. Keeping it simple and easy to navigate always yields a better user experience!
Videos that autoplay at the very top of the homepage
Not every site visitor is going to be as excited to hear or view a video as soon as they land on your site. Most of the time they are trying to determine if they have found what they are looking for if they are shopping for a product or service. Talk about jarring if you aren’t expecting a video to start playing immediately and your volume is up on your phone from a previous task like a workout where you were blaring your favorite playlist.
Videos can be impactful but let the user decide if they want to hit play. Also be mindful of content management system limits and consider embedding a video that is stored on another platform like YouTube. Too many videos can slow site speed and negatively impact SEO (search engine optimization) as well as user experience.
Too many pop ups
This happens on very well established sites as well so this is not just for the DIY enthusiast. One of my biggest pet peeves when I visit a site is when too many notices and things continually pop up requiring me to “work” and close them out to view what I am there for—I am looking at you car dealerships. Oof, it makes me crazy! This happens quite a bit on shopping websites as well and even some sites for service based businesses wishing to grow their mailing list.
In my opinion, one thoughtfully timed pop up is enough. You can also include calls to action strategically placed throughout your site to give people a second chance if they don’t engage with your first pop up. Also, make sure if you have a pop up that it is only set to pop up once versus every time the visitor returns. You can normally set parameters on the back end of your site to ensure they only show up every 30 days once someone has previously landed on your site.
Poor imagery
I realize not everyone has the budget for a professional photographer out of the gate BUT when you do it is well worth the investment. I went into more detail in this blog post about the benefits of hiring a professional brand photographer if you are able.
Realizing the above might not be feasible, you can still capture some decent images even using your iPhone. Just take the time to ensure lighting is decent and you are in focus. You should also be mindful about the colors in your images and how they work with the rest of the site. This includes your outfit choice if you are including images of yourself on say your about page.
Over the top creative calls to action
This is probably the most important tip you will read here today. KEEP IT SIMPLE AND STRAIGHTFORWARD by making it easy to do business with you. Also, ensure you have a clear button or text highlighted at the very top of your page that directs people on how they can work with you making it easy for them to take the next step and buy. If it’s fixed in your header, even better because it is there on every page in the same place making it super easy for site visitors to make the decision to buy and easily connect with you. Here are some examples of straightforward CTAs:
→ Book appointment
→ Schedule call
→ Get started
→ Let’s connect
At the end of the day, if you have the time to learn, you can create yourself a website using a platform like Squarespace or Wix using a basic template and filling in the information. There are far more elements that go into what makes design pop including branding and font choices where a professional might be better suited to help you navigate but my former banker heart is well aware that “cashflow is king.” If nothing else, I hope this provides some high level guidance for a start-up or business owner who might not have the budget.
The thing to keep in mind when doing a cost/benefit analysis is that your website is often someone’s first view into your storefront. If you are not thoughtful about how you lay it out, they will move onto the next competitor. The cost of your time or investment in a professionally designed site, when executed properly, will be returned to you in a short time period if you close the business opportunities that come your way as a result. Something to keep in mind when prioritizing start up costs and the time it will take you to craft a decent website that yields the results you need for success.
If you have an existing site and are ready for an upgrade or perhaps a site audit to direct you on some steps you can take to improve, start here by sending me a design inquiry so we can chat and see if I can be of assistance! I work with all types of budgets and can help you prioritize some thoughtful upgrades or provide a site audit for a nominal fee to point you in the right direction on some key changes you can make to improve your site.
