I don’t know about you, but I LOVE taking a minute in the first few days of a new year to just stop for a minute and reflect on my business. As a Website Designer, I know just how valueable your website is to your business, so here are 5 of my top tips for websites in 2024.
1. Outdated Design Trends
Using faded design styles that were hot in 2014 isn’t doing your site any favours in 2024. Visitors expect a modern, fresh website aesthetic these days. Make sure your color schemes, fonts, layouts and visuals feel current, not stale and dated.
Think of it this way, if your website looks old fashioned, consciously or unconsciouly, visitors may think you’re not a business owner who is still fully invested in your business and the trust factor could be lost.
Current styles use more whitespace, clean lines, sleek layouts and subtle color schemes. Tools like Pinterest are awesome for getting inspiration on current trends.
2. Slow Page Speeds
A sluggish site is a big turn off for visitors – they expect pages to load fast! Having high quality images optimised for web and efficient coding makes a huge difference. Test your site speed and keep tweaking it until those pages fly. Nobody wants to wait around watching spin wheels!
Use online tools like Pingdom, WebPageTest and Google PageSpeed Insights to check your homepage load time. Aim for under 3 seconds, and optimise further from there. Compress images, enable caching, minimise plugins and leverage a speed-focused host.
3. Weak Calls-To-Action
If your calls-to-action blend in instead of standing out, you’re missing out on conversions. Use contrasting colors, bigger buttons and action-driving words like “Get Started” or “Learn More” to guide visitors to click. Make it obvious what next steps you want people to take.
Pay attention to the strategic placement of CTAs above the fold and along natural eye scanning patterns. Animations, contrasting colors and supporting icons can all enhance prominence and click-through rates.
4. Cluttered Pages
Overwhelming visitors with dense copy, cluttered sidebars or unnecessary visuals is an easy way to lose them. Simplify your layout with clear visual hierarchy, ample white space and a focus only on essential info. Give their eyes a place to rest!
Stick to one call-to-action, streamline navigation menus, and keep word counts tight. Organise content into scannable sections with useful headers and bullet points rather than giant blocks of text. Leave breathing room around elements and keep decorative visuals minimal.
5. Poor Mobile Optimisation
Make sure your site isn’t forcing annoying pinching and scrolling on phones. Small text, wonky navigation or cramped layouts are a bad experience. Test your site on multiple devices and tweak so the design adapts seamlessly. Mobile matters – don’t ignore it!
Use Google Mobile-Friendly Test and Chrome DevTools to catch issues. Optimise menus, buttons and text for touch targets. Select flexible, responsive layouts, templates and frameworks. Maintain speed and simplicity across all screen sizes.
