So you’ve launched your start-up. Congratulations! You’ve done all your research, put together a business plan, secured funding, and are ready to make your business a success.

But great businesses require a solid website design. And we have seen many strong start-ups hindered by poor web design (and many a not-so-solid start-up made exponentially better with impressive web design).

Above all, you want to make sure your website offers value to the visitor. The site should serve as your workhorse, converting visitors into customers.

Before you build a new website, you need to ask yourself some key questions. And we’ve got good news! Some of them are similar to ones you asked when you put together your business plan.

For example, what are the goals of the website? Who are your target clients or customers?

And for some strictly website-related questions, how will you drive traffic to your website? Who’s going to update the site, and how often? And how much will website maintenance and updates cost?

We’re going to help you make the best decisions when designing your start-up’s website by telling you which decisions not to make.

Because as Eleanor Roosevelt once said, “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”

Now let’s take a stroll through the web design landmine field and talk about things to avoid!

You didn’t tell the visitor right away what your company does

Users form lightning-fast opinions of you once they land your homepage. You’ve worked hard to get them to your website, so why waste the opportunity by not having a clear, concise way to say what your company does? Approximately 46 percent of potential customers will immediately leave a website if it’s not clear what the company does, according to marketing solutions company Blue Corona. Have your products or services in clear view and boost the confidence in your brand by having awards and testimonials within easy reach on the page.

Your website is too “busy”

And by busy, we don’t mean overflowing with visitors, although that is the goal. We mean having too many elements on the site that distract the visitor from what you want them to do: be converted into a customer. There is an endless supply of interesting color combinations, interactive features, large sliding images, and other fun elements you could add to your site. But go for a clean, responsive design that puts the emphasis solely on your services or products. That will make for a much better chance for conversion.

Your website is not mobile-friendly

This is crucial. Some 48 percent of people said that if a website didn’t work well on their smartphone, it made them feel like the company didn’t care about their business, according to Blue Corona. Fifty-two percent of people said that a bad mobile experience made them less likely to engage with a company. Only 9 percent of people will stay on a mobile website if it doesn’t deliver the information they need in a user-friendly manner. The numbers simply don’t lie.

Your website is not secure

The list of headline-grabbing data breaches gets longer and longer. A data breach at Marriott between 2014 and 2018 exposed the accounts of 500 million customer accounts. A 2014 data breach at eBay compromised 145 million users and resulted in a decline in user activity. And who can forget the 2017 data breach at Equifax, one of the largest credit bureaus in the U.S.? Target, Uber, and JP Morgan Chase have also been the target of massive data breaches. No matter how large the business, you need a secure website because the last email you want to send to your customers is the one that tells them their data has been exposed.

Each of these companies also did a post-mortem analysis to find out what happened, why it occurred, and how to prevent another breach. They’ve each increased security measures since the breaches, but they have to keep on top of it to stay ahead of the next hack.

Your website takes more than three seconds to load

The “Back” button is not your friend when it comes to new visitors to your website! So don’t tempt visitors to use it by designing a site that takes too long to load. Some 47 percent of people expect a web page to load in two seconds or less, according to Blue Corona. And if they’re visiting your site on a mobile phone, that percentage jumps to 53 percent. Always keep website speed in mind as you design your site.

You used poorly-crafted website content

Writing for the web requires a very careful balance. You want to give enough information to help website visitors find answers to their questions, but not so much that they’re overwhelmed and give up in frustration. The average website visitor won’t give you much time to get your message across, so present the information about your company in a clear, concise way. Provide information in smaller pieces instead of large blocks of text. Make use of bulleted or numbered lists and add in relevant images to hold the visitor’s attention. And you might think this goes without saying, but grammar and spelling errors make for a website that’s your company’s worst enemy.

Your contact information is not easy to find on your website

Again, you’ve worked hard to get visitors to your company’s website, and if all goes as you hoped, they like what they see and want to contact you. So why make it hard on them? Some 64 percent of visitors to a website want to see the company’s contact information, according to Blue Corona. And 44 percent will leave the site if there’s no contact info available. You want those website visitors to be converted into customers, so don’t regret a lost opportunity!

We hope this list helps as you explore the design of your start-up’s website. And as always, reach out to KEYLAY if you need help making your website a reality!