Here we show you why the following eight elements should be promptly removed from your website. Less can be more when it comes to web design – time to ditch what is dragging your website down.
Protect your brand and image – remove duplicated imagery and YouTube suggestions
In the vast digital landscape that is the internet, your website is your space and your space alone. Do not let other content that has nothing to do with your business park itself on your valuable real estate. For example, stock photographs or images that you have put little thought into are more than likely being used on other websites too (possibly even on your competitors’ sites). The last thing you want is for a potential customer to be thinking of one of your competitors while they are browsing your website because they came across the same image. Read our blog entry on Tips on Choosing Stock Photos for your Website.
If you have any YouTube videos within your website, have you ever given the recommended videos that come up after your video plays an afterthought? Once your video content finishes playing, will browsers see a video posted by your competitors or something completely random and unrelated to your business? Turn off YouTube recommended videos by completing the following steps: In Youtube, click the share button under your video —> next click on embed —> under the embed code click on the show more button —> make sure here to uncheck the box that says ‘show suggested videos’ when your video finishes —> lastly, copy and paste the new embed code for use in your website.
Consider the user experience – mute the music and get to the point
As we know, first impressions count in life and your website is no exception to this. If a visitor to your website is greeted by the noise of music playing for example, more often than not you are instantly creating a jarring experience for them. Perhaps they are already listening to music on their desktop or mobile device or perhaps even they are in a library, shared office or are on public transport. In these circumstances, the first thing they will want to do is to mute the music and not browse your website. With this, you run the risk of them simply closing your website to make the music stop.
When a visitor arrives to your website for the first time, they have obviously arrived here as a result of a search. Ideally, you want your website and your business to be the final destination for this potential buyer. However, if they arrive to your website and are met with a vague or indirect headline, they may want to leave and continue their search elsewhere. Make sure to be direct and transparent with your headlines, economical and vague text will not do you any favours or make you any sales here. If you are a visitor to an online flower shop for example, will the headline ‘Beautiful Bouquets at the Flower Parlour’ or ‘Flower Arrangements for all occasions, budgets and timeframes at the Flower Parlour’ give you more reason to peruse the website?
Set the dead weight adrift – move on from PDF files and QR codes
In an age where Google Analytics is of paramount assistance to businesses, there are some parts of your website that can hinder the application of these analytics. If we look at goal-orientated conversion tracking as a major example, we can see how PDF files can be looked at as redundant in this current era. Of course, PDF files have their uses, but as an external file on your website, they are essentially doing what a unique HTML webpage could be doing. As these files do not have a unique URL, they cannot easily be tracked by Analytics whereas a HTML page with its own URL can be. Apart from their use as downloadable and printable files, PDF files cannot be shared with sharing buttons or easily edited, so their use is limited.
QR codes are a similar commodity that have their uses, but they are uses that are becoming increasingly niche. With the prevalence of mobile devices being used for web browsing and with all good websites being made mobile responsive, QR codes on your website are nonsensical. You are providing a code for somebody to scan to be taken to a mobile responsive version of your website/webpage/web content. This may however have limited use for content such as to take browsers to the App/Play store to download your app for example – but a simple link can achieve this.
Social or sabotage? – put social media icons and press releases firmly in their place
Yes, it makes sense to have social media icons related to your business on your website pages, but it does not make sense to have these emblazoned prominently or in the header of your website. Your website should help to drive your sales – not help to drive browsers towards multiple social media accounts. Keep these icons (also known as exit signs from your website) in a less prominent location such as within your footer or within the body of your web pages.
While not necessarily outdated, press releases and websites rarely gel for most businesses and companies. If your company generates that much press, it would be served better with a press kit section that includes mission and vision statements, goals, aims and your logo and branding for media outlets to copy/download. A section of your website dedicated solely to press releases can appear as both attention seeking (i.e. multiple press releases but no follow-up or leads) and a waste of valuable real estate (i.e. will more potential customers or more journalists be visiting your website?)
Save yourself from sabotaging your own website and talk to the experts at Ireland Website Design when it comes to getting a fully optimised and responsive website for your business. Our team of experts work with you to create a design that you are ultimately happy with and a design that will drive sales and not drive potential customers away.
