You can learn a lot from looking at a poorly designed website.
One thing you can learn from looking at a badly designed website and going through them is how to improve your own website. You can do that in many ways, whether studying carefully what is actually wrong with the website, or reading guides like this one. Well, since this is a guide, we are going to tell you some of the things you can learn from a badly designed website. What are some of the things you can learn? Well, read on.
1. Reducing the number of clicks is essential
It can be very frustrating if you have to go through 10 pages of material in order to get to where you want to get on a website. Reducing the number of clicks a guest has to use to get to where he or she wants to get is crucial, and it will improve guest experience a lot. And improving guest experience is what you essential want to do, so guests keep coming back, and possibly bring in new guests.
2. Making links meaningful
When you post a link in a text, the link should tell what is followed by it. Don’t name your link something like “more”, or anything similar. A better example of designing your link is “10 ways to do something…”. See how people can actually see what is behind the link without having to click on it? And it is prettier in that way too.
3. Make copying easier
People will copy texts from your website, that’s certain. But if they have a really hard time doing it, they won’t be very happy. And you are supposed to make your guests happy. So don’t make it hard for them. Make sure your texts are really easy to copy.
4. Headings should be short and descriptive
They should really stand out. If your heading blends in with the body of the article, you’ve made a mistake. They should be very descriptive too, so guests have an idea of what they are about to read without actually having to read the whole text first. Headings are a great way to decrease text density and make everything just a little bit more readable. Good headings definitely improve website visitor experience.
5. Less is more
Distractions are not a very good thing on a website. Flash animations, pop ups, stuff like that will just bother people who are trying to get to the information they need. Don’t make this rookie mistake, putting up a bunch of fancy animations. Keep everything concise, and informational. Of course, if you really need an animation somewhere put it up, but don’t overdo it.
So you see, there are lots of things you can learn from badly designed websites. Seeing their mistakes and avoiding making them by yourself is sure better than being one of those poorly websites that teaches someone else what not to do. Follow these steps above and you will avoid being in that list.
Milan Budimkic is a creative freelance writer for industries that include but are not limited to the travel, sport, entertainment, internet marketing, and much more. When not blogging, Milan likes to travel and read a lot.