Are you guilty of these? If you are the captain of your website edits, or building your own site, you’ll want to pay attention.

This is a super quick hit list of five of the most common (but oh-so-cringe-worthy!) mistakes I see people making when tackling their own design.

First up,

🖼️Image Sizing This one’s a bit of a puzzle, but oh-so-crucial! Search engines are image snobs; they want top-quality pics, perfectly sized. It’s a bit like Goldilocks and the Three Bears. You don’t want them too big (slow-loading) or too small (pixelated). Use tools like tinypng.com to get your images “just right” and watch out for fuzzy photos on larger devices.

🔄 Consistency: Keep all text above 12 pt for that superstar accessibility, and Google will be your biggest fan. Paragraph text should be the same throughout each page, as should headings and subheadings. And remember, while every page has its unique feel, they should have heaps of consistency in design placement, elements and buttons.

🚀Call to Action buttons – Don’t be shy with these – most people don’t put enough in! They’re like a roadmap guiding visitors around your site. Whether you are asking people to ‘click here’ to another page, go to a friendly contact form, or a booking button, make it crystal clear where they should go next. The more links through to other pages on your site the better.

🏄Smartphone surfer-proof These days, people swipe and scroll at racecar speed. Make sure your text plays nice and stays in its lane, perfectly aligned. Ensure all left aligned or centred text is sitting in the same spot throughout on your mobile version, or it can be super jarring for us fast scrollers.

📱Device dance: Your website should look good on all devices – mobile, PC, laptop, and tablet. (Yes, Google prioritises good design now too!)To check this, just pop open Google Chrome, hit those three dots in the top right, head to “more tools” and go backstage to “developer tools.” There, you can see your site’s appearance with different devices (under “dimensions”). Check your mates’ phones too.

Ticking off this list will mean your audience will thank you with clicks, smiles, and maybe even some virtual high-fives! 🎉

Are you DIYing your branding as well? See my post about how to best do this >
Do you think your website might be in need of a refresh? Here’s how to tell >

Better yet, if you’re feeling like the DIY game just isn’t cutting it anymore and you’re ready to invest in a website that is not only beautiful and unique but high converting as well, I’d love to chat about designing with you! Just head here >