With so many options at your disposal, you are bound to get tempted to add a few features to your website. Though most of the features are important and some necessary, these 5 things shouldn’t be on a business website. Avoiding these things will definitely make your website better than a lot out there.
- An empty or outdated blog – Everything on your website will have an impact on the visitors. It is in your hands to make sure that the content on your website has a positive and trust-building impact. But an empty blog section or a blog that is not regularly updated doesn’t reflect well on the business or the website. An empty blog gives the impression that the website is inactive or outdated. So, while creating a website, choose between having a blog on the website that is updated regularly and not having a blog at all. Not having a blog section or tab on the website won’t hamper your website’s impression on visitors as much as an inconsistent blog update.
- Asking for registration – Online studies have shown the websites that are able to keep visitors engaged for longer are more successful. But one of the biggest turn offs for visitors is asking for registrations. If you ask the visitors to register themselves up-front, you will be turning away a lot of people. So, it is better to ask visitors to register themselves for newsletters, mailing lists, purchasing a product, etc. Giving the visitors access to the website without asking for registrations will be eventually beneficial for your brand identity and exposure.
- Inconsistent Interface – Incorporating all available features and being over-creative on your website will do more harm than good. While creating a website you should aim at giving the visitors a clutter-free experience and provide them with more information without going overboard with the designing. Try to make the design and interface of the website consistent throughout, each webpage should feel connected to the main webpage of your website. This makes navigation easier and browsing the website doesn’t become frustrating for the visitors, which fairs well when it comes to recalling your brand at a later time.
- Background music – It was a general practice in the early days of the internet when web developers added background music to websites. Web designers felt it made browsing more interesting and engaging. But it didn’t take long before this practice was termed as disruptive and annoying by the visitors. Auto-playing music has been termed as a big no-no in web designing as it makes the website less classy and gives out an unfavourable impression. If any music has to be added to a webpage, the option to play and stop the music should be given to the visitors.
- Click Here – There are so many links on the internet where we see these two words written prominently. This is just a practice that has been prevalent on the internet based on a myth that it attracts visitors to follow the link or the content one is trying to share. But studies have shown that this clickbait doesn’t actually work. People are sceptic about clicking on such links because it doesn’t tell them what they are clicking on and where it might lead them to. Plus, links with these words aren’t search engine friendly. So, it is better to refrain from using ‘click here’ in the links you share. It is suggested to name the links on the basis of the content or where the link leads to.
Out of the plethora of things that you should avoid adding to your website, we think these are the most common features that need attention the next time you design a website or have someone else design it for you.
