6 Website Myths for 2021

6 Website Myths for 2021

Web design has gone through a lot of changes over the years as users have moved more and more of their transactions and information-seeking online. However, much of the design advice from years past remains available and easy to find, which means new website owners often find outdated recommendations for how to build their site. This has perpetuated a set of website myths that don’t work in the world of web design in 2021.

Myth 1: Your Website Has to Focus on a Specific Audience.

You’re shutting out a lot of potential readers if you limit your design to serve one demographic. Efficient web design can serve the needs of more than one audience without taking anything away from this or that group’s experience. Designing with only one audience in mind could result in something that is off-putting to others, reducing the number of people who stay on your website and eventually buy a product or service.

Focus on design aspects that have broad appeal, including getting to the point and making information easy to find. Keep the design clean and free of excessive pop-ups and ads. Use fonts that are simple and easy to read by different demographics. Create pages that address more specific audiences.

Myth 2: Looks Are Everything.

A well-designed website should look good; that’s not a myth. But a nice-looking website can still frustrate users if they can’t find what they need, or if the design also incorporates features that overload the user’s browser or CPU.

Content and function are key. Think back to the Dark Ages of SEO when page text had to contain specific key phrases that were often awkward and slightly grammatically incorrect. You had pages full of text like “When it comes to X Brand in San Francisco, laminate wood flooring San Francisco Bay Area is available.” SEO has changed drastically, and while you still need keywords in your text, they can now be much more natural and flowing. Make your content to-the-point and interesting to read, and ensure the site functions well.

Myth 3: Just Build Your Website, and Customers Will Show Up.

In the early days of the web, if you offered products or services that few companies offered, people had a relatively easy time finding your website. There was no real competition. But that idea faded long ago. Now there are so many people offering the same services and products that merely having a website won’t attract traffic.

You must use the latest SEO rules to ensure your site shows up in the top results in Google searches, for example, and you have to promote your site as well. Social media offers a convenient route to reaching more customers, but partnering with an SEO and web design company helps remove a lot of the administrative burden from your shoulders.

Myth 4: Your Logo Needs to Be Huge for Brand Recognition.

There is no reason why your logo should have to take up much of the browser window. Really, these do not need to be very big. Make your logo a reasonable size – readable and recognizable, but taking up only a small percentage of the browser window – and use the rest of the space for content and features the user needs to see. Remember, when a user enters your website, you are introducing yourself. No need to shout your name.

Myth 5: Put the Call-to-Action Above the Fold.

When a web page has information that the reader has to scroll to see, that information is considered ‘below the fold’. People still think that placing the call-to-action after the fold is bad because it requires that the user take an extra step (scrolling down to another part of the page) to find it.

This is no longer true. Site visitors often start scrolling within seconds of landing on a site looking for confirmation that they’re in the right place. The most important information to make sure that people see is your “unique value proposition,” or UVP. This is a statement that tells the visitor what you company does, why you’re unique and better than your competition, and why your product/service is exact solution they need. If you don’t have a UVP, then you need to put something above the fold that lets people know immediately that your company is worth contacting.

Myth 6: Design Your Website, and Then Leave It Alone.

It’s a myth that once you design your website, you don’t have to update anything. Browsers and operating systems are constantly being updated. If you’re not keeping the plugins and frameworks that your site uses updated as new ones are developed, at best your readers could find your site difficult to use. You could also leave your website open to hackers and malicious programs resulting in downtime.

In addition to your site’s programming, your content needs to be updated often as well. If you have static, stagnant, or outdated content, search engines will move you further down the search results. Fresh content is a sign to search engines that your site is active and contains the content people are looking for.

Good web design in 2021 offers users content that is easy to read and that gets right to the point. These websites also function smoothly, allowing users to browse and complete other tasks like sales quickly. Don’t subscribe to old myths that could send your site down to the bottom of the search results.