6 Website Mistakes to Avoid When You’re DIY-ing

There are a million and one ways to make a mistake when building a website.

Your website is often the first impression someone has of your brand, so you know you want to do it right and leave no money on the table. You want your website to attract your ideal customers, speak to their needs, tell them what you do, who you are, and how you’re different, and encourage them to take action. 

If your website isn’t converting visitors into paying customers, it’s time to take stock of your website. Are you making any of these six mistakes?

1. Not being clear on who you are, what you do, and who you serve.

This is probably the most costly mistake you can make on your website - that’s why it’s number one on my list!

Forget about the visual elements of your website for a second. I’ll tell you that an ugly website that clearly answers visitors’ questions right off the bat converts better than a beautiful website that leaves people feeling confused as to what exactly you do.

If someone lands on your website and can’t tell what you’re offering and how it could improve their life within the first five seconds of landing on your website, they’re going to click out and move on.

The good news? This is a super easy fix. All you need to do is write one sentence and put it near the top of your homepage! It’ll look different for each business depending on your location or whether you sell a product or provide a service.

Need some inspiration? Choose one of these sentences and fill in the blanks for your business.

I am a [WEDDING FLORIST] specializing in [ROMANTIC AND TIMELINESS FLORAL STYLING] in [CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA].

We provide [LUXURY POPUP PICNIC EXPERIENCES] in [GREENVILLE, SOUTH CAROLINA].

Our [BAMBOO SHEETS] are [COOLING AND TEMPERATURE REGULATING] so you can [GET THE BEST SLEEP OF YOUR LIFE].

2. Not having a clear website goal and guiding visitors to take action.

Your visitors need to be told what you want them to do on your website, plain and simple. 

Every website should have a primary goal and every call-to-action should be guiding visitors to complete that goal. You don’t want your users to have to go digging for how they can work with you or purchase your product.

The fix? You need to sprinkle call-to-action buttons throughout your website that hold an ideal client’s hand and guide them to completing your website goal.

You need a CTA button in the top right corner of your website. If you’re a product-based business, this should lead to your shop. If you’re a service-based business, this should lead to a page where they can book with you or get in touch with you. Bonus points if it “sticks” at the top of the browser window when a user scrolls down!

Make sure you have another call-to-action button at the bottom of your homepage. You don’t need one at the bottom of every page (especially if you have a “sticky” nav bar like I mentioned above), but because your homepage is typically the longest page of your website, you want to tell users what their next step should be once they reach the bottom.

You should also have your contact information in the footer of your site for easy access.

3. Designing for yourself, not your ideal customer.

This is another huge one I see a lot of DIY-ers do! You want your website to feel like “you” so you’re adding your favorite colors and fonts and designing away until you love your website. But what you may be forgetting is this: you aren’t trying to attract yourself. You’re trying to attract your ideal customers!

When you’re designing your website, try to put yourself in the shoes of your ideal customer. What’s their style? Their vibe? What visuals would they be attracted to? What feelings do you want your audience to feel when they interact with your website? Ask yourself these questions and let the answers inform your design decisions - even if it’s not totally “your style”. 

4. Leading visitors away from your website.

This one is a simple mistake with a simple fix. You want people to stay on your website and take action, right? You never want to pull people away from your website. So, if you have any outbound links (like your Instagram profile, for example), make sure you set them to open up in a new tab.

5. Not considering how your site looks on mobile.

There’s this super talented boudoir photographer that I follow. I saw her website linked in her Instagram bio, so I clicked it out of curiosity. I’m sure it looks great on desktop, but it was a disaster on mobile. Misaligned text, random white space, text hidden under images…for a photographer that captures a lot of attention from Instagram, this is a big no-no! 

More than half of web browsing is done on a mobile device - and this statistic continues to climb year after year. Take the extra time to check out your website on mobile and make the edits necessary to ensure your customers have a great experience with your brand on their mobile devices.

6. Having an overwhelming navigation bar.

Have you ever been to a website with way too many navigation items and dropdown menus? It's overwhelming because you have too many choices. Keep this in mind when choosing the pages that go in your navigation bar. Simple and minimal is best, so choose no more than six pages to go in your navigation.

You can link other important pages that didn’t make the cut in your footer!

Also, the pages in your navigation bar should directly support the primary goal of your site. 

DIY-ing your website can be crazy overwhelming. 

Of course it is! You’ve likely never done anything like this before, and you can’t expect to know the ins and outs of every piece of a successful website. You have bigger fish to fry - like running your business, for one. 

Between user experience, mobile-friendliness, SEO, copywriting, images, and all the little details that website design and development entails, no one gets it 100% right, 100% of the time - even the pros.

All you can do is arm yourself with the tools you need to set yourself up for success online. Design and write with your audience in mind. Choose high-quality images. Make sure your branding is on point. Get really clear on your goals. And avoid these six website mistakes!