When it comes to creativity, web designers have it in spades. But, can too much of a good thing be all bad? Below are seven design mistakes that could turn folks away from your website.

Look at Me!

That’s what you want your website to say, but without blinding the audience. Business websites are looking for a unique way to announce their presence that gets the attention of viewers and keeps it. At first glance, they are interested, but what they find upon further observation may cause them to think twice. Avoid ushering them in, only to push them back out with what they see.

Seven Mistakes You Don’t Want to Make with the Design of Your Website

1. Poor navigation – The first thing anyone wants to know when they visit your website is how to get around. They need a map. Place site maps in conspicuous places. Also, headings need to be prominent and self-explanatory. When visitors can’t get past the home page, they leave altogether.

2. Illegible text – It might seem cool to use a gothic style font on a Halloween website for effect, but those who are trying to read it won’t think so. If viewers stumble over your content for ten minutes trying to figure out what it says, they will take their business elsewhere. That’ll be pretty scary for you.

3. Too much clutter – You can have as many pages as you want for your website. Everything doesn’t have to squish on the same page. In fact, too many images, buttons, text and sounds lead to sensory overload. Tone it down and space your content accordingly.

4. Hard to access contact details – Just because you create a business entity on the internet doesn’t mean that phone numbers, email addresses and physical addresses are a thing of the past. Customers will use a variety of contact methods to reach you. Make sure that they can do that.

5. Overly complex forms – Your opt-in or contact forms should be simple to fill out. Only ask for the information you need.

6. Bad background images or colours – Dark font on dark background or dark images with a dark font won’t make readers happy. Avoid this combination and save a reader’s eyesight. Preview pages to ensure that you can read them easily. If you can’t, neither will your audience.

7. Keep it seamless – Images and colour schemes should match the purpose of your website. From page to page, vary the images and content but not the colour scheme to provide continuity. Too many styles mixed together gives a schizophrenic feel to the entire site and viewers can become easily distracted.

Creativity does make your site unique, but too much of it and everything becomes a disaster. Keeping everything at its simplest level works best.