3 Website design Pitfalls (and how to avoid them)
There are many things to consider when hiring a website design agency. What do you want your site to look like? What business goals will your new website help you achieve? Whether you’re starting a new website from scratch or giving your existing site a facelift, rebranding your online image is an exciting time full of opportunity. While it’s fun to think about your new look, it’s just as important to think about what goes into a website, behind-the-scenes.
In the six years that Diace Designs has been a website design agency, we’ve heard of some common sticky situations from a number of our clients. To help you avoid getting caught in a frustrating situation, we have compiled a list of the most common website design pitfalls that we hear about frequently.
Your Website Security Checklist
✔ Do you own the Domain?
Many business owners typically don’t think about domain ownership until it’s time to renew. If your website designer purchases your domain on your behalf, make sure the purchase is made in your name. Unfortunately, we’ve heard too many cases where a website designer purchased the URL in his or her own name, and then went M.I.A. Other clients have run into issues upon renewal when the domain was purchased in the name of a former employee. To ensure that you will always have access to your company URL, make sure that you are the full owner of your company’s domain.
Diace Designs Tip: Purchasing your own domain? We love working with GoDaddy because they provide excellent 24/7 customer support.
✔ Find a Good Content Writer
Your website content is an important way to communicate your company’s story and messaging. It might be tempting to have an employee simply plug in some content for the site. However, there is a strategy behind content layout and writing to encourage sales and boost search engine optimization (SEO) rankings. Make sure that your content writer utilizes best practices for optimizing your website content. Content writing that embraces a solid SEO strategy is an important piece of your company’s overall search engine ranking power.
Diace Designs Tip: A few tips to increase your website’s SEO: use long-tail keywords, post quality content regularly and cultivate engagement on social media platforms.
✔ Do you have legal rights to use images?
A newer client of ours recently called us in frustration after receiving cease and desist orders in reference to images on their website. As it turns out, the website owner had inadvertently violated copyright laws because their previous website design agency had just grabbed images off of the Internet without having rights to use them.
A copyright is an automatic right that protects original works of authorship. A work of authorship includes literary, written, dramatic, artistic, musical and other similar types of works. Because of this federal law, it is imperative to make sure that you are using stock images that you have full rights to use. Any reputable website design agency should be well versed in image copyright laws.
Diace Designs Tip: Thankfully, there are websites out there that provide free stock photos, such as www.pexels.com and www.unsplash.com.
Are you thinking of updating your website? We’re here to help. Contact us to learn more about how Diace Designs can help your website stand out from the crowd.
