Here’s something you don’t need us to tell you: the complex world of digital media and all things Internet is an a constant state of flux.
This being the case, when considering strategy in terms of your web design for small business, it’s absolutely vital to make sure you’re constantly staying up-to-date on trends.
Out with the Old
We stumbled upon a recent article which suggests that you stay away from the following 10 web designs trends, and according to MarketingProfs, here are the trends you shouldn’t be including in your web design strategy anymore:
Complicated Web Designs.
Minimalism is key. Think clean, simple design and you’ll create a design that attracts the modern consumer’s eye.
Mobile Versions.
Because if you seriously aren’t using a responsive site….let us help.
Large Amounts of Text.
Images, images, images. Videos, videos, videos. You need RICH content, not just text to keep your viewers not only engaged…but simply awake. Don’t bore your visitors to death by including massive amounts of text on your site. Use headlines, lists and bullet points to break heavy text up and make your site much more inviting and user friendly.
Clicking.
Even children intuitively swipe away on cell phones. Clicking is intrusive, and swiping and sliding websites will becomes more widely appreciated by viewers. Check out this awesome example MarketingProfs provides from ShakerBrand.
Large amounts of pages.
As MarketingProfs points out, some companies can say everything the need to in just one page. However, until SEO practices catch up with the trend, it may be a good idea to have a few pages in order for search engines to pick up more than one H1 tag, and more than one set of meta tags.
Unorganized content.
Thanks to that minimalistic trend, content needs to be perfectly organized, easy to access and displayed in a way that makes sense.
Stock images.
Gone are the days of simply posting a stock photo and getting away with it. More and more often blogging sites, like the Huffington Post, are creating their own images to include on their site. Ever run into a stock photo you’ve used before on another site? Not a great feeling right? Spend a little time and effort creating your own content and you will greatly reap the benefits.
Stock typography.
Same goes for your text: don’t be afraid to step outside of the lines here. While it’s important to maintain your brand in your typography, play around with your options. Your site will stand out and your brand will be more memorable.
3D Designs.
Just, don’t. If you still have shadows on your text, refer to #1.
Static Graphics.
While images are still very popular with viewers, it seems like video will be the King of Content before too long. But don’t turn to Flash, either: HTML5 will soon be the standard (and kind of is already) so if you haven’t already experimented with it, now’s a great time to start.
We’d like to thank MarketingProfs for the great tips! Check out more of their explanations of why you should ditch these web design trends here.