Trends Your Denver Website Design Team Wants You to Ditch in 2024
How often do you think about your website? If you’re like a lot of business owners, you stopped worrying about it as soon as it was set up. But letting your website sit for years on end is a surefire way to ensure that the features in place are outdated at best and detract from your users’ experiences at worst.
Your trusted Denver web design team at Denver Website Designs wants to help you keep your site looking great, and that means knowing which trends you’ll want to ditch this year. Here’s are some elements and features that are guaranteed to make your site look outdated.
Animations for Animation’s Sake
Animations can make your website more dynamic and draw attention to features or products you want your customers to click on. But those animations should always serve a purpose. Adding animations for the sake of having them and at the expense of your site’s user experience can make your site look and feel outdated.
A few years ago, making images dance or move when users moved their cursors over them was incredibly popular. These animations didn’t do anything—they just made the page temporarily more visually interesting.
Now, those features slow speeds and can end up leaving your customers feeling more frustrated every time they visit your site.
If you’re currently using them in your design, it’s time to stop and take a long, hard look at what those animations are accomplishing. If they’re not serving a purpose or you’re no longer happy with them, get rid of them.
Using Too Much White Space on the Page
Minimalistic website design is on the rise, but there’s a fine line between a truly minimalist site and one that has so much white space it’s distracting. If you jumped on the trend right at the beginning and tried to mimic Apple’s look and feel, you may be better served by dialing it back.
Reducing some of the whitespace on the page can actually make your site more user-friendly. Consider condensing the elements on your site, just a touch. This will let you maintain a more minimalist feel while reducing the amount of scrolling your users have to do to find the information you’re looking for.
Not sure how much whitespace is too much? Let your Denver website design team help.
Relying Solely on Stock Photos
Stock photos have a place, but if you’re using them throughout your website, your pages can start to feel stale fast. These images all look staged and make it hard to showcase your personality and the uniqueness of your brand.
Consider investing in a photography session for your company. If you sell products, make sure your product photos are of the items you sell, not generic versions you found online. And if you’re a service provider, consider letting a photographer take pics of your team while they work.
Customers will be able to see you on the job and know that the people working on their home are the same ones featured on your website. This makes your brand feel more personal and can inspire more trust in your company than stock photos ever will.
Not Adding Diversity to Your Site
Customers love to see themselves represented online, and including photos of a single age group or race can make it harder for them to do that. Instead, make sure the photos you choose are as diverse as your customer base truly is.
Be more selective when choosing photos from stock photo databases and let your website design team know more about your target customers. This will help them tailor your site in a way that speaks to everyone.
Using Header Carousels
Header images or hero images can catch the eye, but if you have a carousel feature as your header (images that change in a sequence on set intervals), your page will look outdated. Remember, customers don’t come to your page to wait for a new slide to load. They want information quickly. It’s why they’ll scroll down on a page rather than watching your header carousel.
Use this to your advantage and present the information in a vertical way. If you have sales and promos, list those sales in the order you want them to appear. And use a static header (one that doesn’t change) to call attention to what you want to highlight most.
Popups
Popups used to be all the rage. Now, they’re one of the biggest annoyances. It’s why many browsers have built-in popup blockers in place.
If you’re trying to showcase promotions and discounts with popup windows, now is the time to stop. Work with your website design team to create a more effective strategy and bring your website into the future.
Hit Counters
Back in the early 2000’s, many websites had hit counters or visitor counters to show how many people were stopping by. This was useful information, and it still can be, but you shouldn’t be advertising the number of visitors your site receives.
If you currently have a visitor tracker that’s visible on your site, it’s high time to ditch it for good. Most modern sites track this information on their own and only make it visible to you when you’re logged into your site’s back end.
What You Should Do Instead
Instead of keeping these outdated trends and elements for the foreseeable future, redo your site and bring it into the future. Just make sure to work with an experienced Denver website design team and let them revamp your site in a way that works for your business and your goals.
Make Sure Your Site Is Trending for the Right Reasons
If your site isn’t performing the way you want it to or just doesn’t have the features your customers need to better access your products and services, it’s high time to give it an upgrade. Let Denver Website Designs help you bring your vision to life. Our team of experienced designers will work with you to create a site that you’ll love for years to come. Contact us today to schedule a demo.
Go Back Your trusted Denver web design team at Denver Website Designs wants to help you keep your site looking great, and that means knowing which trends you’ll want to ditch this year. Here’s are some elements and features that are guaranteed to make your site look outdated.
Animations for Animation’s Sake
Animations can make your website more dynamic and draw attention to features or products you want your customers to click on. But those animations should always serve a purpose. Adding animations for the sake of having them and at the expense of your site’s user experience can make your site look and feel outdated.
A few years ago, making images dance or move when users moved their cursors over them was incredibly popular. These animations didn’t do anything—they just made the page temporarily more visually interesting.
Now, those features slow speeds and can end up leaving your customers feeling more frustrated every time they visit your site.
If you’re currently using them in your design, it’s time to stop and take a long, hard look at what those animations are accomplishing. If they’re not serving a purpose or you’re no longer happy with them, get rid of them.
Using Too Much White Space on the Page
Minimalistic website design is on the rise, but there’s a fine line between a truly minimalist site and one that has so much white space it’s distracting. If you jumped on the trend right at the beginning and tried to mimic Apple’s look and feel, you may be better served by dialing it back.
Reducing some of the whitespace on the page can actually make your site more user-friendly. Consider condensing the elements on your site, just a touch. This will let you maintain a more minimalist feel while reducing the amount of scrolling your users have to do to find the information you’re looking for.
Not sure how much whitespace is too much? Let your Denver website design team help.
Relying Solely on Stock Photos
Stock photos have a place, but if you’re using them throughout your website, your pages can start to feel stale fast. These images all look staged and make it hard to showcase your personality and the uniqueness of your brand.
Consider investing in a photography session for your company. If you sell products, make sure your product photos are of the items you sell, not generic versions you found online. And if you’re a service provider, consider letting a photographer take pics of your team while they work.
Customers will be able to see you on the job and know that the people working on their home are the same ones featured on your website. This makes your brand feel more personal and can inspire more trust in your company than stock photos ever will.
Not Adding Diversity to Your Site
Customers love to see themselves represented online, and including photos of a single age group or race can make it harder for them to do that. Instead, make sure the photos you choose are as diverse as your customer base truly is.
Be more selective when choosing photos from stock photo databases and let your website design team know more about your target customers. This will help them tailor your site in a way that speaks to everyone.
Using Header Carousels
Header images or hero images can catch the eye, but if you have a carousel feature as your header (images that change in a sequence on set intervals), your page will look outdated. Remember, customers don’t come to your page to wait for a new slide to load. They want information quickly. It’s why they’ll scroll down on a page rather than watching your header carousel.
Use this to your advantage and present the information in a vertical way. If you have sales and promos, list those sales in the order you want them to appear. And use a static header (one that doesn’t change) to call attention to what you want to highlight most.
Popups
Popups used to be all the rage. Now, they’re one of the biggest annoyances. It’s why many browsers have built-in popup blockers in place.
If you’re trying to showcase promotions and discounts with popup windows, now is the time to stop. Work with your website design team to create a more effective strategy and bring your website into the future.
Hit Counters
Back in the early 2000’s, many websites had hit counters or visitor counters to show how many people were stopping by. This was useful information, and it still can be, but you shouldn’t be advertising the number of visitors your site receives.
If you currently have a visitor tracker that’s visible on your site, it’s high time to ditch it for good. Most modern sites track this information on their own and only make it visible to you when you’re logged into your site’s back end.
What You Should Do Instead
Instead of keeping these outdated trends and elements for the foreseeable future, redo your site and bring it into the future. Just make sure to work with an experienced Denver website design team and let them revamp your site in a way that works for your business and your goals.
Make Sure Your Site Is Trending for the Right Reasons
If your site isn’t performing the way you want it to or just doesn’t have the features your customers need to better access your products and services, it’s high time to give it an upgrade. Let Denver Website Designs help you bring your vision to life. Our team of experienced designers will work with you to create a site that you’ll love for years to come. Contact us today to schedule a demo.