5 Pitfalls to Avoid When Designing a Professional Website

Our web agency has a long experience in creating sites: since 2010 we have been supporting companies in the Hautes-Alpes (and all over France) in their web projects. We have been able to identify the main pitfalls to avoid when designing a website. Here are our recommendations to put all the chances on your side to create a high-performance, relevant and professional website.

frame the design of a website

1. Do not frame the site design

Specifications, planning

The first and most common mistake is to rush the creation of a site. What you have in mind for your site cannot magically materialize in the minds of your site designers. Preparing the creation of a site in advance is essential. But how to do it? Here is our advice:

Create a document in which you collect your ideas

Ask your agency to assist you with specifications

Assign roles and responsibilities clearly

Next, ask what are the steps in creating a website? Write down all the tasks to be performed, and to whom they are assigned. Formalize your expectations and the expected features. Do not leave room for chance or surprises. Then, sign a quote , describing all the services, and indicating a delivery date. Ask for the solutions implemented for SEO, request a site plan and a model if necessary. The more structured the design of a professional website is, the more likely the agency-client relationship is to go well. Here are other essential questions:

Who writes the content?

Is the graphic charter provided? (Logo, fonts, colors, etc.)

Who provides the media? (Photos, videos…)

underestimating SEO

2. Neglecting natural referencing

SEO, at the heart of any well-managed web project

The SEO of your website must simply be an essential pillar during its design. Without SEO, the site is not visible, it is as if it did not exist , and all the efforts to design it will have been in vain.

Natural referencing (or SEO, Search Engine Optimization) must be thought of well in advance of the design of a professional website . Because SEO is omnipresent in all aspects of site design:

Sitemap

Semantics and choice of keywords

Content writing

Internal mesh

Site performance

No SEO, no visibility

SEO largely determines the success of a web project. Without visibility, your site is useless. SEO must therefore be integrated into the design of the site as a fundamental pillar. To help you understand the basics of SEO, we have written a guide to natural referencing for beginners . You will find information to understand the challenges of SEO, its lexicon, its priorities. At Hibouweb we include in all our projects a part dedicated to natural referencing, because as an SEO agency , it is our specialty!

website security

3. Not taking care of the security of your site

Domain Name Ownership

You must ensure that your site, once created, will be yours. The domain name must belong to you, so that you can change web agency if you wish. If the domain name belongs to the agency or freelancer who creates your site, the site belongs to them! Also check the hosting conditions: if the company hosts your site on its own server, do you have regular backups? A Is the hosting offer adapted to your traffic and your speed needs?

Secure access and data

Your site must have security rules in place to avoid the most common mishaps:

Data hacking

Data loss

Hacking

Your site must have backup solutions independent of the host, frequent and redundant. So as not to have to start from scratch in the event of a problem. Likewise, your site must block its access to hackers, with protection solutions, such as Secupress.

Updraftplus: independent backup on Drive, iCloud, Dropbox

Secupress: protect your site

Really simple SSL: the minimum

responsive website

4. Not optimizing the mobile version

Mobile first and responsive design

Another mistake to avoid is not paying special attention to the mobile version of your website. Visits via mobile account for more than half of all visits, so it is essential to offer a responsive version that adapts to screens of all sizes and provides a fast, simple and ergonomic mobile experience. We say “mobile first” because it is the version of your site that must be the most successful!

display speed optimization

Effective UX: immediate access to important information

mobile ergonomics

improve seo

We design websites for professionals, and we do it well!

I’m moving up a gear!

5. Thinking that creating a website yourself is easy and quick

Free solutions are tempting, but…

The temptation to make a free website, yourself, is tempting. After all, why pay for a service that I can do myself, free of charge and in a few days according to the ad? This is another trap, and from experience, it results in mediocre, poorly optimized websites that will eat up your time. Why? Here are some observations gleaned after 12 years of experience in the website creation business.

you are not a web developer

you are not a graphic designer

you are not an SEO expert

you are not a web editor

you don’t have 8 hours a day to dedicate to this project

you have no experience in web design

you may have one of the above skills, but not all at the same time

the day you want a professional website, you will have to start all over again

We’ve had dozens of customers come back to us after struggling with free solutions. None of these customers had created a successful or viable site. You’re going to waste money, time, and invest your free time in something that’s not your business.