_.png)
1. Poor Grammar and Typ-"ohhs!"
Nothing can hurt and discredit yourself and your brand more than poorly written content on your website, blog articles, email marketing and/or social media post which are littered with typos, spelling and grammatical mistakes. Before publishing or posting, make sure to proofread everything twice to ensure your text is grammatically-correct and in plain language.
David's Tip! Have a friend review and proofread so they can put themselves in your readers' shoes and catch any mistakes or spots where it may be too wordy -simple and plain language is best. Also, there are various online English grammar-checking platforms to help you catch, suggest and correct grammar and typos. I really like Grammarly as it checks for more than 250 types of spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors, enhances vocabulary usage, and suggests citations. It's great when writing content for your website, blog articles, email marketing and social media posts to make sure your grammar is accurate and professional. It's especially useful when English isn't your first language. TRY THE GRAMMARLY FREE GRAMMAR-CHECK FOR YOURSELF!
2. Too Many Fonts
For maximum visual appeal use up to three fonts and make sure they're applied consistently across your entire website (title, body, paragraph, button text, etc.). This makes it easier on the readers' eyes, reinforces your text content, and leaves the visitor with an overall positive and professional impression of you and your business.
3. Too Much Reading
Let's face it we live in a world of texting, tweeting and email where the use of any sophisticated language or style has been constrained to the very basics - sadly! You're a very knowledgable expert in your field however your website content shouldn't be your academic thesis. If you keep your website content short, to the point, and in plain language you'll earn straight A's! You can always use your blog for more wordy endeavours :)
4. Poor Navigation
Visitors shouldn't need a map to move around your site or, even worse, become lost in a rabbit hole of links and clicks where they forgot what they were doing and why they were on your site to begin with! Keep the overall page total to a minimum (approx. 5 pages), and design your navigation so its simple and intuitive so as to keep your visitors from going "overboard" and leaving. Visitors often simply want to know who you are, what you offer, pricing, and how to do business.
5. Inconsistent Formatting
Be consistent with text alignment, paragraph sizes, buttons, images and fonts to boost overall visual appeal and ensure a clear message with maximum impact. For example, too often I see inconsistent font use for body text or titles which can confuse visitors when reading which can reduce the intended impact of your content and leave visitors confused or frustrated. Also, if you need to write a somewhat longer piece of text, break it up with an image or quote to keep it interesting and visually appealing. No one enjoys reading a long piece of uninterrupted text...yaawwwn.
Comments