9 Tips to make a website that doesn’t suck

Have you ever stumbled across a website whose content you enjoy, but whose website design forces you to run far, far away? A site ranking very, very high in website suckitude? Swirly, frilly, cutesy fonts happen to top my own personal list of Really Annoying Things People Do On Websites: If I have to struggle to read it, it is highly unlikely that I’m going to spend the extra time trying.

There are a million more things that can send potential users and readers running far and fast to other corners of the internet, so if you’re wondering why your readership is dwindling (or not growing at all), take a look at some of the tips below to see if you’re inadvertently driving away your website traffic. Of note, I’ve purposefully left off the recommendation “Don’t Use Flash” from this list because at this point it should be quite obvious that you deserve the hatred of the Entire Internets if you do.

Minimize Your Website Suckitude

1. Use normal fonts: Like I said, this one tops my list. Don’t be cutesy, make it readable. And don’t ‘sign’ every blog post with cursive font. Seriously. If people can’t read the font without straining, they’re not going to waste their time trying to decipher the web version of a four year old’s chicken scratch.
2. Don’t make people sign up just to browse: This falls into the category of just plain annoying. We get that you’re trying to build an email list, but if you’re this annoying about reading your free content, we definitely don’t want to get email from you.
3. Stop the newsletter signup popups: Also annoying. Put a nice static newsletter signup widget on the side of the site in a visible place, and if people are interested, they’ll plug their email address in. Every popup begging you to sign up gets you one step closer to people wanting to pop you…in the face.
4. Be mobile friendly: Most browsing is mobile these days. If you’re forcing users to resize constantly and scroll to and fro, they’re just going to get frustrated and read something that is easier to get through.
5. Use a simple background: I don’t care if you are a kindergarten teacher, the background and border of your site do NOT need to look like Fischer Price threw up on them. Busy, complex patterned backgrounds make your content harder to see and focus on. Make sure to also ensure that your font color and your background color contrast enough to make for an easy read
6. Declutter: Yes, we know you make money off those ads, but if you have SO many ads on your page (or ads, boxes, graphics, widgets, etc) that it is hard to focus on the actual content of the site, then it is time for a spring cleaning. You’ll get bigger bang for your buck with strategic, well placed ad blocks anyway.
7. Photos: If you think you’ve found the perfect photo to go along with something you’ve written but it is too small, then it isn’t the perfect photo. Keep looking. Don’t stretch it to make it bigger unless it is high-res enough to not be grainy, and make sure the size is appropriate to the placement. Nothing is worse than having to squint at an ‘enlarged’ photo to try and decipher what it is. This is especially important if your site sells stuff. If you want people to buy it, make sure they can see it.
8. Be concise: Walls of text: oof. Even if your site is text heavy by nature or necessity, break up the large blocks of text with photos, graphs, or even just….space!
9. Be easy: Make it easy for users to find content on your site. Use logical menus that are easy to navigate, and if you have a site search, make sure it actually works.