Web Design Mistakes and Successes; Backlink Best Practices
by Jason Unger, Founder
Insights / Website Design /
Photo by Scott Graham via Unsplash
I feel like one of the points we’re constantly harping on is that when you’re creating your digital strategy, everything needs to be done through the eyes of your customer. When you’re designing your site, or putting together a marketing email, or writing content, walk yourself through the experience as a customer and see how it feels.
Most of the time, just doing that will help you decide if you’re really succeeding.
Top 10 Mistakes in Web Design
The ten most egregious offenses against users. Web design disasters and HTML horrors are legion, though many usability atrocities are less common than they used to be.
Quick take: This content isn’t new – but still extremely accurate. Nielsen is the leading authority on usability (I’ve paid good money to attend his seminars) and is constantly testing and re-testing his research to discover new trends and update analysis of existing practices. You can almost take his word as gospel when it comes to usability best practices.
The Essentials of Web Design That Works
Our sites are created for human interaction. And we human beings — for all our splendiferous variety — share some universal behaviors, no matter where we’re from. As publishers to the open web, we ignore these behaviors at our peril. What are they?
Quick take: Again, experience your site as a user. Is it easy to use? Can you find what you need? Help your users do what they are there to do. Don’t make it difficult for them to find information or use your site. You’ll fail if you do.
Blog Exercises: Backlinks
Backlinks or incoming links can come from other sites linking to yours, social media accounts when people “discover” your site and link to it, and other ways people share information online. Once you know where your incoming links are coming from, then what?
Quick take: Finding out who’s linking to you – and taking action to better engage with them – can help you create meaningful relationships online that help bring traffic and credibility. Spend time looking at where your traffic is coming from, and make a plan on how you can best leverage that to succeed.
About Jason Unger
Jason Unger is the Founder of Digital Ink. He built his first website on Geocities, and hasn't looked back since. Digital Ink tells stories for forward-thinking businesses, mission-driven organizations, and marketing and technology agencies in need of a creative and digital partner.
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