Web design and other tech jobs are taking over the workforce, and you may be wondering to yourself, “What’s the catch?” That is a great question, and the truth is that just like any other job, web designers face their own set of issues that make life difficult sometimes. I spoke with the Utah Web Design Pros owner, and he shared with me some of the biggest issues they face when helping people design a website.
Both beginners and experienced web designers can make mistakes, so I have come up with a list of 10 issues faced in web designing and ways to fix them.
1. Uniqueness
The first thing that the Utah Web Design Pros owner mentioned was that you want to create something unique that looks good. (Utah Web Design Pros)
Creating something unique is crucial as that is exactly what people are hiring you for. The technology for web design has developed where anybody, even people who aren’t web designers, can create basic websites on their own.
To help you find what is unique about your website it’s important to start with identifying the purpose for yours. Here’s a post on how to define your website’s purpose.
As a professional, you have to make sure your work stands out from those basic websites, or else what is the point in hiring you?
If you are just starting, you may have trouble with this since the client is paying for it. You may feel limited based on what the client wants you to build. They may have their own ideas about what it should look like that differ from what you or your agency can come up with. (Source)
I have found in my experience that just because the client is paying for it does not mean they know what is best for them. That’s your job as the web designer, so stand your ground, you are the expert, you know what is best for them.
You should have the knowledge, experience, and expertise to guide them to the best design that makes them stand out.
If you do not, you can recommend them to someone who does. But if they insist on working with you, let them know that you do not have experience in their field, and they will be your first client in it, but you will not just be an order taker. You have studied and trained for this, and you will be making decisions based on that.
You need to put your clients’ needs above your own if you want to succeed in the industry. Doing this will instantly gain you more trust from your clients from the beginning and ironically make them even more likely to work with you.
Especially because what they want is usually something that is influenced by their competition or something they saw. This can take away from any uniqueness they could have.
Finding a balance with your client is so important. You want to create a website that most importantly serves their needs best. You also want that work to help build your reputation and maintain a good relationship with the customer.
It may be wise to sit down with your client beforehand to agree on how the website will look before you even start so that you are not wasting time on senseless changes later on.
If you are the owner of a website looking to DIY or wondering if you even need a web designer I wrote a post here listing if it is worth hiring one. Check it out to see if you should or shouldn’t.
A web designer will always be the better decision if you’re not a designer yourself but DIY can definitely be the right decision for someone looking to start learning. To give you an idea of the time it will take you to learn enough to DIY your website design read this other post.
2. Meeting Demands By Creating Plans
Speaking to different people experienced with web design and development, I found that they often talked about how frustrating it can be when they are working hard on a website, and then a client decides to change their mind about what they want.
This is entirely within your control and honestly part of your job. You are the expert, and they are the client.
You should provide a timeline with a project scope at the beginning that you and the client both agree on with a contract in writing. That way, if they want to change anything, you can refer back and show that those changes are not what you originally agreed on. Then you can offer to change the contract to make the changes, and you can charge for additional work as necessary.
This benefits you by avoiding having to deal with minds changing and new directions from the client because you already have what you agreed to in writing. But if you do this correctly, this should also benefit the client because they will see that you are organized, and it gives them a timeline of when their website will be done.
Not doing this can be a huge waste of your time and, depending on the size or magnitude of the changes they ask for, you may have to start over completely.
Most likely, you will not be working on just 1 website at a time, and if you have 2 or 3 clients that are all changing demands mid-way through, your project timelines may completely fall apart. Once 1 project is delayed, it can set back your whole timeline.
If you charge by the hour, this may not be extremely damaging to your business, but if you quote a flat fee, you may be working on your own time if they keep making changes to what you have already done.
3. Visualization (Wireframes Aren’t Pretty)
One of the other challenges faced by web designers is giving the customer something that they can see. Much like an architect would build a model of their design, Web designers face a challenge creating something that will tell potential clients what you can do for them.
It may not be a great challenge for a web designer to come up with a beautiful web design once hired for the project, but it can be difficult to create something to show the client before they hire you.
Wireframes aren’t pretty, and as such, they shouldn’t be used to help customers visualize what you can do for them. It would help if you weren’t spending time creating them for people before you were hired.
But once you are hired you can use software to create a visualization that does make it look good. One well-known software tool (with a free plan) that web designers use is Adobe XD where they can visualize websites and collaborate. Curious if Adobe XD is any good for you? Check out this post I wrote as a professional web designer reviewing the tool.
The best way to help clients visualize what you can do is to show them the best work you have done. This shows them the full extent of your abilities and saves you the time of creating a new project for every new client.
At first, only show the best work overall, even if it is not necessarily your client’s exact niche. Once you’ve managed to accumulate enough work in your portfolio that you are proud to show then, you can worry about tailoring your portfolio for different clients.
You want them to only see the best so they can visualize the best for themselves.
4. Middle Men & Website Builders
One of the main things that the owner of Web Design Pros told me was how difficult it is to deal with 3rd party websites. He told me, “it used to be that you needed to know how to code” to design a website. Beginner web designers everywhere are losing customers due to these “create your own” websites.
Experienced and new professionals with training have advanced to understand and adapt learning to use these tools instead. You can now do a lot of web design without coding to create great websites. As a web designer your role now becomes learning how to use these tools without coding to design sites, here’s a post on how you can do just that.
Although you can create a good website using the available software, the truth is that web design and web development pros can of course produce better sites vs other people using that same software. Website builders and no-code platforms are limited to the templates they have. The abilities of the user are then what determines how good the website can be.
Do you need help figuring out which you need; web designer or web developer? Check out this article I wrote on web design versus web development to learn which is better for you.
Just like any other occupation, you have to keep up with the times and technology. As web designers, our role has now become to take our work past these basic templates and create truly unique and beautiful websites.
Most web designers are not only skilled with the design aspect of website creation, but they can also be a huge help when it comes to things like SEO and the actual maneuverability of your site. As talented as you may be, these things will be difficult and even impossible for someone with no training in web design.
However, do not feel that you need to have experience in SEO or other fields. Things like maneuverability and user experience are all parts of the design you can focus on and have become so deep that even becoming an expert at these alone is more than enough.
Many times, people who have created these websites will later come to web designers and ask them to fix their site’s issues. This could be difficult, especially if one of these third-party websites was used. Use this post to figure out the most common web design issues a website might have so you can get them fixed or avoid them so you don’t have to deal with this.
New web designers sometimes have a hard time showing people why their service is valuable. Still, as the online world continues to grow, people will begin to see the importance of having a professionally created website. A web designer’s job simply has changed from creating a basic website to designing one that stands out from the crowd. Web designers will never become obsolete zero will simply change if you want to learn more about why this is true, check out this post.
The more people use these website builders, the more competition they create online with similar-looking websites. Those who want to stand out in a growing online world will see the true value of having a professional design their website.
5. Progression & Content
As web designers create websites that fit the needs of different clients, one of the challenges they face is to help the website progress. It can be hard to create a website that a client will like if it doesn’t have any content or material.
Some basic content for the homepage is a bare minimum that you will need in order to get your website to serve any purpose for the client. As the most visited page on most websites, your home page, is super important. This article I wrote covers why your homepage and its content are so critical.
My friend over at Web Design Pros told me that sometimes he and his team have to create content for the website, and often they must do this on their own dime. This is a common problem newer web designers or agencies suffer from.
But producing content as a web designer is not your job unless you want it to be. From the beginning, you can ask your client what content they have. If they have their own content, then you’re good to go.
If they don’t, then you could do one of two things. You could charge them extra to create it for them. Or you could recommend other people who could create it for them.
You definitely don’t have to spend time, money, or effort on anything other than the web design you agreed on if you don’t want to. But content is a hugely important part of a lot of websites and you could definitely offer it as a service to help your clients create even better websites. To learn what the best content is for websites based on a study that we did in-house on several successful websites check out this post.
Many people who pay someone to design a website for their business or even personal needs want a website that is ready to publish and start receiving traffic right away. Most likely, if it is for a business, they do not have time to sit and create content for a website. That’s why they pay web designers to do it.
Getting paid for it is KEY though, it does NOT have to be on your dime.
6. Aesthetic & Curb Appeal
In 2015 it was reported that the average human only has an attention span of about 8.25 seconds. This makes the job of web designers especially difficult. (source)
When people are using the internet, they will be attracted to sites that appeal to the eye. Imagine you were driving down the road, and you saw 2 different grocery stores. One was big and looked like it was very well kept, while the other was small and looked run down. Which grocery store are you most likely to buy from and spend more time in? Most likely, you would choose the one that is well kept and clean. Web designers face this same problem.
We all know that not all the information on the internet is correct. When someone is trying to decipher the information, they are more likely to trust a website that has a better professional design.
This may mean more time working on a website, but it will likely lead to visitors who spend more time and turn into customers for your clients. Your clients will then be thankful and refer you to others giving you more opportunities to design websites.
7. Optimizing for Mobile
In 2016 the United States Census Bureau reported that approximately two-thirds of all internet usage happens on mobile devices. (source) This can be a bit of a challenge for people working on website design because all websites need to be optimized so that people using mobile devices can access the content.
Google themselves has stated that “Starting July 1, 2019, mobile-first indexing is enabled by default for all new websites” (source)
As the biggest search engine in the world, it is in your best interest and your clients’ to make sure your website is mobile optimized.
There is nothing more frustrating to a potential customer than going on a website and not being able to see or navigate on your mobile device. Not being optimized will likely lead to people quickly leaving and not seeing the services your client has to offer. (source)
This can be somewhat difficult, especially considering that there are not many web designers designing websites using their phones. They have computers with all the software and tools they need to create a website.
Professional web designers will actually design with mobile-first meaning even on their computers they design with the mobile view in mind and on screen. Here are some tips and best practices for sizing your websites for desktop mobile and more.
Even the website builder platforms know the importance of mobile and provide templates that are completely responsive.
At this point, being mobile responsive is the minimum. As a web designer, you have to go to the next step and make the mobile experience not just available but optimized.
An additional step that you should take is to actually view your site using your phone and others’ phones, if possible so that you can get an exact view of what the customer will see when they visit your site.
8. Audience
Trying to determine who your target audience is can be a great difficulty for web designers. Most of the time, you will design a website based on who you want to visit that website.
Luckily for web designers, the target audience of your website is not yours to determine. You need to make this conversation a part of your consultation with your client. If they do not know, you need to get this figured out first before designing the website.
You can do this as a strategy consultation and charge separately for it from the web design if you have experience in business strategy and branding. However, this is an important step, and if you do not have the experience, I would highly recommend referring them to somebody who does or telling them to find someone who does.
Finding out their target audience and the ideal customer will make or break their website. This is not something you want to take on if you do not have experience in it. It is a whole job and project on its own that requires different experience from web design.
One good way to go about this if they already have an existing customer base is asking who out of their current customers is their ideal customer. Then asking them questions about that person. Things like demographics, psychographics, what their problems are, their needs, and how your client solves those problems and helps them.
By having this conversation, you can have a clear path to exactly the type of website your client is looking for, and you will set them up for success in their business. For a guide with a list on how to grow that audience click here to read my post on how to get 100 visitors to your website per day.
If you are creating a website for a young adult clothing brand, you will most likely gear the website towards young adults, as they are most likely to buy clothing using the internet. (source) On the other hand, if you are designing a website for a retirement community, you will have a much older audience.
Everything on your website has to be optimized for the people you are trying to reach. If your website is geared toward older people, for instance, then it may be wise to use larger lettering and make sure you have clear and simple navigation tools and layouts. For a younger audience, you may want to focus on the design of your website and can experiment with novelty features as they are more open to and likely to use a website that is different if it is done well.
9. Navigation
As I mentioned above, with human attention span being so short, it is so important that your website can be easily maneuvered. Web designers face this issue often as they try to create websites that will allow the customer to move around freely without any confusion or difficulty.
Navigation is not too difficult for some websites, but when you have a website with lots of different links and tabs to click on, it can be difficult to make sure all those things work. If a random person comes on to your website and a link or two do not work, they are likely to give up and leave after a few minutes, which may result in a loss of business for your client. (source)
This video teaches a lot about issues that make your website hard to navigate, and he talks about ways to make navigation through your website easier.
As you can see, there are many things to consider that can make or break the experience of people on your website. In the video, he mentioned the number of calls to action on the main site.
This may be difficult for newer web designers. As mentioned before, you don’t always have control over what the client wants their customers to see when they open the site.
But by learning this information here, you can educate them. If there are 20 different links or tabs, people will probably get overwhelmed and find a new website to get services from. Web designers face the difficult task of creating a website with good style, which also is easy to use.
It may be wise to help your client determine the main things they want people to see when they open the site and focus on highlighting them and removing other distractions.
10. Balance
That leads me to the last issue faced by web designers, finding balance. Finding balance has been a common theme throughout almost all of the issues mentioned above. Still, the truth is that you need to create websites that meet your client’s needs and build your reputation as a professional web designer.
Not everyone will be in a situation where they can turn down jobs, but if someone is asking you to build a website that will not make you or their business look good, you don’t have to and should not accept that job.
Overall, it is important that web designers create websites that meet their clients’ needs while still being able to work on projects they enjoy and align with.
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