Sticky is a Newcastle-based advertising agency specialising in digital media. The best way to describe us is as Digital + Different. We have developed a reputation as leaders in Inbound Marketing and launched the breakthrough NLYZR website analysis and optimisation tools, enabling us to achieve the results our clients are really looking for.... more sales.

Sticky helps corporate marketers with: advertising, web development and strategy, inbound marketing and search engine optmisation.

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27 Web Design Mistakes to Avoid

There are so many ways to do web design and so many theories about what is good web design. Unfortunately a lot of well-intentioned designers make fundamental mistakes that can reduce the effectiveness of your site. Here in Newcastle we come across poor web design every day. Many clients ask us to try to fix sites that other designers have created or to improve the SEO of their sites. In many cases it is necessary to start from scratch because these sites cannot be saved.

Of course, if you are looking for good web design for your business we think you should talk to Sticky, however if you are shopping around make sure that you look out for these common web design mistakes:

1. The user must know what the site is about in seconds: attention is one the most valuable currencies on the Internet. If a visitor can not figure what your site is about in a couple of seconds, he will probably just go somewhere else. Your site must communicate why I should spend my time there, and FAST!

2. Make the content scannable: this is the Internet, not a book, so forget large blocks of text. Bullet points, headers, subheaders, lists. Anything that will help the reader filter what he is looking for.

3. Do not use fancy fonts that are unreadable: sure there are some fonts that will give a sophisticated look to your website. But are they readable? If your main objective is to deliver a message and get the visitors reading your stuff, then you should make the process comfortable for them.

4. Do not use tiny fonts: the previous point applies here, you want to make sure that readers are comfortable reading your content.

5. Do not open new browser windows: Let the user control where he wants the links to open. There is a reason why browsers have a huge “Back” button. Do not worry about sending the visitor to another website, he will get back if he wants to.

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