An unsecured site
Major changes took place in the last 10 years regarding online security. Although there will always be malicious people, web users are now more aware of the risks. It is now possible to have a website with an HTTPS connection. The S means that the site is considered secure by a third party. Consequently, when you browse the internet, choose HTTPS websites over HTTP.
For your information, all websites made with WebSelf come with an SSL certificate that allows you to have an HTTPS connection.
Automatic music
At one time, one of the most popular trends was to put music on websites. A song would then start automatically; the visitor had nothing to do. Although it is a request we still receive today on our help center, unfortunately, it is a trend that today’s web users often despise. Consequently, avoid putting automatic music on your website if you want your visitors to stay.
A visitor counter
Another request we receive from time to time is how to install a visitor counter on my website. There are widgets that you can install; however, why do you need to add a visitor counter? Why do you wish your visitors to have access to this information? If you want to know how many people visited your website and have access to different statistics, why not take a look at WebSelf’s dashboard or use Google Analytics instead?
Using too many colors or fonts
Many things that can harm the credibility of your website. During the early 2000s, to stand out, people did use many colors (often vibrant ones) and fonts on the same website. This can have a chaotic effect on your visitors since they will not easily find what they are looking for. During the creation of your site, keep in mind that you should not use more than three main colors and fonts. Also, make sure that a color or font is used for something specific. For example, a more vibrant color could be used for important titles or call-to-action buttons.
Links everywhere
Do you remember older websites like the first versions of Yahoo! or eBay? Their sites were then covered in blue links to allow visitors to discover other pages. Although it is essential to add links that send people to other sections of your website, you need to add relevant content too. Moreover, if you have to add links, know that you can use other colors than blue.
If you want to change the link color, on the WebSelf editor, click on the Styles tab located left and then choose a color for all the links of your site.
Pop-ups and ads everywhere
In a similar vein, do you remember how annoying were the pop-ups and ads on the web a few years ago? It was sometimes difficult to browse a website without having to close dozens of ad windows. Of course, everything calmed down when ad blockers arrived massively. We may still have a few pop-ups or ads on websites today, but much less. For pop-ups, they are now mostly used as a call-to-action for a specific objective. For example, it could be to subscribe to a newsletter or access a special offer.
A non-responsive website
When the web became accessible to most of us, the smartphones we know today were not available. Consequently, older websites are not responsive, which means that they were not optimized for mobile phones. It would then be difficult to browse and find information on these sites with a smartphone. Most websites are now responsive since a significant percentage of people use their smartphones to go on the internet. It is a necessity in 2021; even Google started to penalize non-optimized websites.
When you create a website with WebSelf, know that a responsive version is created automatically for smartphones. If you wish to modify this version, click on the mobile icon located top right of the editor.
In conclusion, it is not dramatic if you have one or two outdated elements on your website. It can mean that you should think about updating your site. Besides having a more modern website, it will probably be improved and better indexed on search engines. If you do not know where to start, you can take read our article about redesigning your site in just 6 easy steps.