3 things that make your business look unprofessional

1 | You don’t have your own domain name

You’ve probably experienced it yourself before. You go on to visit someone’s website, when you notice the URL ressembles something like this: mybusinessname.wordpress.com.

Not having your own domain name makes it look like you couldn’t commit to that little investment in your business. It makes it look amateurish. And, I’m sure you know that, if you’re planning on making money out of your business, you don’t want people to think of it as a hobby.

Getting your own domain is super quick + cheap, so if you haven’t done it yet, go on and do it! No excuses.

GoDaddy and NameCheap* are well-known domain name registrars. You can also register a domain name through your website building platform (Shopify, Squarespace, …).

2 | You’re not using a custom email address

For the same reasons, you don’t want to be using a Hotmail, Outlook or whatever-your-email-client-is email address either. Keep those for your personal correspondence.

Enters GSuite! GSuite is basically the Gmail you know and love, with a more business-focused interface. You can swap your @gmail.com with your own domain to create professional email addresses like [email protected].

Alternatively, you may also get free emails from you hosting provider when you sign up, as GSuite is a paid service.

3 | Your website is obviously DIYed

I don’t know about you, but the first thing I look at when I’m thinking of buying from someone is their Instagram profile, and their website. If either or both are looking terrible, I probably won’t buy from them. Why is that?

Well that’s because people are judgemental, and they’re quick to judge. It takes about 50 milliseconds (that’s 0.05 seconds) for users to form an opinion about your website that determines whether they’ll stay or leave.

The way your website looks has an effect on the perceived credibility and quality of your business. If people don’t trust you, they’ll leave to never come back, and they won’t buy from you. Simple as that.

Quick and easy fixes

Blurry, low quality images

It sounds simple, and yet, I’ve seen it many times. Images can make or break your website, so make it your mission to only use high-quality ones. If you’re not sure how to best pick images for your website, or you don’t know where to look for quality stock photography, I wrote a blog post about that topic a couple of weeks ago. Click here to read.

Cluttered design

I get it, you’re passionate about what you do, and you want to shout it from the rooftops! I love that! BUT your visitors won’t bother reading a novel-long text about what you do. People don’t have that kind of attention span, especially when it comes to your home page. Make it short and sweet, and keep longer pieces of text for your about page.

Now you might be thinking, well, this is all well and good, but I still have no idea on how to display my content. I’ve got you! I created a freebie that covers everything you need to know about planning content for your website. And if you still have any questions, well, I’m just an email away!

Too many colors, and/or too many fonts

Again, less is more. Think of your hierarchy (headings, sub-headings, body text) and make it clear to your visitor which info is the most important for them to read first. When you’ve got that one down, research and pick 2-3 contrasting fonts MAX. Feel free to play with different weights and styles.

You want to be careful when it comes to color. I’m all about colorful designs myself, but it can all turn into one big headache for your visitor if it’s not done well.

A good rule of thumb is to start with a triad composed of one main neutral color, with two complementary accent colors. What I also like to do is to go with a deeper dark color and a richer light color, instead of simply going for black and white.

One last thing, make sure everything contrasts well. It would be a shame to have your visitors leave after all that hard work just because they couldn’t read your content.

Was that helpful? Let me know in the comments!