It’s that time of year again—when spooky stories and things that go bump in the night creep into our conscious minds. You’re likely thinking about ghosts, ghouls, and goblins, but there’s something even scarier lurking in the digital shadows: the dangers of DIY web design. 

 

[cue jarring violin music from Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho].  

 

Yes, you heard right.

Trying to build your own website can quickly turn from a dream project into the stuff of nightmares, with creaky coding, ghostly glitches, and frightfully bad user experiences.

So flick the switch off, grab a flashlight, and get a blanket to throw over your head if things get too scary. Let’s walk through the haunted hallways of DIY web design and learn why you might want to call in the professionals before your website ends up needing a stake through its heart. It’s less creepy if we do it together.

Read on to discover these 8 web design mistakes.

 

1. The Curse of Slow Loading Times: How to Fix a Slow Loading Website

 

Imagine this: you’ve just launched your website. Everything seems fine. But then, users start to visit, and they wait… and wait… and wait some more. What’s going on? You’ve just been cursed with the dreaded slow-loading website! 

 

[cue a high-pitched scream]

 

A site that takes forever to load is like the walking dead—barely functioning and sure to drive visitors away. It might even feel like it’s eating away at your brain with its torturously slow loading times. 

In the world of websites, speed is everything. You have precious few seconds to show up and make an impression on your customers. A one-second delay in page loading time can result in a 7% reduction in conversions. You don’t need to be well-versed in horror movies or digital marketing to know that’s bad. Unfortunately, without proper knowledge of image optimization, caching, and other performance techniques, your DIY website is at serious risk of joining the zombie hordes of slow sites.

Solution: Avoid the slow-loading curse by letting a professional developer (like our Digital Tea heroes!) handle your website’s speed optimization. They’ll ensure your site runs faster than a vampire just before dawn.

 

2. The Spectres of Bad User Experience Design: Frustration From Beyond the Screen

 

You know what’s worse than a ghost haunting your house?

A bad User Experience (UX) that haunts your website. (Well… maybe at least equally as bad as a haunted house… I suppose it depends on the ghost… I digress).

It’s invisible, it’s frustrating, and worst of all, it can drive users away faster than you can say, “boo!”

Poor navigation, confusing layouts, and hard-to-read text are just a few of the spectres that haunt DIY websites. Without the proper forethought and planning into how your user experience comes together, it’s easy to create a website that looks a bit more like Medusa’s hair and less like the seamless, user-friendly experience you were hoping for.

Imagine visitors coming to your site, only to get trapped in an endless maze of unclear menus and broken links. That’s not the journey you want them to have. It’s like entering a maze with no clear routes — JUST when your users think they’ve got it figured out, another 404 error jumps out from behind the hedge. Bad UX will have what could have been potential customers running for the exit, only in the case of your website, the exit is easy to find and it’s the “X” in the top-right corner of their browser.

Solution: Hire a designer to create a user experience so smooth that even the friendliest ghost couldn’t possibly get lost. Professionals understand how to design intuitive navigation and structure your content in a way that feels natural and easy to follow. Reach out to our team of Edmonton web design professionals. 

 

3. The Phantom of Broken Code: When HTML and CSS Go Horribly Wrong

 

You’re feeling brave.

You’ve rolled up your pants and sleeves and dipped your toes (and fingers) into the dark and mysterious, code-filled waters of web development.

Everything seems fine… until suddenly, a wild error appears. Before you know it, elements are floating around where they shouldn’t be, images are distorted, and your layout looks like it’s been put through a blender. Some items may have disappeared completely. 

 

[insert tense percussive music that sounds like a heartbeat]

 

It’s the phantom of broken code—the terrifying result of a coding mishap. DIY web design often comes with a steep learning curve, and if you’re not familiar with HTML, CSS, and JavaScript (which most of us from the earthly plane are not), you can quickly find yourself in a nightmare of misplaced semicolons, misaligned divs, and unresponsive design. Your website, which was fully functioning mere moments before, may now be lifeless and unmoving. 

Even the smallest coding error can throw your entire website out of whack, turning it into a digital disaster. Once broken, finding the error in coding is like trying to follow the trail of a phantom – each time you get close to figuring out your next step, the solution vanishes into the jumble of letters and numbers.

Solution: Save yourself from code-related nightmares by enlisting a professional developers (ahem, like us!) to write clean, organized code. A professional programmer can banish the Phantom of Broken Code before it even gets a chance to haunt your site.

 

4. The Neglected Website Copy Poltergeist: The Unseen Force Dragging You Down

 

You thought it was safe to launch your website, but you find out that no one is visiting. It’s as if your shiny new website is hidden behind an invisible veil, unseen by the masses. It’s most unfortunate, but it would seem that you’ve encountered the Neglected Website Copy Poltergeist! 

 

[cue a flash of lightning quickly followed by a thunderous boom] 

 

Thankfully for you, Digital Tea are Edmonton Search Engine Optimization (SEO) experts! We have the magic spell that can resurrect your website’s analytics and make it visible to search engines like Google. Without it, your site may be as good as buried in a digital graveyard, where no one will ever find it.

DIY web designers can often overlook key SEO components like keyword placement in copy and headings, meta tags, alt text for images, and structured content. And let’s not even get started on mobile optimization—if your website copy isn’t mobile-friendly, you’ve just invited an equally spooky spectre to the party.

Solution: Call in an SEO exorcist (i.e., an Edmonton SEO company) to banish the Neglected Website Copy Poltergeist. They’ll optimize your content, fine-tune your site for search engines, and bring your business out into the light of day and give it the visibility it needs to thrive.

5. The Monster of Non-Responsive Design: A Shape-Shifter That Can’t Keep Up

 

In today’s multi-device world, your website needs to look good on everything from a tiny smartphone to a giant desktop monitor. But if you’ve built your site using a DIY platform, there’s a good chance you may be dealing with the monster of non-responsive design—a nasty little shape-shifter that can’t quite adapt to its surroundings.

Without responsive design, your website might look fantastic on your laptop but transform into an unrecognizable monstrosity on mobile devices. Images don’t scale, text is unreadable, and the buttons… wait… where did the buttons go?!

 

[Cue the frustrated groans from your visitors (and probably also yourself)]

 

Solution: A professional edmonton web designer can ensure your site is fully responsive and adapts seamlessly to any screen size. No more shape-shifting horrors; just a beautiful, functional design on every device. Contact Digital Tea today for frightfully nice web design ideas. 

6. The Gremlins of Online Security: Hackers, Malware, and Other Digital Villains – Oh, My!

 

There aren’t many things out there more frightening than the thought of your website being hacked. Unfortunately, when you opt for DIY web design, you might unknowingly invite gremlins into your site’s security. These digital villains can wreak havoc, stealing sensitive data, injecting malware, or even taking your site offline.

DIY platforms don’t always prioritize security, and if you don’t know how to secure your website properly, you may be leaving it vulnerable to attack. You don’t want to wake up one morning to find out that your site has been transformed into a phishing scam. Now that’s a real-life horror story!

Solution: Professional web developers know how to secure a site properly, from installing SSL certificates to implementing firewalls and regular updates. Another great addition to your online security arsenal is having a local company host your website. Contact Digital Tea today to make sure your site is protected against all manner of digital gremlins and other nasty surprises.

 

7. The Frankenstein Effect: A Website That’s a Patchwork of Bad Ideas

 

When you’re building a website on your own, it’s easy to fall into the trap of the Frankenstein effect—where your website becomes a patchwork of mismatched elements. A little bit of this, a little bit of that, and before you fully realize what’s happened, your site looks like it’s been cobbled together from a bunch of spare parts you found in the back alley.

[Cue wibbly-wobbly-quirky-spooky Theremin music]

(As a total aside – if you’ve never heard Theremin music, you should totally check it out)

Mismatched fonts and/or too many fonts, clashing colours, and inconsistent branding can leave your website looking disjointed and unprofessional. It becomes a little like Frankenstein’s monster—it may be alive, but it sure ain’t pretty.

Solution: Leave the design to the professionals (like us at Digital Tea!) who can create a cohesive, aesthetically pleasing site that reflects your brand’s personality without looking like a science experiment gone wrong.

 

8. The Vampire of Time: It Sucks the Life Out of You

 

Building a website on your own might seem like a cost-effective option at first, but there’s a hidden danger: the Vampire of Time. 

 

[cue some jump-scare-inducing uber-creepy organ music]

 

This vampire doesn’t feed on blood; it feeds on your precious hours. Before you know it, you’ve spent weeks (or months) fiddling with design elements, troubleshooting technical issues, and Googling how to fix coding errors. All that time you could have spent running your business is now lost, and the Vampire of Time has left you feeling drained and depleted (that terrible pun was 100% on purpose).

Solution: Hiring a top-notch web design and development company can save you time and allow you to focus on what you do best—running your business. You’ll feel revived! Let the pros handle the heavy lifting while you sit back and watch your website come to life (in a non-creepy way).

 

Don’t Let Your Website Become a Horror Story

 

DIY web design may seem tempting, but the spooky pitfalls are real, friends. From slow loading times and bad UX to broken code and security vulnerabilities, these digital frights can turn your website into a living nightmare. And when your website is the online face of your company, we don’t want it to be like Medusa and turn to stone any potential customers who dare to look at it. 

The good news? You don’t have to face these horrors alone. Hiring a professional web design team can save you from the perils of DIY design, ensuring your website is fast, functional, and free from things that go bump in the night (or in this case – on the web). So, before you dive headfirst into a DIY project, remember: some things are better left to the professionals. Otherwise, you might just end up with a truly terrifying website.

So there’s really only one question left… 

Who ya gonna call?