Stop Chasing Design Trends

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Stephanie Pleasants

A web designer and digital strategist helping women entrepreneurs create stress-free websites that attract clients and grow with their business. Through Instanticity, I share simple web design, blogging, and SEO tips to help you show up confidently online.

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That flashy website you happened upon certainly looks fun and attractive, but is it really? It can be tempting to fall for the latest web design trends, but they aren’t always the best choice for your business.

Web design is more than just looking pretty

Sure, your website needs to look good, but a huge mistake many make is wanting to feature the latest trendiest look. It’s important that you not get distracted by what everyone else is doing and instead think of your target audience. Sure, animated icons are great, but if most of your site visitors are on mobile, is it really the best choice?

Don’t sacrifice function for fashion

Your audience should always be taken into consideration. Think about how they will use your website and make sure you keep that in mind. Flashy things are nice and neat, but soon lose their appear. If you’re building a website for your pet sitting service and you select elements from a restaurant website, it isn’t really going to work well for your audience.

Don’t shatter your brand

Your brand needs to remain cohesive across all platforms. Your logo, colors, illustrations and style should remain the same throughout. The newest, trendy look may clash with the style you’ve already created.

Don’t risk your SEO

You’ve worked so hard to get where you are, don’t risk it now. Slideshows and auto-playing videos can have a negative affect on your existing seo ranking. If your ranking drops you may be losing potential clients, and income.

Trends change

Trends change so quickly. You will run yourself ragged trying to keep up and avoid looking outdated. Stick with building a functional website that keeps up with what your customer base needs and not necessarily what you want.

In no way does this mean you shouldn’t periodically update your style. You definitely don’t want a website that looks like it was built in the 90s, unless of course that’s your market. But, you should avoid constantly adding bits and pieces of the latest design trends and stick with what works.

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