Top 12 Wix Design Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)
Building a website with Wix can be a great way to get your business or personal project online quickly and affordably. However, even with its user-friendly tools, it’s easy to make mistakes that can negatively impact your site’s design, functionality, and user experience. In this post, we’ll cover the top 12 Wix design mistakes and provide tips on how to avoid them, so you can create a clean, professional website that engages visitors.
1. Using a Single Text Element for Multiple Headings and Paragraphs
The Mistake:
A common mistake is placing multiple sections of text—such as headings, subheadings, and paragraphs—into one large text element instead of using separate elements. While it may seem easier to manage content this way, it can create major layout issues, especially when adjusting the design for mobile devices.
How to Avoid It:
Use separate text elements for each type of content. Create a distinct text element for your headings (H1, H2, etc.), subheadings, and paragraphs. This gives you much more control over your content's positioning, formatting, and responsiveness, particularly on mobile. Wix allows you to structure these elements clearly, ensuring that your layout remains clean and consistent across devices.
2. Using "Enter" to Create Space Instead of Proper Text Structure
The Mistake:
Many Wix users try to create space between headings, paragraphs, or other text elements by pressing "Enter" multiple times within a single text box. This practice can severely affect the layout, particularly on mobile, where the spacing can become exaggerated and lead to disorganized content.
How to Avoid It:
Instead of using "Enter" to create space, always use separate text elements for each heading, paragraph, or section. This gives you greater control over the layout and ensures that the design adapts correctly to different screen sizes, especially on mobile. Additionally, avoid adding extra blank lines at the end of text elements to create spacing—use multiple text boxes to achieve the correct layout.
By keeping each piece of content in its own text element, your design will remain responsive and clean, ensuring that everything looks professional on all devices.
3. Overloading the Page with Too Many Elements
The Mistake:
One of the most common mistakes is trying to fit too much content onto a single page. Overloading your pages with excessive text, images, buttons, and other elements can confuse users and slow down your site’s performance.
How to Avoid It:
Stick to a clean, minimalist design. Focus on key messages and avoid clutter. If you have a lot of information to share, use multiple pages or collapsible sections to keep your design clean and organized.
4. Inconsistent Font Choices
The Mistake:
Using too many different fonts can make your website look unprofessional and chaotic. It’s tempting to experiment with various styles, but this often leads to inconsistency and poor readability.
How to Avoid It:
Limit your website to two or three fonts—one for headings, one for body text, and possibly a third for special accents. Make sure your font choices are easy to read and visually complement your website’s overall design. Wix has great font pairings you can use for a professional look.
5. Neglecting Mobile Responsiveness
The Mistake:
With over 50% of web traffic coming from mobile devices, ignoring mobile responsiveness is a critical error. If your site doesn’t look or function well on a smartphone or tablet, you’re missing out on a huge audience.
How to Avoid It:
Always check the mobile view in Wix’s editor and make necessary adjustments. Wix allows you to customize your mobile layout separately, so take advantage of this feature. Ensure text is legible, images load quickly, and buttons are easy to click on smaller screens.
6. Using Low-Quality Images
The Mistake:
Blurry or pixelated images give an amateurish impression and can damage the credibility of your site. Many users make the mistake of uploading images that are too small or compressed for large sections.
How to Avoid It:
Use high-resolution, professional-quality images. If you’re not a photographer, there are plenty of free and paid stock photo options available online. Wix even offers an integrated stock image library to enhance your site. Always resize your images correctly to ensure they load quickly without sacrificing quality.
7. Lack of a Clear Call-to-Action (CTA)
The Mistake:
Visitors should never wonder what they are supposed to do next. Without clear CTAs (e.g., buttons prompting users to sign up, contact, or purchase), your site may not convert visitors into leads or customers.
How to Avoid It:
Every page should have a clear, actionable CTA. Whether it’s a "Buy Now" button, a "Contact Us" link, or a "Learn More" prompt, make sure visitors know what steps to take. Make CTAs stand out by using contrasting colors, larger fonts, and prominent placement on the page.
8. Inconsistent Design Across Pages
The Mistake:
Inconsistent design across different pages, such as different color schemes, mismatched headers, or disorganized layouts, can make your site look unprofessional.
How to Avoid It:
Create a consistent style guide for your website. Use the same color palette, fonts, and design elements across all pages. Wix allows you to set global design rules, so make sure your site's design is cohesive throughout.
9. Overusing Animations and Effects
The Mistake:
While animations can add a modern touch to your website, overusing them can make your site feel overwhelming, slow to load, and distracting.
How to Avoid It:
Use animations and effects sparingly and only where they enhance the user experience. Focus on subtle, purposeful animations that draw attention to important elements (like CTAs) without overwhelming the visitor. Remember, less is more.
10. Ignoring SEO Best Practices
The Mistake:
No matter how beautiful your website is, if it’s not optimized for search engines, potential visitors may never find it. Many Wix users skip important SEO steps, leaving their site buried in search results.
How to Avoid It:
Make sure you’re using Wix’s built-in SEO tools to add titles, meta descriptions, alt text for images, and proper header tags (H1, H2, etc.). Research relevant keywords for your business and incorporate them into your page content naturally. Wix also provides SEO guides to help you optimize each page.
11. Failing to Optimize Page Load Speed
The Mistake:
Slow-loading websites frustrate visitors, and many will leave before your page even finishes loading. Large images, too many elements, and heavy third-party integrations can all contribute to slow page speeds.
How to Avoid It:
Optimize your images by changing PNG files to JPEG files before uploading and avoid unnecessary elements or plugins that slow your site down. You can also use Wix’s performance tools to monitor and improve load times. Remember, a faster website leads to better user experience and higher rankings on Google.
12. Not Testing the User Experience
The Mistake:
Many users assume their design is great because it looks good in the Wix Editor. However, they forget to test the live site, leading to issues with navigation, layout, or mobile functionality that go unnoticed.
How to Avoid It:
Always test your site thoroughly before publishing. Navigate through each page on different devices and browsers to ensure everything works as expected. Ask friends or colleagues to give feedback on the user experience, and be open to making improvements based on their input.
Conclusion
By avoiding these common Wix design mistakes—including using proper text elements and not relying on "Enter" for spacing—you’ll ensure that your website looks professional and functions seamlessly across all devices. A cleaner, more structured design not only improves user experience but also makes your site easier to manage in the long run.
At WIXCreate, we’re here to help you build and optimize your Wix site for both desktop and mobile users. Get in touch today, and let’s take your website to the next level!
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