A site that is frictionless for the user can build trust, deepen engagement, and even drive brand awareness.

Users expect website design to meet their needs in every way possible, leaving no room for error or confusion. And when it doesn't, they choose a different experience—someone else's website.

Yet, despite placing more and more emphasis on the user as the focal point of website design, many companies still fall victim to a few pervasive myths that stand between users and the optimal experience.

Myth No. 1: The homepage is the front door

The homepage is often considered the digital equivalent of a storefront—or book cover—and is therefore given a tremendous amount of design attention. However, you can't assume users come to your site on their own—and necessarily land on your homepage.

For example, while analyzing our clients' site data from the past year, we discovered that only 30% of site landings are on the homepage. Product and content pages together accounted for 23%, and other pages accounted for 47% of site landings.

Chances are, your site isn't much different. Which is why you should treat every page as if it's the homepage. After all, search engines and social media sites often send users to specific pages on your site. If you want those users to stick around, you need to guide them deeper into your site content.

In short, you'll need to make sure those pages are not a dead-end; otherwise, users will leave.