A quick guide on what makes a good website

There are many different aspects, which when combined, work to produce what most would consider a good website. Some may be a matter of opinion, such as the overall design and the graphics used across the site. People inevitably have different tastes, just like with clothes - if we all liked the same colours and styles, we would be living in a pretty boring world.

However, appearance, though very important, is only a small fraction of what makes a great website - additional factors include the onsite content, usability and structure. We examine the importance of each so that you can determine whether your website is currently up-to-scratch.

Content and purpose

Before you start building (or continue working on) your website, you need to set goals, in particular, what you want the outcome to be from those who are visiting. The really is no point sending traffic to your site, only to lead customers to a confusing website in which the content is totally irrelevant. This will only lead to high bounce rates and an inevitable loss of search rankings.

Onsite content should, therefore, be relevant, to reflect the main objectives of the website. If your goal is to sell computers, there is no need to write blogs about how to bake cakes. It might seem fairly obvious, but you’d be surprised how many website owners make this error and fail to keep their onsite content pertinent to their business.

Moreover, the content should promote Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) best practices, so that it can rank well within the major search engines, like Google. SEO is rather complex, time-consuming and constantly evolving, so if you are unsure on how to implement this strategy, you can contact an SEO company in London, Exeter, or wherever else you may be based. These companies are experts in the field and keep up-to-date with the latest industry trends in order to help your website rank better.

Appearance

The appearance and colour scheme, are of course, very important. The psychology of colour has proven time and time again and is used by professional web designers to manipulate messages to users. Good website design is simple, stylish and should reflect the business and the services or products you have to offer.

Usability

One of the most important factors which contributes to a ‘good’ website, is its overall usability. A website should be simple and intuitive to use, whereby navigation is easy across pages. As a general rule, it should never take more than four clicks to reach a specific page – and ideally, two or less is best.

Complicated navigation structures quickly frustrate visitors, particularly the younger generation who have a poor attention span. Visitors are, therefore, much more likely to exit your website if they cannot find the information they are looking for within a few seconds. Keep it as user-friendly as possible!

Site Structure

Though it cannot be seen by visitors, it is essential to have a solid website structure. It should be able to operate in all browsers, across different screen sizes and devices, and on all operating systems, without the need for additional plug-ins, such as Flash. A significant amount of potential customers can be lost if your site is not compatible across systems or if it is not mobile-friendly.

Your service provider (website host) is also extremely valuable and should have a great uptime (+ 99.9%) and fast transfer speeds so the website runs quickly. When was the last time you stuck around on a site which took more than a minute to load?

Combining these key factors will certainly enable you to create a great website in which customers are much more likely to respond positively. If you ever need help, there are many fantastic web design and development companies out there.