What are the factors that make a good website?
There is a saying “if something is free then you are the product” — this is absolutely true because, for websites, your attention is the product. Websites are all about getting the attention of potential customers and then gaining their confidence in your business.
When it comes to websites, it’s always important to remember two things: one, whom your website is meant for, i.e. who is your target audience and two, that even your target audience does not have much time to spare.
Each business should have a core message or a tagline which reflects the purpose of the business. This message is also called the mission statement. You can think of it as a single line which not only catches the eye of your target audience but also delivers the idea that your business works on.
On average, a person who is casually looking at your website will not give more than 10–15 seconds of their time to skim through your website. Thus it is important that your website is designed such that even as a bare minimum, it delivers your business’s core message in those 15 seconds. A very good website will cause the visitor to stay and explore your website. Here are a few factors that make a good website.
SPEED:
Speed is the very first impression your website makes on the visitor. How fast your site loads is directly proportional to the faith your customers will put in you and your business. It is simple psychology, our brain relates speed to efficiency, trust and confidence.
Statistics obtained from kissmetrics.com show us that 47% of the people expect your website to load in less than 2 seconds, 40% will abandon it entirely if it takes more than 3 seconds, and almost 85% of internet users expect your mobile site to load as fast as or faster than on their desktops. The number of visitors who view not more than one page of your website before leaving is called the ‘bounce rate’. Bounce rate is a key factor in search engine optimization, the lower the bounce rate, the higher the ranking.
Thus, good website speed can not only increase your ranking but also greatly enhance your customer conversion rate. Fast websites will cause your viewers to believe in the quality of your work because it relates to each and every other factor discussed below that further relate to a good website.
APPEARANCE:
The second impression of a website is from its appearance. Viewers should not be overwhelmed by the looks of your website but they should not be underwhelmed either.
A good website will focus more on quality than on quantity. Good use of color is one of the most important factors. Choose colors such that they bring attention to the core message of your website. To make the text readable, choose a font color that lies in contrast with the background. Play with font sizes and colors to highlight the best parts of your content. Add graphics and photos to enhance the look of your page, but remember to not overdo it.
Screen resolution for the typical computer monitor continues to increase. Today, the average web surfer uses a resolution of 1024 x 768 pixels. However, you need to make sure that what looks good at this setting will also work nicely for other resolutions. It is better to have a few good quality graphics and than to have a large number of random graphics that do nothing more than adding unnecessary flair to your website. You don’t want your website to look tacky. Good websites follow minimalism.
Stick to a few words, few photos, easy navigation, good readability and to-the-point content. The appearance should be so minimalistic that the simplicity should render a feeling of ease to the viewer. This can cause your viewer to believe it will be easy doing business with you and increase your chances of getting a customer.
CONTENT:
As obvious as it sounds, the content on your website gives info to your viewer about your business, but the hidden aim here is to gain your viewer’s confidence. Your content should be true, to the point and most of all, engaging. Try to put yourself in your viewer’s shoes and see what kind of content they are looking for, what questions they want answered, what are the key points to focus on. Remember you have only about 15 seconds of your first-time viewer’s time. Mention your product’s unique selling points (USPs) and important information in a short precise manner. Your content should appeal to the psychology of your customer.
Pro Tip: Try using the word ‘you’ as much as possible.
You can use something termed as the ‘foot in the door’ technique, i.e. if someone agrees to something small which does not require them to give up much, they are much likely to take a step further. You can offer a freebie in exchange for their email ids (since email ids can be used as a better marketing tool than online advertisements). You can link the freebie to a thank you page to get your customer like you more. Adding customer testimonials is a great way to gain a viewer’s trust. Try getting videos or adding photos to your testimonials. You can also have some featured testimonials that people can have a special connection with. You can also use paid plug-ins like ‘proofs’ to increase your credibility.
FEASIBILITY:
Feasibility of usage depends on how easy your website is to read, navigate and understand. You do not want to leave your viewers in a state of confusion. Place the menu at the top of your site and limit the menu items to 10 or less. Try giving links to other pages such as sitemaps, FAQs, testimonials, contacts etc.
While developing navigation for your website, again, place yourself in your visitor’s shoes and think about what pages are most likely to be wanted by visitors, which pages are most critical for the purposes of your website, how visitors will want to move from one page to the next, what visitors will expect in terms of link location and pages linked, and how many clicks it will take visitors to get from your homepage to any other specific page. Try using long descriptive link texts to help your viewers find their way through the website. You should also make sure that your website is accessible from most web browsers, search engines and devices. Also, the downloadable data should be downloadable to most devices.
It is important to keep checking the functionality of your website. Keep taking reviews and feedback from your visitors about their user experience to better your website.
CONSISTENCY:
It is important for your website to stay true to the mission statement. Whether it is the content, the graphics, the testimonials, the FAQs, the entire design of your website should speak to the viewer about your mission statement. That is how you establish your brand. As the viewer goes from the first few lines of your introductory passage to the last page of your website, the viewer must be convinced of your authenticity and expertise. Consistency in your website allows you to present yourself as the experts of your field.
Another important thing to remember is that ‘more’, doesn’t always mean ‘better’. There is a term called as “analysis paralysis” which is often used to describe the inability of your viewer to make a decision on trusting your brand based on the overwhelmingly confusing amount of data on your website. Consistency allows you to stick to your goal and avoid overdoing things.
Your content should repeat the mission statement in different and creative ways but not confuse the viewers into losing their faith in you. The website design should complement the content not overpower it. A good website has one message, one take away and only one goal on each page such that it relates to your mission statement that stays with the viewer as he/she carries forward.
SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMISATION:
SEO is one of the only online marketing channels that, when set up correctly, can continue to pay dividends over time. If you provide a solid piece of content that deserves to rank for the right keywords, your traffic can snowball over time. Optimizing your site will help deliver better information to search engines so that your content can be properly indexed and displayed within search results. SEO is a vast field and there are various guidelines for different search engines, however here are a few things that you can keep in mind while designing your website. Search engines do not read Flash, JavaScript or Frames, so use plenty of written content in HTML format. Try having important keywords in your mission statement and use them frequently and appropriately. Minimize the use of tables and use Cascading Style Sheets for layout and positioning. Your aim is to keep your HTML code clutter-free.
AVOID NEGLIGENCE:
At last, when all is done, we come back to the basics. Avoid silly mistakes! Check your spellings, check your grammar, and check your facts. Be up to date with all the facts and figures because as your business grows, you may have someone quoting or referring to your website somewhere and you don’t want to tarnish your hard-earned reputation by putting up incorrect data on your website.
You should never make it seem as if you have not done your homework properly. Post regularly and keep up with the new trends in the market. Be as true to your website as you are to your business.
Always remember:
*wink*
