What makes a good website?
What makes a good website and what makes one bad? There are many different aspects to a website that when combined will make a dictionary definition of a good website. Some aspects of considering a “good” website are based on opinion, such as the appearance and graphics used on the site. People have different tastes, just like with houses, if everyone liked the same colors and themes, we would live in a very boring world. Appearance is only a small part of what makes a good website, additional factors include content, usability, and structure.
- Content and purpose of the site: Do you want a site or do you already have one? What is the purpose of your site and what do you want to achieve? Before you start or continue with your site, you need to set goals and how you want visitors to benefit from using your site. The content on your site should always be kept up to date and reflect the main purpose of your website. If the goal of your site is to sell computers, you obviously don’t want to write about changing a tire.
- Appearance – The appearance and colors used cause an emotional reaction that can be used to make people feel differently, such as shopping. Different colors evoke different feelings. Color psychology has been tested and used by professional web designers to manipulate different messages to users. A design should never be too complex and confusing and should reflect the business and the service or product you have to offer.
- Usability: A website should be easy and intuitive to use, navigation should be easily accessible on every page of your site. You never need to click more than 4 times to go to a specific page, a general rule of thumb is that 2 or fewer clicks will take you to any page on the site. The complicated navigation structure will quickly frustrate your visitors and they will quickly recover if they can’t find what they are looking for.
- Site structure – Visitors cannot see this aspect, but it is crucial to having a good website. The foundation of your site lies within the coding and programming structure. A robust site should be openly usable in all browsers, all screen sizes, all operating systems, and without additional plugins like Flash. Large numbers of potential customers can be lost if your website is not compatible with different systems.
- ISP – Your service provider (host) is also extremely valuable in a good website. Your host should have great uptime (99.9%+) and have fast transfer speeds. When was the last time you stayed on a site that took more than a minute to load?
- Marketing – A good site should at least promote good SEO practice and rank well on major search engines.
Combine those key aspects and you have a great website and if you ever need help making sure you have a good website, Revived Media is always here to help.
