What makes a good website? Everything you need to know to create an effective website

With over 600 millions websites available across the world, getting your business found online has become a simple and effective task, one that allows you to reach out to new audiences, show off your business and generate even more sales. 

Unfortunately, however, not every website works as well as it could and there are still a number of ways businesses can still get it wrong. If you’re looking to make your website not only more engaging but also more memorable, we’ve put together a short guide to creating a successful site.    

Clear message 

Your website is likely to be your first point of call for customers and the best chance you have to make a lasting impression. In order to create an engaging website, you need to have a simple and clear message for your visitors to see, such as featuring your business mission or purpose on your website homepage.

Think about what you have to offer and what you want your website to do and show this off on your homepage, many websites fail to communicate their message with their customers and ultimately lose valuable leads and sales. Your website is the best tool you have to communicate with your customers so you need to make it count.  

Easy to navigate 

Another key element for a good website is navigation. If your website isn’t well structured and easy to navigate then this can prove to be detrimental to your website and your business. Your customers want to easily find relevant sections of your website and if they can’t do so or it is too complicated they’ll go elsewhere.

Organise your website in a simple and structured way, think about how you want to visit the website and the paths you would take to navigate around a web page. This gives you the best idea of what your customers want and how you can organise your website to help them. 

Original content 

Your content is the most important element if you’re looking to increase traffic and sales, your content being the most important feature in telling them information about your product, services or business. 

It’s important you make sure your content is displayed in a simple, clean way and contains rich information which will encourage your customers to find out more information. Great content builds visitor interest and entices them to get involved through either enquiring for information or making a purchase.  

Uniquely Designed 

For your website to appeal to audiences it needs to have a creative, modern and usable design. Using a modern layout, which features your brand logo and colours not only looks consistent and professional but also can help your company appeal to its target audience.

These days website design trends change over time so it’s also important to keep up to date and make sure that you’re website is relevant, modern and can keep up with the likes of your competition. 

Search Engine Optimised 

Without SEO your business will struggle to get found in search results, leaving people to go elsewhere. Not only does SEO helps you bring your target audience to your website to increase sales, it can also be a huge part of the growth of your business which is why it’s so important you get it right.

Including keywords relevant to your business and your industry in your page titles, meta tags, headings and website content means that there is a much greater chance of potential customers finding you online.  

Mobile Friendly 

These days it’s commonplace for people to access websites through a number of ways, from desktop devices through to mobiles and tablets, if your website isn’t responsive then it may as well not exist at all.

If you’re looking to get found by these mobile and tablet users then you need your website to work for them, if it’s taking to long to work or doesn’t offer the same slick website desktop users may have then your customers won’t be pleased.

Develop A Brand Strategy

Building a website is just the beginning, whilst it’s relatively easy to launch and promote a site, you do need to think about how it ties in with the rest of your content and your overall branding. If you aren’t willing to think about how everything fits together, such as your logo, your colours, your message and your marketing you’re already fighting a losing battle.

Your website is only one factor in developing your online persona, so be sure to identify how your website fits into the bigger picture before you go any further and make the sure that what you do helps you unlock the greater potential. 

Showcase Your Products & Services

If you’re looking to make the most of your website then it’s a good idea to focus on showing off the products and services that you offer. Through posting professionally taken photos or even authentic looking stock photography, you can show clearly what you have to offer.

Having a well designed website is all well and good but if you’re posting poor quality photos, your customers, or potential customers are going to think twice about looking further into your goods or services. 

A good website should attract attention, be engaging and promote sales, without an effective website your business could struggle to attract traffic and can lead to a lack of sales. Without considering these factors you could end up with a boring, slow and unresponsive website, costing you time, money and sales. 

If you’re looking to create a unique, responsive and successful website then you should always consider speaking to an expert. Taking on the challenge of creating your website alone could result in you missing these key elements, take the plunge today and talk to our expert team to find out more.