Date: Thursday, January 11, 2007
What makes a good website
Web design has some parallels to the building trade in that it’s hard to know if what you get is value for money. However one thing is true for both industries – if the price seems too good to be true, then it usually is.
You have a great idea for a business – you know your target audience, you have a great product, you’ve even got a company logo and print advertising ready. What about the website? The majority of companies, no matter how small or large, today have some sort of presence on the Internet.
Like many people starting off a new business on a tight budget, you’re out to get the most for your money but not knowing exactly what constitutes a good website results in you paying for something that looks bad, doesn’t work with search engines and isn’t user-friendly, thus putting people off buying your service or product.
There are many ways to define what makes a good website. For small businesses, it’s vital that a website generates revenue – whether through direct online sales or sales leads.
There are numerous components to creating a good website. Three of these elements are a professional look and feel, good usability and search engine optimisation.
The look of your site
The look and feel of a site is important from the view of branding and image. They say that first impressions count when meeting people face to face and it’s no different when it comes to websites, especially if you’re operating in a competitive market.
If you’re a one-man band you may want to create a site that gives the impression your company is larger and well established. This will create an image of reassurance and quality to the end user.
The style of a site is important for attracting the right sort of audience. For example, if you run a small accountancy firm, you will most likely want a site that looks corporate and professional. On the other hand, if you are selling children’s books then you may want a fun, colourful site with cartoon characters.
Usability of your website
Many web designers often overlook usability, as they focus too much on the design and look of the site. It goes without saying that a great looking site with bad usability will drive users away.
Usability is all about the end user experience –it should be easy for users to find what they are after on the site by means of clear and concise navigation and prominent positioning of important information.
Web surfers are a fickle bunch of people and the tiniest hint of confusion or frustration on a site can make them turn away and never come back.
A good usability rule is to stick to what users are used to. When they go onto a website there are certain elements that they are conditioned to seeing: a logo on the top left corner, which is linked back to the home page; clear navigation either horizontally below the header or vertically down the left hand side; a breadcrumb path below the header to let users see where they are on the site; and a distinct area for the main body of text. These are a few expected components of a site and should be adhered to if you want your audience to stay on your site.
Search engine optimisation
Nowadays for the majority of businesses, generating all or some revenue from the Internet is vital to survival. Having a good-looking site will give users a good impression of the company, and having a clear and usable site will make the user experience hassle free, but how will your target audience find your site?
One answer is search engine optimisation (SEO). The idea of SEO is to get your site ranked well on search engines thus giving you a better chance of being found by users looking for your services or products.
SEO is a very unpredictable art form. All search engines have differing ideas as to what elements of a site take priority over others.
There are a few rules that should be stuck to (some carrying more significance than others), such as: using carefully chosen keywords for the title of the web page; adding keywords and a description into the meta tags; and having unique, good quality content on your site.
SEO is a massive topic that is beyond the scope of this article, so if you require more information then it’s best to buy a book for further reading or get in touch with a search engine consultant.
When looking for a web design company to make your site, look at their portfolio of work and contact them to see what services they offer and establish their level of expertise.
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