There are at least 1 billion sites on the World Wide Web (WWW) and am sure you have used at least one. In the era of online marketing, a quality website is one of the most important marketing tools for your organization. Your website must have all features of a great website to fully engage visitors and convert them into customers and brand ambassadors.
Whether you need a small or a large website, there are specific features that make your site “good” or great.
So, what makes a website great?
1. Good Design and Functionality
Your website acts as a front door to your organization and therefore it is important to ensure that your website is well designed. Just like you don’t go through weird-looking doors, users won’t spend time on your website if the design is subpar. Good design entails proper use of colors, graphics, layouts, images, and links.
As far as functionality is concerned, your website needs to be functional. Good design is useless if the website does not achieve the desired functionality. If your website is for selling products online, then products must be well labeled and each button needs to work. Areas that don’t work will frustrate users and encourage them to leave.
2. Responsiveness
Today a website must be responsive on any platform. In the early days of web development, websites were not responsive as they were designed to run on computers – which is understandable since there were no smartphones. With smartphones everywhere, you must ensure that your website looks great on computers and mobile devices. A responsive website will not only enhance user experience but also improve your SEO rankings.
3. Easy to Use
Users need to effortlessly use your site to get what they want. Notably, internet users are always in hurry. Your website needs to emphasize quality User Experience (UX) to help users access information with ease. Logical navigation and consistent layouts are key in making your site easy to use.
This feature helps both users looking for specific content and browsers – just crawling the web. Remember there are many websites with similar content and therefore users won’t stay long on your site if they encounter usability challenges.
4. Contact Information
Contact information will help users find you. Your website should have readily available contact information. It is advisable to have this information on every page or a link that connects to the contact page. Also, the contact info should include multiple channels of communication including emails, in, phone numbers, social media profiles, and contact forms. You can also have a google map to indicate your location.
5. Search Engine Optimization
Your site needs traffic. There are several search engine optimization (SEO) techniques that you can use to increase traffic to your website. They include;
· Use of appropriate keywords in content and links.
· Using words that align with what users search for.
· Use page titles and meta tags on every page and alt tags on every image.
Allowing users to share content can have a positive impact on your SEO rankings. You can have comment sections for users to leave their views or live chat tools to interact with your visitors.
If you have a website or you’re planning to have one, be mindful of these five features. At Stansoft Corporation we build websites and redesign existing ones using modern web development techniques. If you need one, we can help! Talk to Us