1. Original, Fresh Content
Content is most important in the web world. People visit websites for the primary purpose of finding content, so make sure you deliver the content that they expect from your website. Website content
should be unique and up to date. Fresh content will keep visitors and
search engines coming back for more. Don’t forget to proofread!
2. Target Audience
From a quick ride of your website, visitors should be able to find
what you offer and how you can benefit them. A good website will have
headlines and text that speaks to the target audience’s needs and wants.
Many websites simply list what their company does without saying how
they can benefit their target audience. Keep your audience in mind when
designing your website to be sure that it will appeal to them and encourage them to take action (whether that is to submit a contact form, signup for a newsletter or buy a product).
3. User-Friendly Navigation
A good website has content that is easy to find. Pages should be
organized and named in a way that the target audience will easily
understand. For instance, different pages would be better labeled in simple page names. Keep your navigation consistent
from page to page to avoid any possible confusion. Double check all your
links to make sure they are working. Make sure that your most popular
content is no more than a click away from your homepage. If your website
has a lot of content, provide a search box so visitors can quickly find
what they are looking for.
4. Simple and Professional Design
A good website will have an attractive layout that is easy on the eyes.
Be sure your colors contrast well and your text doesn’t require a
magnifying glass to read. Personally, I can’t stand reading large
amounts of content written in white on a black background. It strains my
eyes. Reducing the contrast a bit can help (light grey text on dark
grey background).
Lots of text can overwhelm a user. Breaking up text into subheads and
bullet points will improve the layout of the page and make the text
more scannable. No one has time to read every word on a page.
Use design elements to draw attention to or to enhance the content of a page. With
every design element added, take a step back and make sure it serves a
purpose and does not detract from the usability of the site.
Put things where users expect them to be. However, do try to make your
website look unique. Just remember that simple, professional design will
be much more effective than flashy, overcrowded design.
Use some stranded colors which can be readable by the color blind people. There should be a button for increase and decrease the font size of the web page which will help people who has some eye site issue.
5. Speed
How many seconds will you wait for a page to load before you give up and
leave a website? Many factors can affect the loading time of a website
including coding, number of graphics, the server speed, traffic volume
on the website and the capabilities of a user’s computer.
Make sure your server has the proper amount of space/bandwidth for
your website and that your website code is lightweight. Use large
graphics sparingly. Use CSS styles in place of graphics where possible.
Waiting for large graphics or a fancy flash animation to load on each
page will surely turn away some visitors.
6. Search engine optimization (SEO)
SEO is one of the most commonly neglected aspects of a website, but a
website is useless if no one can find it. Think about the keywords that
users may search for to find a product or service you offer. Do some
research to see how often those keywords are searched for through a tool
like Google’s Keyword Tool. Use keywords in titles, meta tags,
headings, file names and in the content of your site. Search engine
optimization can mean the difference between getting 500 visitors a
month and 500+ visitors a day.
7. Link building
Links are an important factor in determining where your website appears
in search engine results. Find as many legitimate sites as you can that
will link you your website. Add your link to your business profile in
directories like Google Local, Yahoo! Local, Merchant Circle, Insider Pages, Yellow Pages, LinkedIn
and more. Submit articles and PR to sites that will include a link back
to your website. The best way to get links to your site, however, is to
provide unique and interesting content that people want to link to. You
can make it easy for them to share your content by providing links or
buttons such as the addthis.com button.
8. Tracking
A good website is a work in progress. A nice tool like Google Analytics
will keep track of the number of people who come to your website, what
pages they viewed, where they came from, what keywords they used in
search engines, how many left after the first page and more. Unlike
other media, websites can be easily tracked to see what is working and
what isn’t. This data will help you to improve the quality and structure
of your site.
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