10 Core Elements to a Good Website
1. Responsive Design
A responsive website is a must to ensure that your users get the best experience, regardless of what device they are using to view your website.
2. Impactful Landing Pages
People decide in the first seconds whether to keep looking through your site or look elsewhere, so an impactful landing page (particularly for your homepage) will help you capture their attention and reduce bounce rates (people leaving the site early). Displaying high-impact videos, images or/and statements that sum up the benefit of what you do are effective in letting people know that they’ve found the right place for their needs.
3. Fast Loading Page Speeds
People’s attention span in the Internet is typically short. If your web pages don’t load quick enough then you might lose a potential customer before they’ve even accessed your site.
4. Good, Concise Content
Again, people’s attention span on the Internet is short so you need to get the right information across in a concise and useful format. No one wants to scroll through pages of text (particularly on a mobile device) to find what they need to know so keep your content concise and present the most relevant/useful information to your users so that they will actually take the time to read it in the first place.
5. Simple & Consistent Navigation
Good, consistent navigation on every device is a must. Users should be able to find key information and perform an action in as fewer clicks as possible. They must also be able to find their way back, or navigate around your site without coming to a dead end. Consider your main menu structure, search bars and breadcrumb navigation to keep users on track.
6. Effective Use of White Space
Good use of white space is key so that users can easily pick out content from your website without it being cluttered or difficult to process. It also helps users take a particular journey that you want them to go on, or action that you want them to take e.g. Google search bar for searches, Amazon products for purchasing.
7. Clear Call to Actions
What is the purpose of your website? Typically, it is to support your business goals through generating leads or sales. You should have relevant calls to action such as ‘buy now’ or ‘enquire now’ throughout your website at key points to encourage converting visitors into leads or sales. That way your website will have the best chance of doing the job it is intended to do.
8. Persuasive Content That Builds Trust
We ALWAYS ask our clients why anyone would choose them over a competitor, or what their USP’s are. Often the answers we get aren’t obvious on their website. For example, if its your people/team that makes you better then don’t use stock photos on your website, or if you are well established, award winning, have multiple 5-star reviews and such and such accredited then make sure that is represented and clear on your website. Users typically shop around the Internet for their solutions so make sure you are giving them enough reasons to engage with you rather than expecting them to know why you’re the best.
9. Interactive Features That Enhances UX
Relevant interactive features on your website such as a live chat, news blog, social media feed, pdf downloads, newsletter sign up or members area will help with user retention and conversions. Consider what interactive features you could use to enhance the user experience and separate you from a bog-standard brochure website.
10. Well Marketed
An all singing all dancing website is no good if no one ever finds it. Don’t expect to just launch a website and receive a flood of enquiries/sales. Have a strategy in place for driving traffic to your website and make sure you have some form of analytics set up on your site. That way you can measure both website performance and what digital marketing techniques are working well for you so that you can allocate more resource to doing the things that work, and less on the things that don’t.
If you’d like a quote for your next website project, then feel free to complete our website questionnaire. We’d be happy to support you with your website needs!