What makes a good website? The ultimate guide to developing a successful and functional website

A good website design inspires users to take the action you want, it can also bring your marketing strategy onto a digital level and communicate your branded identity with a global audience. 

A successful and functional website has the potential to successfully convert potential online visitors into loyal customers. This is why many small and medium-sized companies start their online presence by creating compelling websites – it’s the cornerstone of your digital presence. 

In this article, we will provide guidance and advice on what makes a good website, ensuring that you are aware of the basics of web design and how you can implement strategic functions to enhance your digital presence and online awareness. 

Why does a business need a website?

A website should be utilised as a tool to attract online visitors and promote the nature of your business. It’s an opportunity to talk about who you are as a business, and share in your company culture, i.e.) business goals, strategic vision, ethos, news and announcements, etc.

A good company website will also clearly demonstrate the company’s values and messages, successfully raising brand awareness among its target audience and gaining the trust of its visitors, which in turn contributes towards enhanced digital presence. 

Ultimately though, a business website will generate an avenue for sales, whether it allows your website visitors to browse through products or book one of your business’ services, it will ultimately act as an online sales representative for the benefit of your business goals. 

What makes a good website design? 

A good website is characterized by several key elements that contribute to its overall effectiveness and user experience. Here are some essential aspects of what makes a good website design:

User-friendly design

The website should have a clean, organized layout with intuitive navigation. Users should be able to find the information they need easily and quickly. A lack of user-friendly design will only serve to frustrate users and potentially damage your online reputation. 

Fast loading speed

Users have little patience for slow-loading websites. Optimizing images, minimizing code, and using efficient hosting are some ways to improve loading times. 

Optimized for search engines (SEO)

Employing SEO techniques can help improve the website’s visibility in search engine results, attracting more organic traffic. This strategic approach to content optimisation will enhance your website’s performance and ensure that you are creating content that will appeal to target audiences. 

SEO is becoming increasingly essential for a good website, because no matter how good your website is if it doesn’t appeal to search engine algorithms, then it will struggle to rank, which reduces the likelihood of it appearing in search engine results. 

A website built with SEO in mind has greater potential than one that does not. At ProfileTree, we are an industry-leading web-design agency will specialist skills in SEO. 

Clear and concise content

The content should be well-written, engaging, and easily understood. Use headings, bullet points, and paragraphs to make it scannable and readable. Audiences do not want to have to sift through pages of content to find the information that they need, make it as uncomplicated as possible. 

Visual appeal

Aesthetically pleasing visuals, such as high-quality images and appropriate colour schemes, can enhance the overall user experience and convey the website’s branding. If for example, a website has too many competing colours in its design, it may come across as too complicated for audiences to make sense of. 

Strong and relevant branding

Consistent branding elements, including the logo, colours, typography, and tone of voice, help establish a professional and cohesive identity. You should ensure that your website flows from one page to another, to ensure your brand is consistently represented appropriately. 

Effective use of multimedia

Incorporating relevant multimedia elements, such as videos, infographics, or interactive features, can make the content more engaging and memorable. We all have different preferences for comprehending information, so make sure that your website supports multi-learning functionality.

Accessibility

A good website should be accessible to all users, including those with disabilities. Providing alternative text for images, using proper heading structure, and ensuring keyboard navigability are examples of accessibility practices.

Regularly updated content

Keeping the website’s content fresh and up-to-date demonstrates that the business is active and reliable. It also encourages users to return for new information in the form of articles or blog content.

Integration with social media

Connecting the website to relevant social media platforms enables easy sharing of content and increases exposure. Social media content should be developed to attract customers to visit your website, on the back of engaging social media posts.

Analytics and tracking

Incorporating web analyses allows you to gather data about your website’s performance, user behaviour, and conversion rates, which can inform future improvements. Some of these tools include Google Search Console, SEM Rush and Ubersuggest. 

Remember that these are general guidelines, and the specific requirements of a good website can vary depending on its purpose, target audience, and industry, for example, B2B website design will differ from B2C websites because they are targeting entirely different groups of people who have different purchasing decisions.

What makes a reliable website?

A website should be able to protect its user data, embed secure functionality and have suitable hosting capabilities. If you are hoping to create a reliable website, there are some specific things that you need to be aware of. 

Secure and trustworthy

Implementing appropriate security measures, such as SSL certificates for data encryption, helps protect user information and instils trust when using your website. This is especially important when a website handles user-sensitive data, such as banking information, personal details, etc. 

Hosting

Hosting refers to the service of storing and making a website accessible on the internet. A reliable hosting provider like NameHero ensures that your website is available to users around the clock, with minimal downtime.

It’s essential to regularly monitor your website’s performance and evaluate your hosting plan to ensure it meets your website’s demands. If your website experiences slow loading times, frequent downtime, or security issues, it may be worth considering upgrading your hosting plan or switching providers

What makes a good eCommerce website?

An eCommerce website will endeavour to sell its products and services in an online format. This requires a specialised web design approach in order to effectively showcase its merchandise and attract customers. When designing and developing an eCommerce website, keep in mind the following: 

Clear calls to action (CTAs)

Each page should have clear and visible CTAs guiding users to take desired actions, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or contacting the business. This is an essential tool in converting casual browsers into purchasing customers. 

Responsive and mobile-friendly

With the increasing use of mobile devices, a good website should be optimized to display properly on various screen sizes and resolutions. In fact, it is now more common for users to visit a website using a mobile, it is now a necessity for eCommerce website design as opposed to an extra function. 

Images and video content

If your website is selling products, you will need to invest in high-quality videography content in order to best present what your business is selling. Visual content should show the product in action, whether it’s a model wearing a dress or someone using paint on a surface, visual content will help convince audiences of the worthiness and quality of the product. 

What makes for a good website?

Ultimately, a good website will be the result of the time and effort you have put into it. In the initial phases of the website design, you will need a specialist approach, with technical skills and knowledge to ensure that the infrastructure of the website build is sound. 

In order to ensure that the website continues to function well and attract visitors, you should tailor the content, post new stuff and regularly add enhanced functionality or new Calls To Action. A website needs to be carefully managed to ensure that you get the most out of it, so be sure to regularly check your website traffic and identify areas for improvement. 

If you’re still unsure of what makes a good website and how to manage your business website, you can receive digital training from us at ProfileTree. We design and develop award-winning websites for clients and in-house branding – and were extremely good at it!