How To Create A Good Website

The basic reason why we need to create a good website is simply to attract more customer and improve business credibility. In a situation where a website cannot deliver on these minimum returns, then it is not good enough even if the design outlook is beautiful.

There is really more to what qualifies a site to be adjudged good than just been attractive.

Below are the criteria that make a great website?

1. It must be functional.
2. It should be goal oriented.
3. It must be user-friendly.
4. It should be very easy to use and understand.
5. The design should be unique and reflect the business brand.
6. The information architecture must be simple to understand.
7. The overall aesthetic must be beautiful and attractive.
8. The user experience factor should be magnetic and memorable.
9. It must be accessible across different devices and browser compatible.
10. Color combination should blend to form a unique whole that speak the language of a brand.

You’ll agree with me that to achieve the above fit requires great planning, much time and some level of experience.

However, it is very easy to do if you apply basic design principles and get creative with it.

Tips to create a good website that converts

Goal Setting: This is the first place to start because it would determine the overall texture and road map to success of the site. Some people feel this should come last when the site would have been created, but wisdom demand that you can work backwards. If you do in this context, you would be able to determine your target audience, how to reach them, how to wow them, with what kind of tone, etc.

Then, how do you intend to solve their perceived problem, how do you want them to absorb your brand, how do you get their feedback, on which platform do you want to engage them (blog or social media or both), what marketing channel do you intend to use and so on.

Research into all these and draw your inferences which would invariably become your goal for the website.

Content (words) and design (images & Graphics): These are the pivotal instruments needed to aid structural design that could propel conversion. Content and design cannot stand in isolation. They work in tandem to covey the real intent of a message beyond measure.

When content (word) and design (image) are used in the right blend and proportion, conversion seems inevitable.

Insight on how to use content & design to achieve result on website

– Use images that enhance the content that carry the message.
– Let your image worth more than a million words, but tied specifically to the main subject of discuss.
– Don’t use too many images (it may slow down page load) or long sentences. Concise and straight to the point is the golden rule.
– Use less of stock photos. Make your content real and natural as much as possible.
– Arrange them in sequence. This is called web-talk (the ability to engage audience with your message). Your content and design should Educate, Enchant, Empathize, Embrace, Enrich and Empower the audience and customer.

Look & Feel: This has to do with the aesthetic of the site. What is the perception of people visiting the site the first time? Does it create a wow effect that brings about an unforgettable experience?

Though this can be hard to achieve especially on the premise that human has varied degree of appreciating things. Nevertheless, experience cannot be forgotten if it impacted something special and unique.

One sure way to do this is to make the site functional and ensure the color combination is elegantly tied to the colors that represent your brand. How do I mean? If you have navy blue, yellow and red colors on your logo for instance, then the colors on your site should naturally flow in that order.

Again, you need to use one of the colors more prominently which would be the overall color of the site and form the acceptable for color for your niche.

Functionality: Any website that can not readily meet the need of targeted audience is useless and better not to have been created. There are so many reasons why a site may not be functional among which are;

– If the typeface (font) is too small and not readable.
– When the site takes too long to open or load.
– When landing pages are not contextually linked. This is misinformation and could be treated with contempt. For instance, a link to read more should not lead to a sign up form.
– When color are badly combined, content readability become difficult. Light colored text should not be on light background and vice versa.
– When website cross-browser compatibility is an issue. A good website should render well on major browsers like Mozilla Fire fox, Chrome, Explorer, etc.

The degree of website functionality is measured by the rate at which it is accessible and usable.

Responsive Design: It is important to note that people now prefer to access the World Wide Web from their mobile devises. The reason is simple- convenience. So, a good website must be able to be accessed across different mobile screen without recourse to zoom left or right.

There are different ways to get this done either through App development or mobile specific theme or a responsive theme.

I’ll suggest you go for responsive theme because it is easy to use, less expensive and adaptable especially if your website is powered by WordPress.

All you need to do is to plan your content around two major screens- Desktop and Mobile devises.

Things to do or avoid when planning a good website

– Avoid flash.
– Avoid JavaScript or modify them if it must be used.
– Include alt and title attributes on image. It is good for both SEO and the disabled blind.
– Use CSS for structural designs.
– Avoid fancy fonts that cannot be read easily.
– Use anchor text on links. Avoid using generic text like ‘Click here.’
– It’s great to make links and buttons change color on hover.
– Avoid grammatical blunder. Use Microsoft word to correct your content before publishing.
– Stick with a theme per time, but customize it to make it your own.

Conclusion: It is very easy to design a good website if you follow simple design process. However, no website can be said to be good if it is not accessible, usable and functional no matter how beautiful or attractive. What do you think?

Image create: socialbrite