What Makes a Good Website

There are currently over 600 million websites in the world. Making a website has become an easy and manageable task. Getting your business online is one of the best things you can do to reach new and potential customers. However, many people find it difficult to begin. In this article, we outline four basic steps to help you make your website memorable and engaging.

1. Strong and clear message

Your website is your best chance to make a lasting impression to your customers. What is the first thing visitors see when they come to your website? Do they understand your site’s purpose?

In order to have a successful and engaging website, it should have a simple and clear message that all visitors can understand. The best way to communicate your website’s purpose is through a clear message on your homepage. This will also help search engines categorize your website for appropriate keywords and phrases. If you are building your website with Yola, you may want to review this article.

Think about what your website does or what you want it to do. What products or services do you offer? Then, on your homepage clearly display that message in your content.

Many websites online fail to communicate the essence of their website to customers on their homepage and, thereby, lose valuable leads and sales. Your website is often a potential customer’s first impression of your business. Make it count.

2. Easy navigation

Another important feature of a good website is navigation. Many website owners fail to include well-structured pages or clear navigation tabs that lead visitors to relevant sections of their website.

Organize the information on your website in a simple and structured way. Think of the general path you would like a site visitor to take. In many cases, adding sub-pages to the top navigation will be the best option for organizing your information into specific categories.

Think through your web pages’ structure so that it all makes sense in a logical flow. That way, when customers visit your website, they will have an easier time navigating to the information on your website that is most relevant to them. Take a look at the Zumba Hamilton site below for an example of clear navigation. In some cases, adding sub-pages to the top navigation will be the best option for organizing your information into specific categories.

3. Content and more content

The main function of your website is to convey relevant content to your visitors and help them understand the problems that your products and/or services solve. Your content is the single most important element in increasing customers. Make sure that the content you add to your site is displayed in a simple and clear manner.

Use clear and error-free language that will encourage your visitors to dig deeper for more information about your business. You’ll want to include keywords that relevant to your business and industry in your page titles, meta tags, headings and in your website’s content so that your potential customers can find your business online. This tactic is called search engine optimization (SEO). We discuss this in depth in our SEO Tutorials.

4. Community

Building a community for your business is one of the best investments you can make. It’s crucial to establish an online presence. Start with the networks you know and are active on – the most common being Facebook and Twitter. Include Facebook “Like” from your business Facebook page or a Twitter follow button will allow visitors to connect with you through other media.

In addition to your social networking profiles, creating and maintaining a blog is one of the most effective ways to build community and a great way to increase content. (You can create a blog for your Yola site using the Tumblr widget). Blogs are a great way to have a conversation with your visitors and customers on a regular basis and improve the level of trust website visitors and customers have for your business over time.