What Makes a Good Website?

Why bother publishing a poorly designed and developed website? The whole point of creating a website is to communicate, promote, and connect with an audience. Well designed websites are crucial for businesses, organizations, and individuals: often the first point of contact for potential clients or partners.

User experience (UX), aesthetics, and functionality are the three main elements of a good website. Users must also rightly feel secure using your site; otherwise, all the other elements are pointless. A visually appealing, inclusive, navigable website boosts your brand’s reputation, credibility, and user loyalty.

Here’s a more detailed breakdown of how to make a good website. We’ll cover more than just UX, aesthetics, and functionality. We’ll also discuss relevance, CTA, SEO best practices, and the importance of regularly updating your site.

User-Friendly Navigation (Good Web Design Starts Here)

Have you ever felt lost on a website because you couldn’t find what you wanted? Don’t let your visitors experience the same frustration.

Good web design starts with consideration for visitors and their reasons for visiting your site. Navigation significantly affects the user-friendliness of your web design.

Navigation refers to the menu or links that allow users to navigate a website’s pages. It should be intuitive, easy to use, and consistent throughout the site.

The following are some tips for achieving user-friendly navigation:

1. Keep It Simple

Too many options often overwhelm site visitors, making it challenging for them to find what they’re looking for. Stick to essential top-level categories and subcategories if needed.

Unnecessary clutter also slows your website’s loading speed, often driving away impatient users.

2. Use Clear, Intuitive Menus, and Structure

Use labels that are self-explanatory and familiar to most users. ‘Home,’ ‘About,’ and ‘Contact‘ are some examples of well-understood menu items.

If your site has a lot of pages, consider using dropdown menus or expandable categories to keep the main navigation menu organized and compact.

Learn more here: Best Practices in UX Design for a Website.

3. Make Information Easy to Find (Logical Hierarchy)

Arrange your content in a logical order that makes sense to users. Most websites follow a top-to-bottom hierarchy, with the most crucial information at the top of the page and less significant details towards the bottom.

Ensure all links are working and take users to the intended destination. I can bet you know how frustrating it is to click on a link expecting great information or a sweet deal, only to encounter a 404 error page. It’s a massive turn-off for users.

Another way to simplify navigation is adding a search bar for users to easily scan the entire site for specific specific information. Search bars are especially helpful for larger websites with multiple pages and categories.

4. Mobile-Responsive Design (Critical for Modern Users)

How many people do you know who don’t have smartphones or tablets? When you’re lounging or commuting, will you likely use your PC or smartphone to browse social media and websites?

Serious publishers will make their sites mobile responsive so users easily navigate and view their content regardless of the device used. In fact, Google now prioritizes mobile-responsive websites in its search results, making it a must-have feature for any website.

Fast Loading Speed (How to Make a Great Website Perform)

Would you patiently wait for a website to load for more than three seconds? Even if you’re admirably patient, most internet users don’t have to be patient because they’re spoilt for choice.

There are millions of websites out there vying for their attention, making it easy for them to move on to the next one if a website takes a second too long to load. So, how do you boost your website speed to keep your users engaged?

Here are some tips:

5. Optimize Images

Large and high-quality images may look great on a website, but they can significantly slow down its loading speed.

To ensure faster loading speed, convert all sorts of images in WebP or compress them into a smaller size using various online tools.

6. Clean Up Your Code

Extra unused code on your website can also slow down its loading speed. You need to regularly clean up your code; always remove all unnecessary scripts, plugins, or stylesheets.

Minify your CSS, JavaScript, and HTML using tools or plugins to reduce file size and improve load times. Manual minification is only recommended for small projects.

Organize your code and remove any unnecessary characters or spacing, which can also contribute to slower loading times.

7. Utilize Browser Caching

Browser caching allows you to store elements of your website in a user’s web browser for a fixed period. When a user revisits your site, their browser quickly retrieves these elements instead of downloading them again, resulting in faster page loading times.

8. Use Reliable Hosting

What you pay for is what you get. Your website deserves to be hosted on a reliable and fast server. Buy ample disk space and bandwidth for your website so it can easily handle traffic spikes without slowing down.

9. Utilize Content Delivery Networks (CDN)

A CDN consists of many servers in different global locations, all networked to help client websites minimize latency. CDNs help deliver your website content to users from the nearest server, reducing page loading time significantly.

So, use reputable CDNs to boost your UX and SEO rankings.

Visually Appealing & Professional Design (What Makes a Good Website Design)

Your website is a digital portal that draws in clients that your business couldn’t access physically. So, it must sell your brand, and absolutely cannot be an eyesore.

So, what makes a what a website a good website aesthetic?

10. Ensure Cohesive Branding (Colors, Fonts, Imagery)

Your brand identity should be cohesive across all your outlets, from signage to print media, social media, and your website.

Figure out your brand character and use it to determine your brand colors, fonts, and imagery. Then, use the same on your website and all other brand outlets.

11. Tweak for Balanced Whitespace and Readability

Whitespace or negative space is the empty space surrounding elements on a page. It helps readers focus on the main message, thanks to some breathing room.

Without enough whitespace, your website can look cluttered and unprofessional. Use too much whitespace, and your website could look empty and incomplete.

Balancing between whitespace and content is an art that’s so necessary. It helps create an aesthetically pleasing website that’s also easy to read. Here are some tips for achieving a balance.

• Use line spacing: Increase the space between lines of text to make them easier to read.
• Add margins: Margins create separation between page elements so readers focus on each individually.
• Keep paragraphs short: Long paragraphs can be overwhelming for readers, so break them up into shorter ones
• Use bullet points and lists: They’re great for organizing information in a visually appealing way, and they also help break up large blocks of text.
• Utilize headings and subheadings: Headings and subheadings making your message easier to follow. They’re also great for creating visual hierarchy.

12. Reflect Professionalism with High-Quality Visuals

We live in a visually-driven world, and as such, high-quality visuals are important for creating a professional image. The idea is to use decent backgrounds and graphics so your content becomes more engaging. 

Here are some tips on how to use visuals effectively:

• Choose high-quality images: Using pixelated or low-resolution images can detract from the professionalism of your work. Use high-quality, clear, and crisp visuals in your content.
• Use relevant images: Images should complement your text; don’t just use them for decoration. They should be appropriate and add value to your content.
• Incorporate infographics, which are great for presenting complex information in an easy-to-digest format by breaking up large text blocks.

First, source great photos, then convert them to WebP using a reliable converter tool. WebP offers better quality and smaller file sizes than traditional formats like JPEG and PNG.

High-Quality, Relevant Content (What Constitutes a Good Website)

13. Use Engaging Copy on Your Pages

Page copy heavily relies on copywriting to sell the product, inform the reader, or convey a message. It’s essential for this copy to be engaging and compelling to capture the attention of your audience.

Follow the tips below to create effective pages:

• Know your target audience by researching your target demographic and their interests, pain points, and preferences.
• Avoid using complex or technical jargon that may confuse readers.
• Use attention-grabbing headlines, as your headline is often the first thing that readers see when they land on your page.
• Naturally incorporate keywords and phrases that your target audience is likely to use on search engines.
• Keep your content concise and easy to read with short sentences, bullet points, and numbered lists.
• Use visual aids like photos, videos, and graphics to break up text, making it more visually appealing.

14. Populate Site With Relevant Content

Once you have a visually appealing and user-friendly website design, it’s time to populate your site with relevant content. It should be a must in your website launch checklist.

Publish articles, blog posts, product descriptions, and any other information relevant to your target audience. An SEO and content strategy agency can help you plan and create high-quality content to attract your audience and keep them engaged.

Incorporate relevant keywords naturally in your page titles, meta descriptions, headings, and content to improve search visibility. Avoid keyword stuffing, which can hurt your rankings. Also, don’t forget to regularly publish fresh content to keep your site relevant.

Strong Calls-to-Action (How to Make a Good Website Convert)

What’s the point of investing in all the above resources and skills if you’re not going to make the most of them?

Your website should have clear and strong calls-to-action (CTAs) to guide your visitors towards taking action, whether it’s making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or contacting your business.

Follow these tips for effective CTAs:

• Use action-oriented and persuasive language.
• Ensure they stand out visually on your website.
• Place them strategically in relevant areas of your website.
• Test and track their performance regularly to see what works best.

You can also use lead magnets such as free e-books, webinars, or consultations to entice visitors to take action. Learn more here: 4 Website Design Principles to Boost Your Conversion Rate.

Get Audited and Tweaked by Adopt the Web

We like emphasizing that SEO is important for your website. Great SEO starts with creating a good website, as we’ve discussed above, but it doesn’t end there.

You must regularly audit and tweak your website to ensure it stays optimized and ranks well on search engines. Adopt the Web offers SEO audits as part of our services.

We also build quality websites from scratch or redesign existing ones with SEO in mind, so we would love to hear from you!