Whatever the purpose of a particular website might be – whether it is there for personal or professional purposes – it is important to make sure that you are designing and setting it up as well as possible. The more successfully you can do this, the more that you are going to get out of the experience, and the more the site will do for you. With all that in mind, it might be handy to consider some of the most vital characteristics that a successful website will tend to have.
In this post, we’ll look at some of the most important of those. You should find that all of the following are absolutely worth looking into, as they are going to give you a chance to improve a website you might be working on, or to create a very successful one from scratch. In either case, it’s going to be worthwhile.
Great Domain Name
This needs to be considered early on, as it is something that can affect the website greatly and you need to make sure that you are purchasing a domain name as soon as possible. The domain name has to be as close to the website’s actual name as possible. If it is a business, you need to make sure that it is simply that brand name, if possible. For a personal website, it could be your own name, or a shortened version of it.
The main thing is that it is memorable, short, not easily mistaken for an embarrassing or rude alternative, and that it’s likely to land you as many followers and visitors as possible. If you can make sure of all that, you are going to find that you have chosen a domain name that will really stick, and that’s what is important here.
Less Is More
In web design generally, it’s really good to follow the old dictum of less is more. If you try to go overboard and do too much, it is only going to result in a much less successful website, and one which is probably going to cause you more problems too. After all, the more elements there are on a given page, the longer it will take to load, and the more stuff there is that could go wrong. Because of all that, it’s vital that you are keeping things to a minimum wherever you can.
That means that you need to have a really strong sense of what each page should have, and then make sure that you don’t deviate from it at all. That can be hard to do, but it’s something that is probably going to be worth your while. You want a crisp, clean and stripped-back effect that people are going to immediately respond to positively. If you can achieve that, you’ll find that most of the hard work is done.
Quality Content
With all the talk of design and layout, it can be really easy to overlook one of the most important elements of all: content. What your website actually hosts is really important, and you need to make sure that you are delivering the best quality content you possibly can at all times. If you have a blog, then it needs to be full of great posts that you are proud of and which educate and enlighten people. If you only have static pages, it might be even easier, but you still need to make sure you ensure quality.
If you draw people in with a great layout and then fail to deliver when it comes to the content, they are not going to hang around very long, so it’s vital that you don’t do this. Make sure that you are genuinely extremely proud of every single thing you have on your site, whether it’s writing, images, or any other elements you might have chosen to include on your pages.
Functional
A good website also needs to be functional, which simply means that it has a purpose and it is fulfilling it strongly and clearly. You might have a site that is there solely to draw people to learn about your business and make enquiries, for instance. If so, you need to ensure that everything centers around that, and that there is nothing that is going to distract from that in any way. Alternatively, your site might be primarily a blog, in which case you need to ensure that the blog stays working and that you are writing great content too. All in all, function is king, so make sure not to overlook it.
If you are concerned about whether or not your site is functional, all you need to do is take a look at it from the visitor’s perspective. Go through the site and see what the experience is like, and then ask yourself whether it’s the experience that you are aiming for or not. If there is anything that seems slightly off, you might find that you need to make some alterations – and it will certainly be worth doing so at your earliest convenience. As long as you have a fully functional site that does what it is supposed to do, you have succeeded, and you are going to be a lot happier with your site.
Mobile-Friendly
The statistics about mobile browsing may surprise you. In fact, the vast majority of internet users these days are using mobile rather than desktop apps. In other words, there is a good chance that when someone visits your website, they are doing so on a mobile device. What does that mean for you? Simply that you need to make sure your site is as mobile-friendly as possible. This might be more challenging to do than you think, but the truth is that it is just a case of changing a few key things around where necessary.
Make sure that you are frequently checking how your site performs on mobile, simply by checking it yourself. You will soon see if there is anything clunky or not quite working, and then you know what needs fixing. You should make sure that you are doing this regularly, and that you are allowing for any changes that you need to do as required.
Simplicity
In a sense, we looked into this when we were looking at ‘less is more’, but this is so important that it deserves being looked into more fully in its own right. You need to do all you can to ensure that your website is as simple in design as possible. If you can do that, it’s going to make a radical difference to the way that the website appears and to the kind of responses it tends to give. That’s because a simple design is one that is easier on the eye and more attractive. But it also means that the site will load better and be considerably more likely to work properly as it should.
If you are struggling to keep your design simple – which can be more difficult than you might think – you need to make sure that you are getting some professional help here. That is likely to come in the form of web design companies, who are able to design your site with as much simplicity as you need, to ensure that it is a fully functioning and working site. Having their assistance is certainly a good idea, especially if your website is for a professional purpose and you need it to really work at all times.
Reliable Host
This is a behind-the-scenes factor that you need to have, but it is really important that you do have it. The host for the site is going to make a huge difference to how the site performs, largely because you are going to need to have a host that you know will be okay and won’t fail you. If you are able to find a host that is this reliable, it will make an enormous difference to the website’s success.
So how can you be sure you are choosing a good host? It’s just about shopping around, and making sure that you are looking at reviews before landing on one. You might be surprised at how much they can differ, so it is definitely a good idea to look into this early on. It might take you a while to find a host that is truly reliable, after all.
Good Bounce Rate
We have discussed this briefly above, but it really is important to make sure that you have a good bounce rate on your site. That means that people are coming and staying for a while, not simply leaving straight away, and it’s an indicator of good health for your site. So how do you achieve that? Firstly and foremostly by ensuring that you are providing people with what they need, and then by ensuring that the design is simple, as above. If you can do that, it’s going to be much better for the site and the visitors alike.