How can you make a good website if you don’t know what makes a website good? You might know one when you see one, but how would you describe a powerful website? The bullet points below contain recommendations for making your website stand out in an Internet full of them.
- Forget the bells and whistles. Being bombarded with self-starting videos, sound with an unknown origin and too much Flash technology is the worst way to be greeted when visiting a website. If you think “more is more” when you’re designing your website, you’re wrong. Including multimedia is a fantastic idea, but utilizing those elements in a subtle, inoffensive manner is critical.
- Use simple and clean design. What you’ll notice about the best sites on the web is their usage of white space and clean lines. Having a lot to say is no excuse for disorganization. Your homepage is your first impression. Dark backgrounds, small fonts and huge blocks of text aren’t captivating in the least. You don’t have to fit everyone on one page. A well-designed website will guide the visitor to his destination. You don’t want to search for very long for contact information on a website, why should those who visit your site have to?
- Your content is key. Designs don’t appear in Google search results. Words appear. If your content is boring, incoherent or inconsistent, you won’t get any hits. A good website knows how to speak to its audience. If you have to detail technical specifications, don’t do so on the homepage. Allow the user to find that information on your site; don’t throw it at him. Navigating the site should be complemented by agreeable text. Most people, upon visiting a website for the first time, aren’t going to read everything unless something sparks their interest.
- Test and update frequently. If your website isn’t working properly, that’s the fastest way to lose web hits. A non-operational site might as well not exist at all. The same can be said for a website that’s never updated. The Internet is fast-paced. You have to keep up.