A website is a front door of your company, organization or business. Today, we have a wide range of approaches to build a quality website, but the key characteristics of a good website always remain same. If you are planning to build a new website, or working on an existing site to make it better, then here are the top ten features of a good website to emphasize.
1. Genuine and Quality Content
The ultimate goal of any search engine is to present unique, original and relevant content to the web surfers. Although fresh content gives you more visibility, but that should not be the only thing to focus on. Your content should be able to do below tasks:
● Answer visitors’ questions
● Feed all the necessary information
● Build trust
● Engage audience
● Make a visitor to take action
2. Rapidity
There are many online tools available to test speed of your website. Nobody likes a website which takes more time to load and respond. Slow speed makes a visitor to hit back button. A website which loads within a couple of seconds not only enhances usability, but also search engine ranking.
3. Search Engine Optimized
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is a technique, which helps you to achieve a higher rank for a particular search query of a web surfer. A website with great content is useless, if no one can find it. A search engine optimized site reaches more people and brings huge traffic.
4. Browser Friendly
There are several browsers available for various devices and operating systems. A website should be compatible with all browsers or at least with popular ones such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, UC, Safari, Internet Explorer etc. A website which isn’t browser-friendly, may not work properly with some browsers and damage user experience.
5. Relevant Appearance
Your website should have relevant appearance, so that your audience can relate to it. For example, a website which provides the live cricket scores should smartly be decorated with former players, cricket grounds, trophies, winning moments, cricket tools, etc., so that a visitor connects with your website and a bond is established.
6. Screen Friendly
Today, the Internet can be accessed through the help of various devices such as mobiles, tablets, laptops and desktops. Each one of them comes with their own screen sizes. Your website should fit across these screen sizes. A website which isn’t screen-friendly makes visitors to scroll horizontally or zoom-in/zoom-out and spoil the user experience.
7. Seamless Navigation
Easy navigation takes a user to the desired places across your website and fulfills his or her needs. The attention span of a website visitor is extremely low. If visitors experience difficulty or confusion to find something, then they might exit your site quickly. Keep the navigation confusion-free and as simple as possible.
8. Social Media Sharing Feature
No doubt, search engine optimization is the best, but solely depending on it is not a good idea. A plugin for social media sharing can drive huge traffic to your website, especially if you have good products, blogs, research data, infographics, etc.
9. Secure
Web surfers are very much concerned about security. Make sure you follow all the guidelines to meet industry standards and ensure optimum security. Use encryption to protect and secure vital data such as passwords. A secure site builds trust and confidence of visitors.
10. Clear CTA
CTA stands for call to action. Terminal goal of any business/organization/company is to make a visitor to take the desired action. Keep easy, simple call to action buttons in appropriate places. At the end of page, it is a good practice to point a user to something useful such as:
● Request a quote
● Download
● Visit
● Share
● Become a member, etc.