10 TIPS FOR A GOOD WEBSITE
10 tips for a good website
More and more often I am approached by companies to give my feedback on their website. I will then be asked if the website is good enough what can and / or should be done differently, whether I have any practical tips etc. etc.
There are a number of points that I look at very specifically on a website designing company in India. I like to share this expertise so that you can get started right away. There are several blogs on the internet about tips for a good website, but in this blog I give my 10 tips that can help you to have a good website.
1. Target audience
The first and most essential step is to determine the target audience for whom the website will be built. This may sound logical, but it still often goes wrong in practice. The pitfall is that companies and people build a website as they think the website is ‘beautiful’ or ‘good’. However, you are not the target audience. It is more important to know what your target group thinks ‘beautiful’ or ‘good’. I will give a practical example. If you know that your target group is formed by young people, do not opt for a sleek and business design, no matter how beautiful that design may be. The other way around is of course also counterproductive.
2. Purpose of the website
That is the second question to ask yourself; What purpose does the website serve? Why is the website actually coming? There is no such thing as having a website to having a website. There can be several reasons why the website should be built. Some examples of the goals of a website are:
- to inform;
- to sell;
- put someone somewhere;
- to amuse;
- to inspire;
- community;
- to administer;
- people move;
- and so on;
As soon as the purpose of the website is known, you can start building the website or have a website built. During the construction of the website, the target group and purpose of the website must be constantly central. Only in this way can you be sure that there will soon be a website that your target group would like to visit.
3. Look and Feel
The look and feel of a website is usually determined by the corporate identity. If there is no real corporate identity, you can use the logo as a starting point. For companies that have been operating with the same logo for some time, it is of course a must to build the website completely in the same style. It ensures recognisability and gives the visitor a familiar feeling. If you are just starting your company, you can take color elements from the logo and have them appear on the website or you let the colors determine by your target group. Which colors appeal to them? Which colors match your service or products? Colors have meanings that affect people unconsciously. Color Psychologywe call that. Therefore, be aware that the colors you use on the website have an enormous impact on the visitor’s actions and emotional experience. This blog takes a closer look at the effect of colors on websites. I always advise my clients to choose a white background for several reasons. In the first instance because white has a calming effect and makes it easier to read texts on the website. Secondly, because the color white ensures that all other colors on the website come into their own.
Setting up the website is not easy. Anyone who has ever built a website can confirm this. Every element needs to be considered, because every element has consequences for the conversion (I’ll get to later) and the overall rating of the website (of visitors). The purpose of the website and the design of the website are closely linked. Before I continue, it might be good to know that upon entering the website, a visitor decides within seconds whether to stay longer or to leave the website immediately (bouncers). In those few seconds you have to convince a visitor to ‘linger’ on your website. But what exactly is that visitor looking at? The picture below shows how visitors view / scan your website.
As you can see, your visitors look at your website in the F-shape. With this knowledge you can influence the process to some extent. So you place important information, buttons and photos on the left and top of the website. The right side of the website is the least looked at, where you place the least important information. It is also important that the website is structured logically and that visitors can easily find what they came for. A rule of thumb for web shops is that visitors arrive at the checkout page within 3 clicks. Therefore, make sure that there are sufficient click options on the website.
5. Content is king!
I cannot say it often enough. Content is so incredibly important for a website or webshop. I will briefly explain it to people who do not know what content is. Content is the collective word for all texts, images and videos on the website. First of all, it is so important because content is the primary reason for a visitor to visit a website. If you are a web store that also sells jeans, make sure that there are high-quality images that show these jeans. But also provide a good description of the jeans in question. What does the customer need to know about these jeans? Please mention it! Are you a tax advisor and do you have a website? Make sure that there are good texts on the website that exactly describe why they should be with you and not with your competitor. Leave nothing to chance. Know that you can say and explain a lot with texts, but one image often says more than 1000 words and one video says more than 1000 images.
Good content is also very important and often even decisive for your position in Google and other search engines. Google indexes websites based on all texts that are present on the website. Because of the texts on the website, Google knows what kind of website it is and that ensures that you will be displayed in the search results as soon as someone searches for words related to your service or product. Of course there are many more factors that determine your position in Google, but I will write a blog about that separately.
6. Conversion orientation
As promised, I would come back to this word. The conversion is what keeps many online retailers (large or small) busy day in, day out. It is a good indicator to determine whether a web store is good or not. Conversion is the percentage of visitors of the total number of visitors who actually buy or order something on the website. The higher the conversion rate, the better. Make sure that the website is conversion-oriented. You do this by keeping the purchasing processes as simple as possible. Ways to do this are:
- to inform;
- to sell;
- put someone somewhere;
- to amuse;
- to inspire;
- community;
- to administer;
- people move;
- and so on;
7. Loading time
Nothing is more annoying than a website that loads too slowly. You probably know it. You want to visit a website and it takes forever for the webpage to fully load. It is still the main reason for visitors to leave the website and online retailers lose a lot of turnover on an annual basis. How much charging time is then acceptable? Research by usability guru shows that interruptions of up to 1.0 second are acceptable. Anything longer than 1.0 seconds would actually be too long. A page that loads super fast today, can load slower the next day without any work on that page. Therefore, regularly test the entry time of all pages on your website.
8. Use of Favicon
Example of favicons
A favicon can no longer be missing on your website in 2013. At least I think so. Just to be clear, a favicon is a small 16 x 16 pixel image displayed in the tab. Picture below shows it clearly.
Nowadays it is possible to browse multiple tabs at the same time in one window. Such a favicon makes it very easy for the visitor to switch tabs, because the logo is visible. From a marketing point of view, it is of course nice to constantly have your logo in view of your customers.
9. Contact page
A good website cannot do without a good contact page. It allows visitors to contact you. Therefore, always state the visiting address and telephone number on the contact page. It is wise to have a landline phone number as it inspires confidence.
10. Responsive
A website MUST be suitable for mobile devices. it is not a premium, but an absolute must. Did you know that websites are on average visited by more than 80% via mobile phones. That is why we have already started designing websites in mobile first, and then on desktop.
There are many more tips that I can share with you, but I think these are the most important at the moment. I also deliberately did not go into depth in this blog because otherwise it would be a very long blog.
