What Makes a Good Website?

It’s quite clear that many different factors contribute to the quality of a website, so figuring out what steps to take can be a daunting task if you are just starting. There are thousands of books and courses written on web design and choosing the right web development company can sometimes be difficult, so to simplify things, here are some of the top tips that you can utilise when you are starting to plan your website. Getting it perfect will take lots of work and refinement, but starting with a strong foundation will do wonders for the future of your site. Purpose When deciding what it is you want for your website, it’s important to take time to think about what you want it to achieve. Are you looking to make sales, or just advertise your services? What information about your business do you want to display front and centre? Before starting anything, you need to answer these questions, a clear vision and purpose are going to give you a perfect jumping-off point for the rest of your website whether you are handling it yourself or with a web design agency. Aesthetically pleasing Websites are highly visual mediums, to capture new audiences they need to be visually interesting. If your site appears outdated or isn’t nice to look at in general, you are likely to lose potential customers. Remember that your brand is your image, the colours, fonts and images you use will affect the perception of your business for new visitors to the site. rnTry to find a way to stand out from the crowd by using interesting site design that helps to capture the essence of your brand in a new and eye-catching way. You will likely be competing against big brands with sites of their own, and you want your business to be noticed amongst them. Clear site navigation Making sure your website is easy for new visitors to navigate is essential for converting clicks into sales. It’s good practice to ensure that any page on your site is within three clicks of any other page on your site. Your navigation should be intuitive and simple. This helps both Google with SEO and your visitors with navigation.rnWhile the best way to ensure simple website navigation is by hiring an experienced web design agency, you can also follow these steps for a good foundation: ● Contrast is key: Employing Sufficient contrast between your text colour and background colour is important for readability and for making sure your website is accessible for those with difficulty telling the difference between colours. While your website colour scheme is likely to be representative of your brand colours, make sure that there’s sufficient contrast between your elements. ● Large letter size: Smaller fonts are going to be more difficult to read, so it is generally recommended to keep your font size at least 16pt for any body text. The size required for your website will depend entirely on your font choice, but try to ensure it isn't taking up too much or too little space on each page. Hopefully, you will now be ready to make start building a high-quality web page. Remember that the main goal is to promote your brand, so keep your values and ethos in mind while designing and if you have any concerns about the design process, consider getting in touch with a web development company for some help with crafting your perfect website.