What Makes A Website Good And Effective: 21 Top Qualities

Anyone can create a basic website.

But what makes a good website? And more importantly, which qualities make an effective website?

When your audience or potential customers hear about your brand, they might first check out your website.

But your small business website needs to be more than just a digital business card. It’s a tool that can help you achieve your website objectives and even your business goals.

So your website needs to be a fabulous one that engages your visitors.

What makes a good website? 21 qualities

In a nutshell, a good website is one that is easy to use, visually appealing, informative, and engaging. It should encourage visitors to stay on the website to get more information and also come back for more.

Here are 23 qualities that make your website good, engaging, and effective.

1. Clear message and value proposition

What do you do? Why should I care?

These are the biggest questions your audience may have when they visit your website, and your website should answer these questions quickly and clearly.

2. Simple URL

Simple URLs are short, no nonsense web addresses that represent the essence of your brand.

No one wants to struggle to remember an overly intricate URL made up of letters and numbers in order for customers to properly find you online.

So just keep it as short and simple as possible, preferable matching your brand and business name.

3. Clean and good-looking design

When something looks pretty and pleasing to the eye, we want to see more of it.

It’s that simple.

So make your website design beautiful, and follow the simple tips of design.

For example, use easy-to-read fonts for long texts and an attractive font for headlines.

Use high-quality images and white spaces.

4. Reliable hosting

The last thing you need when you set up a website is to have your website crash or become unaccessible.

You need a website hosting solution that you can depend on, which will run consistently and smoothly, providing a positive user experience for visitors.

You should also choose hosting services that offer features such as regular backups, security measures, and technical support. I swear by Siteground, on which I use WordPress, which is one of the best website platforms for small businesses.

Once you decide on a host, it is pretty easy to set up a straightforward 5-page website to set up your online presence.

Related: WordPress vs custom websites

5. Clear and consistent branding

If you have a website, it needs to be branded. It should include elements such as the brand logo, brand color scheme, typography, and messaging.

These elements should be consistent across all pages of your website.

Clear branding helps visitors identify and remember your website, and can also help build trust and credibility with your audience.

Read my full post on how to create a branded website.

Here are some branding elements you should always maintain on your website:

6. User-friendly interface

Your website should be easy for your visitors to navigate and browse through.

It should be intuitive and well-organized. Your website visitors should be able to find what they’re looking for quickly and easily.

If a website is easy to check out and get information from, it is more likely to get repeat visits from your audience.

Add clear and concise menus, preferably drop-down ones, search bars, and quick links to move between different kind of information.

Read my full post on easy UX improvements you can do on your business website.

7. Multi-device responsive design

Can you imagine visitors having to resize their screens or pan and zoom in and out just to be able to check out your website on their mobiles and laptops?

No one likes to do that.

Make your website adapt to all kinds of screens and devices automatically. Its not just important, but critical.

Check your website right now, with Google Developer Tools.

If it’s not looking good on any screen, update or redesign your website so that it does.

8. Strong, natural, and visible call-to-actions

In my post on small business website checklist, I mention that you should use call-to-actions on your website.

They encourage visitors to perform a certain task, like sign up for a newsletter or make a purchase.

However, it is not just enough to add CTAs. You also have to make them clear, attractive, and accessible.Use contrasting colors or bold typography to make them stand out

Make sure that your website visitor can find them on every page, and that they flow smoothly.

For example, if you have a blog post on ‘healthy dinner recipes’, add a CTA below it to download a recipe e-book on ‘healthy recipes for all meals’.

Don’t force a CTA there about buying products on Amazon.

9. Optimized homepage

Your website’s homepage is usually your most visited page. So it should be your best landing page, sales page, and brand page all rolled into one.

It should quickly deliver your brand message, should look good, and also be search-engine friendly.

The layout should be clean and uncluttered, with clear CTAs that guide visitors to the most important sections of your site.

10. Security

Security is a non-negotiable when it comes to website.

Having a website is very important for small businesses, but if it isn’t secure, customers may not trust you.

A good website is one with protective measures in place that are designed to keep cybercriminals and hackers away.

So spend those extra few dollars on an SSL certificate, and give your visitors peace of mind while they browse your website.

You should also audit your website occasionally for potential security breaches.

11. Cross-browser compatibility

Cross-browser compatibility ensures that all visitors can access and interact with the website, regardless of the browser they use.

Put simply, it means that your website should work consistently and effectively across different web browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Edge.

This is important because different browsers can interpret web pages and code differently, resulting in inconsistent behavior and layout issues.

Not only should your website appear properly in different browsers, it also must function effectively across them as well. I

12. Search engine optimization

A good website is not only one that is easy to browse, but it should also get noticed by Google and other search engines easily.

You should design and optimize your website in a way that makes it easy for search engines to crawl, index, and rank it.

Search engine friendliness involves various elements, such as keyword research, technical SEO, metadata optimization, mobile-friendliness, and content quality.

Work on all aspects of SEO to improve the search engine positioning of your website.

13. Engaging and keyword-rich content

Your website content should not only be informative and interesting but also optimized for search engines.

Creating SEO content essentially means using the right keywords that help search engines understand what the website is about. It also means using the words that your audience is also using to conduct their searches.

Content creation for your small business should primarily focus on topics that answer your audience’s questions and meeting their search intent. You can use a tool like the Semrush Content Marketing Toolkit to search for topic ideas.

Search intent could also be commercial, so you could also use high-intent keywords in your content to drive more conversions.

Here’s my free website content template you can use to create SEO-friendly content.

Pro tip:

Video content and user-generated content are also powerful tools for engaging visitors, establishing credibility, and adding more search-engine friendliness to your website.

14. Fast load times

Don’t you hate when a website takes forever to load? When that happens, all you feel like doing is closing the tab and looking for something else instead.

A good website is one that loads quickly and efficiently, reducing the risk that visitors leave the website. Not just that, your site visitors experience less frustration levels and more page views.

Design your website with clean and optimized code, optimized images, and minimal use of external scripts and plugins that can slow down your site.

15. Regular website maintenance

There’s so much more that goes into making a successful website than just one big launch.

One of the biggest qualities of a good website is that it is monitored, updated, and monitored on a regular basis to keep it running smoothly and efficiently.

Regular website maintenance includes tasks such as checking for broken links, updating software and plugins, optimizing images and content, and fixing any technical issues that may arise.

If visitors feel that your website is getting regular care and attention from you and also have fresh and relevant content, they are more likely to keep coming back.

16. User-friendly forms

Forms are a crucial part of many websites, such as for contact forms, registration forms, or payment forms.

A good website has forms that are easy to use and understand, and quick to complete.

Keep your forms simple and concise, and add clear instructions and labels to guide users through the form completion process.

Minimize the number of fields, especially if it’s a newsletter signup or a similar lead generation form.

17. Easy-to-find contact information

One of the biggest objectives of a website is to engage and connect with your audience. Make it super simple and easy for your audience to contact you.

Display your contact information prominently on the website, typically in the header, footer, or a dedicated “Contact Us” page.

Including social media handles that lets your audience easily connect to you is a key quality of a good website.

18. Easy social sharing options

Social sharing options are very important for your website because they allow your visitors to share your content with their networks, which can increase your website’s visibility and reach.

Easy social sharing options typically include buttons or icons that are prominently displayed on the website’s pages, for example, with plugins like Shareaholic.

Adding these to your blog posts, for example, can significantly improve your blog traffic.

19. Google Maps and Google Business Profile listing

A Google Maps listing is especially important for your small business if you have a physical location, such as a store, office, or restaurant.

It provides a convenient way for visitors to find your business and plan your visit, and is a great local SEO strategy.

Create a Google My Business profile to put your business on the map, and provide all your business details.

Now add a Google Maps widget on your website.

20. Tracking and analytics

One of the most important qualities of a good website is the measurement of performance.

Tracking and analytics are crucial for understanding how visitors interact with the website, which pages are the most popular, where users are coming from, and what actions they are taking.

This data will help you better analyze the ROI of all your website campaigns and efforts.

It is not difficult to measure the performance either.

Google tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console give a ton of data about how your website is performing on Google. You can also use tools like Semrush or SE Ranking to track your rankings.

21. Multilingual support

If you are targeting different audiences who speak different languages, try to offer your website content in the relevant languages as well.

This will not only make your audience feel more connected to you, it will also expand your website reach.

You can use translation services or employ native speakers to ensure accurate translations.

How to make a good website — Conclusion

And there you go! These were the 21 qualities that makes a website good, or even great!

Creating a good, professional business website doesn’t have to be a daunting task. Make it user-friendly, good-looking, branded, and technically sound.

Always keep the website visitor at the heart of your website’s purpose and design. If your intent is to serve your audience, you can never go wrong.

Would you like to share any other tips on what makes a good website? Share in the comments!

Originally published at https://weignitegrowth.com on February 28, 2023.