When it comes to designing a website, this is a job that is best left to the professionals. Don’t try to cut corners by hiring a freelancer or using a graduate who is trying to get some experience, as this will usually mean that you end up with a poor final product, which can be detrimental to your business. Even if you decide to hire a professional web design company, you will need to make sure that you have a basic understanding of what is needed to create a good quality website, so let’s take a look at some of the essential features that any good website will have.
Nice Appearance
One of the most important things to consider when designing a website is how it looks. It can be top of the SERPs and function fantastically but if it doesn’t look appealing, people will quickly click out and go to your competitor’s sites instead. Any good company offering web design will understand the importance of ensuring your website has a nice appearance and you can look through examples of their previous work by asking to see a portfolio.
High Quality Content
Another important part of having a good website is ensuring that the content is of a high quality. All of your content will need to be 100% unique and it should be updated all of the time.
Here are a few basic guidelines on how to ensure your content is valuable to your website:
- Make sure the design company employs a professional copywriter
- Ensure all of the content is totally unique
- Aim your content at your customers by using the word “you” a lot
- Make sure that the content is short and well organized
You should always include bullet points and numbered lists to break up big block chunks of text and make sure that you are providing your site visitors with the information that they are searching for.
Functions Properly
There is nothing more frustrating than a website that is slow to load up or that has dead links in it, so always make sure that the website design company understands the importance of ensuring your website functions well.
Also make sure you do the following:
- Check facts and figures
- Make sure grammar and spellings are correct
- Ensure forms and payment systems always work properly
Every part of your website will need to work properly, so always double check everything from typos to how easy the site is to navigate.
Usability
As well as looking good and functioning well, your website will also need to be easy to use.
Below are a few of the things to take into consideration when creating a usable website:
- Ensure the screen resolution is suitable for modern computers
- Create a mobile version of your website for mobile users
- Use descriptive link text
- Make sure your menu bar is easy to use
- Use minimal scrolling options
All pages will need to load up fast and your site should be simple and easy to use, if you want to ensure your site visitors stay long enough to convert them into customers.
