What does it mean to have a good website?

A good website is the culmination of great design, a clear end goal & a compelling story that will convince visitors to trust you. Your site should have a clear structure that makes it easy for visitors to find what they're looking for, engaging content that's well written and will draw people in and make them want to stay on your site. When these elements come together, you have a great website that will engage visitors and make them want to be part of your business.

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Having a good website isn't just about the design, and it's not just about the writing—it's about having both. A good site appeals to your target audience emotionally and helps them understand the benefits of your product or service. It gives them a reason to stay on your site and provides the information they need to make an informed purchase decision.

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So what does it mean to have a good website? Here are the things you should keep in mind:

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1. It tells a story.

Websites are more than just visual decorations—they're storytelling tools. Your website should be able to tell your audience what kind of business you run, the people who work for you, and the personality behind all of it. It should also convey a clear message about what you do. Stories can be told in several ways—through design, content, and interactive experiences. If your site can tell your story in any way, it's not just good—it's great.

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It's crucial to approach your website as an experience in itself. For instance, just because your website has a "Services" page doesn't mean it's telling visitors anything about who you are and what you can provide for them; instead, think about what kind of problems they have and why those things are essential to your visitors. Build your content around those ideas. That way, when visitors read the information on your Services page, they'll be able to connect with it personally—and feel like they've gotten something out of it.

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2. It has a clear structure.

A good website clarifies what the visitor is supposed to do and why they should do it. Take the time to outline the different parts of your page. So that you have a clear headline, explanation of the problem, the solution you're providing for it, benefits of what you're selling, social proof of why people should trust you, and a call to action for what someone should do next.

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• The Headline. This is the first and most crucial section of a landing page. The secret of a great headline is to convey your unique selling proposition (USP). This is the one thing that sets you apart from the others.
• Explaining the Problem. Presenting the source problem will help your visitors relate to the main problem and understand the context of your proposition.
• Solution & Benefits. In this section, you explain how the solution (your offer) has the power to solve the problem presented previously.
• Social Proof. Social proofs such as reviews and testimonials are the critical component in a customer's decision to purchase a product or service. It helps reinforce the trust between you and your audience.
• Call to Action. The CTA is where people take action toward your marketing goal. A clear message of WHY people should get your product or service is crucial.

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3. It’s unique.

Your site is more than just a placeholder on the web. It's an extension of your business, and it should reflect that. You want your site to reflect you and your business, so the site should be unique. But what does that mean? A unique site will have a unique face—the brand identity (font, logo, colors) is recognizable and in line with your company's message and vision. Your text is not copied from another site; you've taken the time to make it your own. Your images & assets are unique or licensed, and they're not just the random clipart that you found with a quick Google search.

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4. It’s user-friendly on all devices.

Whatever the case may be, you should always consider how people can access your website at all times. Your website needs to be responsive. You want users to have the same experience no matter what platform they use. In 2018, Google announced a new mobile-first index and included page load speed as one of its ranking factors. They want to reward businesses with mobile-optimized sites, and they say that only a small number of companies will experience a significant hit. After all, a responsive design makes Google's job easier.

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5. It is efficient.

It is efficient. An efficient website is all about doing more with less effort. This is the basis of a great user experience. The most efficient websites provide a simple interface without overwhelming users with multiple options to click. It is easy to navigate. The most important parts of your website should be accessible in 2 to 3 clicks (at most). The more clicks it takes for users to find what they're looking for, the higher the chance of them exiting your site before they can do so.

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6. It complies with SEO standards.

While multiple factors make a good website, there are standard parameters that make up a solid website overall. One of these is compliance with SEO standards.

Search engines like Google use specific criteria to decide how to rank websites in their search results. When a website is designed and built correctly, it's much more likely to appear on the first page of the search results—which means more traffic for you!

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• Ensure a clean site structure. Your website's HTML structure should be organized so that Google can crawl your site & find relevant information. When writing content, consider how someone unfamiliar with your business might find the information they're looking for. Remember that internal links give search engines clues about your website so that search engines can send relevant visitors your way.
• Prioritize secure hosting. When surfing the web, you want to feel safe and trust that your information is private. If you're looking for a hosting provider, ask if they can recommend one that offers a secure connection. A good hosting provider can help you determine if your website has a valid HTTPS certificate and can help you implement one if you need it.
• Optimize your site for fast loading. Make sure that your site loads within two seconds or less. To improve your search ranking, you must locate the obstacles slowing down your website's load speed. Some issues could be the complexity of your code or the size of your images. There are tools like Google PageSpeed Insights to see how long it takes for your pages to load so you can make changes to improve your site's performance.
• Improve meta titles, description & open graph. Meta Titles and Meta Descriptions are short, relevant summaries of your page's content. They're used by search engines to decide which pages to show in their search results and how to display them. ****A good page title and meta description will tell a potential visitor what the page is about in just a few words. It should be clear, concise, and accurately describe the page's content.
• Install Google console. To improve performance, gain insight into your visibility, and set up site search tracking, install Google's console. Google Search Console lets you check if Google is finding and indexing all the pages on your website, for which you can add or remove content to improve performance if necessary. It also lets you track your own website's search performance.

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7. It has an end goal.

A good website is like a good book. It has a clear beginning, middle, and end. And you have to end on a solid note. If your site has multiple pages with different call-to-actions, you're sending mixed messages about your website's primary goal. It's important to remember the end goal of your website. A clear call-to-action can be as simple as a video inviting people to join an e-mail list or a form asking them to contact you. Whatever actions you're trying to ask people to take, make sure there is consistency by using only one button on each page, making it clear where they need to go next, and giving them confidence that this is their destination.

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A good website is like a good houseguest: it's easy to find, comfortable to be around, and makes you want to return. Like the seven things we have stated, many things make up a good website that stays true to your goal. It comes down to having a clear definition of the website's purpose & building a strategy around it that considers the seven concepts we discussed.

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