What Characteristics Define A Successful Website?

Anyone can build a simple website. What, therefore, makes a good site? And more importantly, what characteristics define a successful website?Your audience or potential buyers may visit your site first after learning about your brand.A digital business card is not enough for your small business successful website. It’s a tool that can assist you in achieving your site goals and even your professional aims. So, you need to have a fantastic website that keeps people on it.

What characteristics define a successful website?

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 site to get more information and to also come back for more.

Here are some qualities that make your  good, engaging, andsuccessful website

A clear message and value proposition

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

 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, preferably matching your brand and business name.

A 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 site design beautiful and follow the simple tips for design.For example, use easy-to-read fonts for long texts and an attractive font for headlines.Use high-quality images and white spaces.

Reliable hosting

The last thing you need when you set up a website is to have it crash or become unaccessible.You need a website hosting solution that you can depend on and that 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.

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Clear and consistent branding

If you have a site, 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.

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

• Brand story
• Brand imagery
• Brand messaging

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 kinds of information.

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. It’s not just important; it’s critical.

Strong, natural, and visible call-to-actions

In my post on the 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 signing up for a newsletter or making 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.”

Optimized homepage

Your website’s home page is usually its 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, 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.

Security

Security is non-negotiable when it comes to websites.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 few extra dollars on an SSL certificate, and give your visitors peace of mind while they browse your website.You should also occasionally audit your website for potential security breaches.

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, but it also must function effectively across them as well.

Search engine optimization for successful website

A good website is not only one that is easy to browse; 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.

Engaging and keyword-rich content in website

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 meet 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.

Fast load Wesbite 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.

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 has fresh and relevant content, they are more likely to keep coming back.

User-friendly forms

Forms are a crucial part of many websites, such as 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 form or a similar lead generation form.

Easy-to-find contact information in your website

One of the biggest objectives of a site is to engage and connect with its audience. Make it super simple and easy for your audience to contact you.Display your contact information prominently on the site, typically in the header, footer, or on a dedicated “Contact Us” page.Including social media handles that let your audience easily connect to you is a key quality of a good website.

Easy social sharing options in your website

Social sharing options are very important for your site because they allow your visitors to share your content with their networks, which can increase your site’s visibility and reach.Easy social sharing options typically include buttons or icons that are prominently displayed on the site’s pages, for example, with plugins like Shareaholic.Adding these to your blog posts, for example, can significantly improve your blog traffic.

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 their visit, and it 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 to your site.

Tracking and analytics in your website

One of the most important qualities of a good site is its ability to be measured.Tracking and analytics are crucial for understanding how visitors interact with the site, 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  campaigns and efforts.It is also not difficult to measure the performance.Google tools like Google Analytics and Google Search Console give a ton of data about how your site is performing on Google. You can also use tools like SEMrush or SE Ranking to track your rankings.

Multilingual support in your website

If you are targeting different audiences who speak different languages, try to offer your content in the relevant languages as well.This will not only make your audience feel more connected to you, but it will also expand the reach .You can use translation services or employ native speakers to ensure accurate translations.

Conclusion

And there you go! These were the qualities that make 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  visitor at the heart of your site’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!

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