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Elements of a Great Website

Is your website attracting or repelling customers? Does it include all the necessary elements of a great website? If it does, then it’s probably doing a brilliant job of drawing in customers like moths to a flame. But could it do better? Possibly. Read on to find out if you have all the bases covered.

Exactly which elements are essential? We’ll take you through the most important aspects which you can use as a checklist to see if you need to do anything to improve your website performance.

“Great web design without functionality is like a sports car with no engine.” – Paul Cookson, Author

Design Aesthetic

Is the look visually appealing? The layout, logo, fonts, colour scheme, spacing and use of white space are all factors that come in to play here.

There are those who argue that functionality wins out over beauty, but we would argue that both are equally important. Who hasn’t landed on a webpage that is so awful looking that you don’t stick around to find out more?

An aesthetically pleasing design is what initially draws the visitor to the site.

(Read our blog post: Common Design Mistakes Business People Make)

Usability

What will keep the visitor on your site is the ease of use.

Is the layout consistent? What about the style and colours – are they consistent too? Is it simple and intuitive to use? Does it load fast? Is the purpose of the site and each page clear? Are ads and pop-ups unobtrusive? Have you thought about accessible design?

These are the type of questions you need to ask yourself to determine the usability of your website.

(Read our blog post: Accessible Design – Have You Thought About It?)

Content

Does the content identify the owner and purpose of the website? The content needs to make the purpose clear quickly. Think about a time you landed on a website and were left scratching your head wondering what it was about.

If someone lands on a page following a web search, is the content likely to match their expectations? Is the content relevant, interesting, and easy to consume?

Is there a good balance of imagery and written content? People have different preferences for consuming information. Some prefer to read, while others prefer to listen. Video is still considered an under-utilised form of content marketing and it’s one customers can’t seem to get enough of!

Content is king and if you answered no to any of the above questions, then you risk potential clients bouncing away faster than a Roger Federer serve.

(Read our blog post: What Are Motion Graphics and What Can They Do for Your Business?)

Navigation

With the content, you’ve laid the roads and now you need signposts to guide them on their journey.

Is your navigation clear, concise and easy to identify?

Make it easy for the visitor to find their way around and there is little risk of them losing their way. Because if they do, they’ll just give up and go elsewhere.

CTA

Do you have clear calls-to-action (CTA) on your website? Think about what action you would like someone to take and make it easy for them to act. Simple things like making sure your contact details are super easy to find.

Behind the scenes

Out of sight, out of mind – these are the elements that are often overlooked.

There’s no point in having a beautiful looking site filled with killer content that’s simple and intuitive to use if nobody can find it. Make sure you have your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) in place and include search indexing.

Is your company logo linked to your home page? Do your images have appropriate ALT-tags? Have you customised your 404 page (site not found)? Don’t forget about these necessities.

With the amount of people accessing the internet via mobiles and tablets continuing to increase, you must have a responsive site. You’ve put a lot of effort into creating a fantastic site and it needs to look great on whatever device it is being viewed.
If your website is missing any of these essential elements, then it’s high time to act. A website cannot do its job without the essentials in place so make sure it has the necessary elements to be a great website.

Perhaps the elements are there but your website is looking more nineties than noughties. It could be time to give it a little TLC and bring it up-to-date.

If you’d like some help with design, get in touch with the team at Ideaseed. We are a full-service design agency and we can make you look amazing across all applications and platforms.