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Whether you're launching a new business website or redesigning an existing one, understanding what makes a good website is crucial. This guide offers practical advice to help you build a high-traffic website. Learn how to enhance key website features such as navigation, trust signals, mobile-friendly design and site speed, ensuring your website not only looks good but performs exceptionally well.
Creating a website that represents your brand and captivates your audience is a challenge many business owners face. While pre-made website templates can make website creation easy but its also important to customize them to make sure your site stands out.
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What is a good website?
A website is your brand or business online and its often the first impression for potential customers. It should blend branding, design and content to tell your story and drive visitors to take action.
A good website should excel in both its form and function — with a clear purpose, visually appealing design and intuitive navigation. A good website performs well for a diverse audience (think page speed and loading, as well as accessibility) and includes advanced site security. In essence, what makes a good website good websites is its attractiveness, functionality and invaluable contribution to your business's success.
If you are just getting started, learn more about what is a website.
13 elements that define a good website
01. Clear intent
A good website instantly communicates its purpose. Know your audience and address their needs, interests and challenges directly. By understanding your target users, you can tailor your content and design to resonate with them effectively. For example, if you're looking to create a site to sell products, make selling your top priority. With every decision, ask yourself: Is this helping users buy my products? Defining a clear purpose takes time and will influence how long it takes to build your website.
To get started, consider these factors to clarify your new website:
Identify the primary goal for each page: Before you start designing or writing content, decide what you want the page to achieve. Is it to inform, to sell or to entertain? Keep this goal in mind throughout the creation process.
Understand your audience: Know who you're talking to and what they're looking for. Use language that resonates with them and provide the information or solutions they need.
Keep it focused: Don't overload your pages with too much information or too many calls to action. Stick to one main message per page to avoid confusing your visitors.
Use headings and subheadings: Organize web content with clear headings that guide users through your page. This helps them quickly find what they're looking for.
Test and get feedback: After launching a new website, gather feedback from users about their experience. Use this information to refine the intent of each page and make improvements.
Learn more about how long does it take to build a website.
02. Simple site navigation
A good navigation system can help boost engagement, conversion rates and user satisfaction. When visitors easily find what they need, they stay longer. Ensure any page on your site is within three clicks of another. A clearly displayed, well-structured menu and logical page hierarchy make navigation straightforward and enjoyable.
When it comes to making a good website it's worth considering building a plan for all your website pages from the start of the process. This means creating a clear website plan that includes your planned and potential future pages. This allows you to then build a url structure for your site that is clean and consistent. This in turn can also mean you avoid having to make fixes to your url structure later.
Nitsan Eiges, Team Lead Technical SEO at Wix.com
Below are some key elements to consider when making sure that your website is easy to navigate:
Keep the menu structure straightforward: Limit the number of items in your main navigation menu. Too many options can overwhelm visitors and make it hard to choose where to go next.
Use descriptive labels: Make it clear what users will find when they click on a menu item. Avoid vague or clever labels that might confuse visitors.
Include a search function: For larger websites, a search bar is essential. It allows users to quickly find specific content without having to navigate through multiple pages.
Make sure navigation is consistent: Use the same menu layout across all pages. Consistency helps users learn how to navigate your site more quickly.
Prioritize content: Arrange menu items based on their importance or relevance. Commonly sought-after pages like 'Contact' or 'Products' should be easy to find.
03. Engaging web design
Your web design isn't just about aesthetics; it’s about creating an engaging experience for your visitors. A visually appealing site captures attention, keeps users engaged and encourages exploration. Aim for a unique, effective and user-focused design that stands out and delivers.
Craft a website design that's both beautiful and functional with these best practices:
Use a clean layout: A cluttered webpage can be overwhelming. Stick to a clean layout with plenty of white space to make your content stand out and easy to read.
Choose the right color scheme: Colors can influence how users feel about your website. Select a website color palette that reflects your brand and is pleasing to the eye.
Select readable fonts: Your text should be easy to read across all devices. Use typography that is large enough and have high contrast against the background.
Incorporate multimedia: Use images, videos and infographics to make your website dynamic and engaging. Ensure they’re relevant and add value. Visuals help users digest information more easily. A demo video can explain your product better than a long article. An infographic telling your brand story is much more engaging than plain text.
Optimize for interaction: Design elements like buttons and links should be easy to find and use. Make sure they're sized appropriately for both desktop and mobile users.
04. Cohesive branding
Cohesive branding on your website is key to building trust and recognition with your audience. Ensure every element on your site mirrors your brand's values and aesthetics. Create a strong brand presence that resonates with visitors and sets you apart from competitors.
At its core, branding hinges on trust—think of it as a relationship between two individuals: the customer and the brand, which represents the business. Within this relationship, authenticity plays a critical role. It builds trust and creates emotional bonds. It fosters consistency, engagement and reduces reputation risks.
Yaya Aaronsohn, Head of Brand Maker at Wix.com
Use these tips to help you create a professional website with cohesive branding:
Define your brand identity: Know your brand's colors, fonts and style. Make sure these elements are consistently used throughout the website.
Use your logo strategically: Place your logo design in a prominent position on your site, like the header or footer and ensure it links back to the homepage.
Create a brand style guide: A style guide can serve as a reference for maintaining consistency across all pages and elements of your website.
Align content with your brand voice: The tone and language of your content should match your brand personality, whether it's professional, friendly or quirky.
Be consistent with imagery: Use images that complement each other and align with your brand message. Consistency in visuals reinforces brand identity.
05. Quality visuals
Quality visuals are key to an effective website. They convey information quickly, evoke emotions and enhance your site's look. Create a visually appealing website that helps improve user experience.
Here's how to ensure your website's visuals are up to par:
Use high-resolution images: Blurry or pixelated images can make your site look unprofessional. Always opt for high-quality, crisp visuals. PNG files often provide better quality.
Be selective: Choose images that are relevant to your content and resonate with your brand message. Each visual should serve a purpose.
Optimize for speed: Large image files can slow down your site. Compress them to reduce load times without sacrificing quality.
Consider originality: Stock photos can be useful, but custom graphics or photos can set you apart and give your site a unique feel.
Ensure accessibility: Use alt text for images so screen readers can describe them to visually impaired users, making your site more inclusive.
06. Clear CTAs
Clear calls to action (CTAs) guide your visitors towards the actions you want them to take. Whether it's making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter or contacting your business, create clear and compelling CTAs to boost conversions and achieve your website's goals.
Creating effective CTAs is simple and impactful with these tips:
Use action-oriented language: Start your CTAs with verbs like 'Buy', 'Subscribe' or 'Learn' to encourage immediate action.
Make them stand out: CTAs should be visually distinct from other elements on the page. Use colors that contrast with your design to draw attention.
Keep it concise: Your CTA text should be brief and to the point, clearly stating what will happen when it's clicked.
Place them strategically: Position CTAs where they're most likely to catch the user's attention, such as above the fold or at the end of relevant content.
Test different versions: Experiment with different CTA designs and placements to see what works best for your audience.
07. Relevant content
Relevant content is the backbone of a good website. It's what draws visitors in and keeps them coming back for more. By prioritizing relevance in your website's content, you'll attract the right audience and encourage them to engage with your brand.
To ensure your website's content is on point, here are some actionable tips:
Know your audience: Understand who you're writing for and what they care about. Tailor your content to meet their needs and interests and use appropriate language for their knowledge level.
Stay on topic: Keep your content focused on subjects that relate to your brand and industry. This helps establish your authority and keeps users engaged.
Update regularly: Fresh content can help improve your SEO rankings and shows visitors that you're active and up-to-date.
Be helpful: Provide value through informative, educational or entertaining content. Solve problems, answer questions or share insights.
Optimize for SEO: Use relevant keywords naturally within your content to improve visibility on search engines without compromising readability.
Quality over quantity: It's better to have a few high-quality, relevant pages than many low-quality ones. Prioritize quality and relevance in all your content.
08. Strategic SEO
Building a visually appealing and user-friendly website is just the start. Your site needs to attract web traffic. Strategic SEO makes your website discoverable by search engines and your target audience. Focus on SEO practices to boost your site's ranking in search results, increasing traffic and driving business growth.
Leveraging SEO and integrating it into the website creation process is vital. Various studies have shown that organic search is the single greatest provider of traffic to websites - with that being even more pronounced within the B2B context. To that, traffic from organic search, when done correctly is essentially built to last (with proper maintenance over time, of course) and forms a crucial part of a site’s long-term growth.
Mordy Oberstein, Head of SEO Branding at Wix.com
Implement these SEO features to help improve your site's visibility and ranking:
Conduct keyword research: Identify the terms and phrases your audience uses to search for your products or services. Incorporate these keywords into your content naturally.
Optimize meta tags: Craft descriptive and keyword-rich meta titles and descriptions for each page to improve click-through rates from search engine results pages.
Create quality content: Search engines favor websites that provide valuable and relevant content. Focus on creating high-quality original articles, start a blog and include product descriptions.
Optimize images: Add relevant keywords in image alt tags and file names and ensure they are web-size-optimized so they don’t slow your website down. Use an image resizer to reduce the size of your images.
Improve site structure: Ensure your website has a logical hierarchy and clean URL structure. This makes it easier for search engines to crawl and index your pages.
Build backlinks: Obtain links from reputable websites to boost your site's authority. Guest blogging, partnerships and creating shareable content are effective tactics.
Local SEO: If you have a physical location, ensure your website is optimized for local searches by including location-specific keywords and setting up a Google Business Profile.
09. Good performance and infrastructure
Behind-the-scenes work is just as important as what users see. Prioritize performance to enhance user experience, engagement and search engine rankings. A well-performing website offers a smooth and enjoyable experience, encouraging visitors to stay longer and engage more with your content.
What often gets forgotten when talking about choosing a website builder is the capabilities of the infrastructure that’s promised to you - the reliability of the hosting, the level of security that’s in order to protect your visitor’s data, and of course your site's speed. Even if infrastructure is not the first thought that comes to mind when it comes to making a website, if it’s not robust enough, it can cause large headaches for website owners when trying to scale a website later on
Esin D. Habif, Product Marketing Lead Outbound at Wix.com
Here's how to ensure your website performs at its best:
Optimize loading times: Compress images to webp for optimal website performance and use caching to speed up page load times. Wix does this automatically, ensuring fast-loading pages that keep users happy and reduce bounce rates.
Ensure uptime: Choose a reliable hosting provider to minimize the risk of your site going down. High uptime rates are crucial for maintaining accessibility.
Mobile optimization: With more users on mobile devices, ensure your site is responsive and loads quickly on all screen sizes.
Regularly update software: Keep your content management system, plugins and scripts up to date to prevent performance lags or security vulnerabilities. Wix, for example, does this automatically for all sites built on the Wix platform.
Monitor performance: Use tools like Wix Analytics or Google PageSpeed Insights to track your website's performance and make necessary adjustments.
Web hosting plan: Choose a hosting website that can handle your website's traffic and technical demands. Consider upgrading as your site grows.
10. Easy accessibility
Understanding web accessibility is key to fostering inclusivity, meeting legal standards, enhancing user experience and future-proofing your site. Ensuring website accessibility isn't just about inclusivity—it’s about reaching a broader audience and improving overall user satisfaction. Build a site that’s welcoming and usable for everyone, regardless of their abilities or limitations.
We should “design websites with accessibility” at the start of a business. With Wix, users can create a website with accessibility settings built right into the Editor, ensuring your content and design comply with the global standards. Wix’s Accessibility Wizard then scans the website for accessibility issues and suggests fixes.
Nir Horesh, Head of at SEO & Accessibility at Wix.com
Use these tips to make your website is accessible to everyone:
Use alt text for images: Describe images with alt text so screen readers can interpret them for visually impaired users.
Create a proper heading structure: Make sure your website headings follow a logical order and are tagged correctly. This helps users with assistive technology, like screen readers, understand the page structure and purpose easily.
Ensure keyboard navigation: Some users rely on keyboards, rather than a mouse, to navigate websites. Make sure all interactive elements are accessible via keyboard.
Choose legible fonts: Select fonts that are easy to read and have adjustable sizes to accommodate users with visual impairments.
Provide transcripts for audio and video: Transcripts help users who are deaf or hard of hearing understand multimedia content.
Test for color contrast: Ensure there is sufficient contrast between text and background colors to aid users with color vision deficiencies.
Perform accessibility testing: Use accessibility checkers to identify and fix any issues. Consider having your website evaluated by users with disabilities for feedback.
11. Mobile friendly
Most people access the web on smartphones and tablets, so having a mobile-friendly website is essential. A poorly performing mobile site frustrates users and negatively impacts your brand. Mobile users want quick, easy access to information and services. A mobile-optimized site meets these expectations, providing a seamless experience on any device. Focus on mobile-friendly elements to enhance the browsing experience, leading to increased engagement and conversion rates.
Follow these steps to cater your sit to mobile users:
Touch-friendly navigation: Design buttons and links large enough to be easily tapped with a finger.
Fast loading times: Optimize images and minimize code to accelerate loading times on mobile devices.
Avoid Flash: Use HTML5 instead of Flash, as it's not supported by most mobile browsers.
Test on multiple devices: Regularly check your site on various devices to ensure compatibility and a consistent user experience design.
12. Security measures
Preventing a security breach is more affordable than dealing with the aftermath. Strengthen your website's defenses against potential threats to ensure a safer environment for you and your users. Prioritize protecting users’ personal information with multi-factor authentication, SSL certificates and secure hosting.
Enhance the your website security with these tools:
Use HTTPS: Secure your website with an SSL certificate. This encrypts data transferred between the user's browser and your website, protecting sensitive information.
Keep software updated: Regularly update your content management system, plugins and any scripts you're using to patch security vulnerabilities.
Implement strong passwords: Use complex passwords for your website's backend and encourage users to do the same for their accounts.
Regular backups: Regularly backup your website so you can quickly restore it in case of a cyberattack or data loss.
Conduct security audits: Identify and address vulnerabilities before they can be exploited. This proactive approach keeps your system safe and secure.
13. Credibility indicators and testimonials
Credibility indicators on your website can greatly influence how users perceive your business's trustworthiness. When potential customers see that others have had positive experiences with your brand, it boosts their confidence in making a choice. Include these indicators to reassure visitors of your legitimacy and expertise, helping to convert them into customers.
Here's how to establish and showcase credibility on your site:
Display contact information: Make it easy for visitors to find your contact details. This transparency builds trust.
Showcase customer testimonials: Share positive reviews and testimonials from satisfied customers to demonstrate the value of your products or services.
Highlight certifications and awards: If you have industry certifications, accreditations or awards, display them prominently.
Publish case studies: Detailed case studies can show potential customers the tangible results you've achieved for others.
Maintain an active blog: Regularly updated content shows expertise in your field and helps establish authority.
What makes a good website FAQ
How often should I update my website?
There’s no strict rule for how often to update a website—it depends on your business type and industry. However, refreshing your content every few months is a good practice to keep it relevant. Regularly check for broken links or outdated information that might need quicker updates. The goal is to provide users with accurate, up-to-date information and show that your site is actively maintained.