Elements of a Good Website

If you have an existing site, or plan to develop one in the near future, it's important to understand the characteristics that can make or break the effectiveness of your online investment. An unattractive or poorly built site will do more to hurt your business than to help it. Today we look at the five general components involved in making a website successful.

Key Elements of an Effective Website

1. Appearance – A site must be visually appealing, polished and professional. Remember, it's reflecting your company, your products and your services. Your website may be the first, and only, impression a potential customer receives of your company.
2. Content – Along with style, your site must have substance. Remember that your audience is looking for information that will help them make a decision, so it should be informative and relevant. Use this opportunity to increase visitor confidence in your company's knowledge and competence.
3. Functionality – Your site should work quickly and correctly. Broken links will leave your visitors frustrated and disillusioned with your company. Everything should work as expected: hyperlinks, contact forms, everything. Spelling mistakes and bad grammar are as unforgivable on a website as they are in other company materials.
4. Usability – Your site must be easy to read, navigate, and understand. Your site should be well organized, have fast loading pages, minimal scrolling and an easily navigable layout. Cross-platform/browser compatibility must be checked and is a must. 
5. Search Engine Optimization – There are hundreds of rules and guidelines for effective search engine optimization, here are a few: 1. include plenty of written content; and 2. no Flash, JavaScript, or tables.   

These are just some of the rules to keep your users coming to your site. Want to know more? We'd be happy to answer your questions!

Please let us give you a free website evaluation.

Debi Lamb Burrows

Head Storyteller

Penguin Suits

www.penguinsuits.com

830.816.8238