SOCIAL MEDIA & INTERNET MARKETING BLOG

As a website development and social media marketing company Rainman staffers are often asked what qualities make a site good vs. bad or what make specific sites more effective. Our developer, Johnny Holguin is back with the answer to this Frequently Asked Question.

A good website is basically a site that provides visitors with the information they’re looking for. Sure a website is suppose to be visually appealing, but is it functional? Does it serve it’s purpose? Is it inviting and does it convey information effectively? There is so much more to a website than just good looks. Here are some essential website qualities that will help you target your market effectively.

1. Have a great design. Your website should have a clean look and feel. It should be aesthetically pleasing and visitors should feel comfortable when the navigate. These qualities can be achieved when your website is professionally designed
2. Be easy to read. Avoid colored text on a dark background. This can be difficult for some people to read. Bright reds, pinks and greens should also be avoided or you may lose your visitors. Keep your text black on white for easy readability.
3. Don’t hide the good stuff! Visitors should be able to find the information they need quickly without having to visit too many pages. This is directly related to your websites layout and design. Make sure the navigation makes sense and makes it easy for visitors to find what they need.
4. Provide the basics. Most people expect a Home page, an About page, a Contact page and maybe some FAQ’s. Since they expect to find these things… give it to them.
5. Have a clear purpose. When people visit your website, do they know what it’s about? Is the purpose clear? Make sure visitors know what your site is about and how it can help them. If you make your visitors dig for this information, they’ll go somewhere else.
6. Offer solutions. Most people are searching for information in order to resolve a problem. So don’t just offer information, offer solutions. If your solution requires information from your visitor, take every opportunity to lead them to the next step.
7. Use the right proportions. Your website should have the right balance of text and graphics. Don’t dominate your pages with graphical elements. Leave room for textual content. Too many graphics and not enough text will give you search engine problems. If your website doesn’t score well on keyword density you’ll end up with a low search engine ranking.
8. Make it fast. Don’t make your visitors wait too long for your site to load. Getting people to go to your website is hard enough and to lose them once they arrive will be a total waste of your efforts. Your website should be optimized to load fast even on a slow connection.
9. Be open 24/7. Your website should be online all the time and hosted on a reliable server. If your visitors find that your site is down frequently they may lose trust in your service. Check the online status of your website regularly.
10. Use a call to action. So important. Your website should have an objective it wants visitors to complete whether its filling out a form, signing up for a newsletter or downloading a file. You can use “urgent” language like (Call, Call Now, Buy, Buy Now, Register, Subscribe). This encourages your visitors and clearly tells them what you want them to do. Your website designer should consider things like color, position and white space in order to communicate your call to action effectively. Also, think about what happens after the user responds to your call to action. This needs to be thought through carefully. If you require too much information or even personal data, you visitor may drop out of the process.

-Johnny Holguin, Web Developer and Designer, Rainman.com and Amanda Koone, Director of Operations, Rainman.com