In addition to having relevant content and really nice images, there are other key elements that you need for a high quality site. What makes a great website?
Credibility
A key factor of a quality website is to show credibility for your business. Credibility shows that your business is trustworthy.
What is the first impression people get from your website? If your website looks amateurish or outdated, you may not gain people’s trust and they could choose your competitor.
Limit Ads and Popups
Placing ads on your website might generate additional income for you, but they are not popular with your visitors.
Here are the types of ads people dislike the most:
Are you making enough of a profit to justify the ads? If so, avoid using popup ads and place smaller banner ads that are less annoying.
Content For Readability
People have a short attention span and tend to scan web pages quickly. According to a Nielsen study, 79% of users always scan web pages.
Make sure your pages have the following:
- Easy to scan blocks of text and launching points
- Shorter sentences and paragraphs
- Fewer unnecessary words
- Great grammar and spelling
- Quality images and graphics
- Videos that are engaging and professional
Websites with more text on the page may get higher ranking on Google. That means you need to find a good balance between SEO and a website visitor being able to read your text.
Contact Information for Your Business
If someone visiting your site has a question or problem, make it easy for them to email or call you. Be sure to include a Contact page with lots of customer service contact options like phone numbers, contact foms and email addresses.
To make your business even more trustworthy, include:
- Full street address
- Email address, or addresses
- Phone numbers for each department
- Social media links – Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, etc.
Client Testimonials
Be sure to include client and customer testimonials which can help prove that you’re trustworthy business (and not a scam).
Testimonials help build credibility as well!
Site Navigation That Makes Sense!
Don’t make your website visitors struggle to find what they’re looking for. Make sure your website menu is easy to navigate and not too overwhelming.
If you have a lot of content on your website, add a search bar. This will make it easy for them to find something specific without getting frustrated.
The options on your drop down menus should be limited so it’s not too overwhelming, especially on mobile.
Disclose Your Pricing
So, if you know what you charge for products and services, why not be upfront about your prices on your website? When you say things like “Contact us for pricing,” people will wonder what it is you’re trying to hide.
Why not just list your prices?
Abuzz Creative has all of our prices clearly listed on our service pages. It’s easier for visitors to know what to budget for in advance.
DIY or Hire a Pro?
Creating a quality website is more than just dragging content blocks onto a page, hitting the publish button, and waiting for customers to find you.
A high quality website needs to be professional in design, created for the user experience, and have SEO formatting to be found in a search on Google and Bing.
A professional web designer:
- Designs specifically for your brand
- Knows how to create the proper site structure with user-friendly navigation
- Is familiar with the latest search engine optimization techniques
- Knows how to meet ADA compliance requirements
- So much more!
