What makes a good website?
I was asked recently ‘What makes a good website?’ The only answer I could give was ‘A site that serves its client well’. The majority of businesses have websites. However, most of these websites fail to work for them in generating additional sales or client leads, which means that as a business owner you are not getting your return on investment.
A website has to grab the attention of the visitor within 2-5 seconds. Yes, people, that’s how long it takes for a visitor to decide if you have what they need. That can be through a powerful headline or an engaging graphic. If you fail to grab their attention they will leave!
The question that should have been asked is ‘What makes a poor website?’ So here are top 5 tips that will put visitors off.
1 Images that are not relevant to the page content.
2 Content that is dense and not scannable – people scan websites, they don’t read pages (unlike printed text).
3 Poor SEO (search engine optimisation) – you may be attracting the wrong target audience.
4 Font size – fonts that are difficult or too small to read.
5 Obtrusive use of video or audio – video is perfect for websites, but do not have it on autoplay; this is embarrassing if the visitor is in a public place or at work. You should always allow them to decide if they want to watch it.
This article was written by guest blogger Karen Peters, Website Consultant
