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what makes a website a great website?

As with any printed material promoting your business, first impressions count, so it's important that your website articulates a clear, professional image appropriate to your product. Whether you are planning to establish a website yourself or preparing a brief of what you need to hand to a web developer, keep the following points in mind to ensure that your website is something you’ll want everyone to see - and remember!

Focus on your objective

Know what you want to say and how you want to say it. Your home page, the first page a visitor sees, needs to convey in a matter of seconds what the site is about to keep the visitor engaged. Be sure that your site has a clear and distinct focus -- and that your focus is immediately revealed in your titles or headings. Even a site that sells thousands of products should have a focus.

Make is credible and believable

You need to establish credibility. If your visitors don't trust you, they're certainly not going to trust your offer! As a result, developing rapport with your visitors is critical to your success. By this we mean don't make fantastic promises or offers that you can't fulfill. Emphasize benefits, but also share information and facts about your bsuiness. Where possible, use real examples and testimonials. The more information you give your visitors, the more secure they're going to feel about buying from you.

Limit the choices

Don't give visitors too many choices on your main page. Lead them through your site. If you are selling a product or service, lead visitors towards the "decision to buy." Don't leave it to chance that out of a hundred choices on your main page, they might decide to look at and buy your product. In fact, if you give them too many choices, they simply won't make one. Take control and lead them to your offer!

Simple to Navigate

Your website should be easy to navigate. Don't make your visitors wade through dozens of irrelevant pages before you give them the information they need. Make it easy for your visitors to move through your site -- they'll stick around much longer, and will be more likely to visit you again!

Consistent

Be sure that the look and design of your site is consistent. Choose a background color and stick with it. Choose link and text colors, and use them consistently throughout the site. Always put your navigation buttons in the same place, be it along the side, or across the bottom of the page. Consistency of design will ensure that the experience at your site is a pleasant one. It will also let visitors know that they are still at your site, and haven't linked off somewhere else!

Understand the Psychology of Color

Be wise when using Colors for text

Use colored text to indicate links (blue is traditional) and to emphasize important concepts or points. Too many different colors make your text hard to read -- and look unprofessional. You are designing a web page, not a circus poster! .

Be careful when choosing Colored Backgrounds

Don't get carried away using fancy background textures or colors. While it might look fabulous on your computer, it may look putrid on other computers using different browsers. Be particularly careful about using brightly colored backgrounds in combination with colored text. I've come across sites where I could barely read the text because it blended with the background color. Use contrast. Remember that different browsers read colors differently -- some folks purposefully set their browsers to read only 16 or 256 color combinations. So be warned! While a white background with black text may seem pretty boring, everyone will be able to read your copy!

Headlines

Always remember that your headlines are the most important element of your sales copy. Test them extensively to see what attracts and holds your visitor's attention.

Let Visitors Know Who You Are

Make is easy for visitors to contact you -- don't make them hunt through your site for your email address or phone number. Part of building credibility involves letting people know exactly who you are and how they can contact you. Real phone numbers, real names and real addresses!

Fresh Content

Your website content must be up-to-date and relevant to your audience. If your site is information based, then you need to be sure that you are adding new content on a regular basis. Why would your visitors come back if there is nothing new for them? Plus, you lose credibility when your information is old and out of date. Make regular changes to your site. They do not need to be drastic changes -- for example, quote recent web statistics instead of those from 5 years ago, change your testimonials regularly and update your copy.

Keep Your Purpose in Focus at All Times!

Don't lose site of why you developed your website in the first place. Every aspect of your site should somehow contribute to your goal -- be it to sell, inform, or simply entertain!