What makes a great website?
Not everyone has the same idea of what makes a great website.
For some it’s all in the visuals — colors and imagery. For others it’s all about function — fast-loading and easy navigation. For the wisnet team, it’s a combination of all those things and more. Yet beyond the physical attributes of a strong design, well-written content and great performance, is something that rated highest on our team’s list — the website must be “intuitive.”
Can you code “intuitive?” Can it be designed, photographed, or written?
The answer is… yes. To create a site that is intuitive, you need to consider the user experience (UX) from beginning to end. Why is the user coming to your website and how do you create an experience that will provide them with what they desire in the easiest way possible? It sounds simple, but it can also be quite complex. Often a site goes through several design concepts before the best user experience is found. And with new technologies continually coming to the forefront, website development must stretch and grow to accommodate them.
Taking advantage of some extra time recently, we have been working on our own website redesign. Every time we work on a new design we strive to make the site inspiring, straightforward and simple, keep important links conveniently located, and make it easy for visitors to find the content they are looking for — all the while, trying to create an “intuitive” site that conveys our company story & culture. The wisnet redesign is launching very soon.
Is your site “great”?
Because this can be a hard question to answer and subjective in many ways, here’s a quick checklist of questions to ask yourself to determine if “now” is a great time to update your organization’s website.
- Is your website responsive or mobile friendly? Check your analytics – most sites are seeing 60%+ traffic from mobile devices – but that number varies by industry, organizations, etc. P.S. If your site isn’t mobile friendly, you’re also losing traffic from Google.
- Does your website match your current brand look and service/product offerings? Are the pictures and content up-to-date?
- Are you able to update your site quickly and easily? When was the last time you updated your site content?
- How does your site compare to your competition? Are you proud to send people to your site?
- Does your website have long load times? Many site users will jet if a site doesn’t load quickly… and pro-tip, site speed does play a factor in the google algorithms.
- What are the goals of your site and are you meeting them? Are customers finding what they need; taking action; meeting business needs/goals (marketing, blog, etc.)?
Do you find yourself wishing your site could do more for you? There are a ton of automation and time-saving features and functions to consider. Basic additions could include contact forms, email list subscriptions, galleries, content bookmarking or e-commerce. And more advanced functionality might include login portals, API or other data integrations to make your user experience better or your workload less of a headache. - Is running your website just getting too expensive or stressful?
Give us a call or contact us online. We’d love to dive into your self-assessment from the questions above and offer our opinions and insights.