Subtle Ways Of Identifying A Detailed Business Website That is Well Built
Are you looking to build a website but you’re finding it difficult to choose someone to work on it out of all the myriads of choices out there ?
Are you confused about what platform, method or technology to adopt?
This article is for you!
To answer these questions properly so that you understand what you want or need, I will start by identifying the different reasons you may want to have a website. You can create a website to:
- To sell a product(s). For example, an e-commerce website like www.kellugshc.com.
- To entertain: For example, a website for games or fun like http://plates.onefirm.net
- To give information & educate: Most corporate websites and businesses use this to communicate what their organization does.
- To offer a service or to showcase a skill/portfolio… and many other purposes.
Once you get this settled, once you know why you have a website then it will determine every other thing that your website can potentially do. For the purpose of this article, we are going to consider what makes a good “business” website.
Here is a list of design and technical things to consider as a guide / checklist to judge how good your website is :
- Speed, How Fast Does it Load the Page?
Ideally the load speed of pages within a website should not be more than 1-3 seconds, but that’s in a world where the internet speed is optimal and network providers and service providers deliver fast and efficient data rates.
In a place like Nigeria or Africa where the internet is not so optimal, the average load speed shouldn’t exceed 9 seconds for pages on a website to load. This already, is quite a long time in this jet age to keep a prospective buyer or audience waiting to read basic information about your service or offering. - Is it Inline With Your Brand Colours and Design?
Most budding and established businesses understand the need for an identity in their business. An identity is something you see and instantly recognize and relate to a particular brand or organisation without being told. For example, the Green White Green represents Nigeria just as most countries have their own flags that represent that particular country. In the same vein, the blue and red sphere represents Pepsi even without it being spelt out.
Note that your brand cannot have one colour while a different colour is displayed all over your website. They must be the same or at least compliment each other in a way that is understandable. - Your Name Logo or Brand is Present But Should Not be Obtrusive:
It is very common for new business owners to get overly excited about your brand and its outlook (design and logo wise. However, this does not mean you should plaster it all over the face of your website. You should have that confidence to simply express it in a header either on the top left or right corner (like CNN), and not necessarily on every single item or content the user clicks on (this was a mistake I made in 2002 :D). Your brand presence on the site should simply be in the form of a signature that expresses “who you are’’ as your website service is not defined by how large your logo is. - It Must Have Clear And Legible Text and Images To Ensure It Communicates One Main Message:
Your website should have one main message that expresses what you do in a clear and simple message so that within the first 5 seconds of hitting the home page, any reader/audience understands what you do enough to want to probe for more information about you or your service offering. This is why we see websites nowadays dedicated to a single product (this is called a landing page) and not necessarily an entire store or warehouse.
Font sizes and designs can be fancy but they should not be too fancy in a way that obscures the message it is to communicate. Two good fonts for a website are Garamond and Century Gothic. - Does it Work Well On Any Device?
Users view websites from multiple devices: from mobile phones, tablets to computers. For this reason, you want to ensure your website functions well and carries the message across to anybody visiting and that they can do whatever they want easily with no hassle. From the statistics we got from a recent project, our team realized that over 70% of the audience/customers are going to read about or look through your services and offerings from a mobile device before making contact or a purchase.
Therefore, a good website should work well on all devices, not just mobile phones or a laptop. - Clear Communication and Message:
There should be no over-statements or “wannabe” image portrayal as your visitors most of the time sense this from afar. For example, why is there “Oyinbo” holding up an apple pie on the website of a bread bakery in igando ? I don’t get it !). Your message and content of what you do and what value you provide your customers has to be simple and clear enough to speak to them in short simple terms. Also, the font style and text you choose to write service descriptions should be legible and be in clear contrasting colors compared to the background and designs. This will allow readers conveniently observe and read through and sometimes switch to a “reader mode” on their devices for general information. - Contact Information Can Be Accessed in 1 – 2 Clicks:
Your contact information should be easily accessible to your visitors and prospective clients in one to two clicks. It can be a simple form, email or even a phone number to call. Make it very convenient, easy and open for them to contact you. - Other Little Technical Things That Gives Confidence And Reassurance:
For example, SSL for security, Favicon to identify you easily in multiple browser tabs etc
I believe this clarifies a few basic points on what makes up a good website, This is not an exhaustive list but a basic way to check or review a job well done.
I sat down to write this post filled with points and basic explanations, like all other posts, not because we think this is the best writeup ever in the history of web development/writing, but because maybe you needed to see it perhaps it helps you understand things better and you take better decisions with that.
Do you have a website? How many of this checklist points does your website hit the mark for?
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You can share your experiences and any point you think I must have missed in the comments. 👇
I am Aunty Ronke and I am here to help you on the journey to making your small business a big one! Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @auntyronke for periodic updates and tips like this and hit the subscribe button to be notified when I make a new post.
