Fifteen years ago, your website was one spoke of the wheel that kept your business rolling. Print advertising was common. Your storefront was what people judged you on as a representation of your business. Flash forward to 2013: your website is your storefront. Over the last 10 years we have been entering into an age where there are a large number of people that don’t even bother going to an actual store to shop if they can avoid it. They shop online. Customers might be shopping for something that you sell and you have about 10 seconds to grab their attention and create a sense of trust before they move on to another website until they find one that catches their eye.

This goes for all types of websites, not just sites trying to sell something. Whether you have a blog site, a social media site, or something more specialized in interest; great web design is key to your success. Success translates differently depending on what kind of site you have. Your goal may be to get the most readers possible, or the most shares through social media, or it may be to instigate a purchase. The first step in achieving whatever your goal is on your website is through having great web design. There’s no way around it.

There are six major elements that go into making your web design successful:

1.    Does it look good?
First things first: If your webpage does not have a clean appearance and look up to date with modern web design, people are going to assume its old information, or that the site is not important enough to warrant a modern look, therefore not worth their time. If you have a website that looks like it was designed ten years ago, customers aren’t going to trust it. So it’s time to drop some old practices right now. Modern websites are not going have excessive pop-ups, they aren’t going to use flash, as most mobile devices don’t support it; they aren’t going to use animated images, and probably aren’t going to use large images for backgrounds; if they do, they’ll do so carefully and tastefully.  Those are all practices used in the early 2000’s to try to spice up websites. Today, people favor a clean layout like you would see on Apple’s website. Sites that stay up with the times design wise automatically engender trust because it looks like the company knows what they’re doing whether they actually do or not.

2.    Is it easy to use?
The next major criteria, is that the site be easy to navigate and makes sense to the user. Your site should be organized in a way that the user can easily find what they need without any effort. You have about 10 seconds to get your user to where they need to be before they’ll give up on your site and go searching for something else, so ease of use is paramount. Keep an eye on frustrations that you have when you go to other websites and be mindful of that as you design your own. You may be capable of placing complicated wonders all over your website that show off your programming prowess, but in this day in age simplicity is king; so if it’s not necessary, don’t do it.

3.    Does it work?
Next, the site needs to work as intended. Photos and links shouldn’t be broken. Your site should work like a well-oiled machine. Sites that don’t work correctly look like they are neglected which reflects badly on the owner. Using the mantra of keeping your site simple will greatly help with this. A simple layout will be easier to fix and keep up to date.

4.    Does your site have responsive design for mobile devices?
Having responsive design may be one of the most important criteria on this list. It shouldn’t even be a consideration. Responsive design allows your website to automatically adapt to whatever device is being used. More users will probably access your site through a mobile device than on an actual computer as time goes on. Using a smart phone or tablet to surf the internet has become much easier, cheaper, and more convenient than using a computer, and as they become some of the most prevalent pieces of technology in our society, people are going to choose to use them over a computer pretty much any time they can. This goes for all audiences. Don’t assume that only the young and tech savvy will be using this new technology. An iPad is much easier for your tech-fearful, 80 year old, grandmother, to navigate than a PC running any version of Windows ever will be. It’s important to stay modern. And right now, this is a must. On top of that, there are so many types of mobile devices that choosing to go with responsive design is the only way to account for use on all devices.

5.    Do you have useful content that meets the needs of your audience?
Content is the most important thing on your website. Everything else that I’ve listed previously should be a given. They are the minimum requirements. Content is the reason someone is looking at your website in the first place. Your content needs to be up to date, useful, and organized, just as your site should be. You have one shot to prove that your website is relevant. If you prove yourself, users will look at you first the next time they need services related to the content you offer. They may even recommend your site to their friends, netting you even more of a following. The important thing to gather from all of these points is that everything should be handled with care and treated like it is important because every aspect of your site works together and is needed to feel complete. When everything works together well, it creates a great experience for the user.

6.    Do you have good understanding of Search Engine Optimization so that your site can be found by its intended audience?
Search Engine Optimization also ranks very highly on the priority list because, let’s face it, if nobody can find your website, it doesn’t matter how good your content is or how good your site looks. How search engine optimization works is ever changing. It used to be based around key words. Now it’s more of a secret due to Google’s new Hummingbird algorithm. But supposedly, Google is focusing more on content then it is on key words now. So this basically translates into: Make a really good website with lots of good content, and people will be able to find you easily. People are using their smart phones to search, using Siri, and asking questions like, “Where can I get the best deal on car speakers?” And Google is adapting for this. So it’s not enough to be programmed for the key word, “car speakers.” The reason why you want lots of good textual content is because Google is going to analyze what somebody asked Siri to search for and it’s going to figure out who knows a lot about, and who might also have good deals, on car audio equipment.

So when it comes down to it, good web design is everything, and should not be neglected if you want to have any chance at having a successful website. Everyone and their dog are creating websites, and you want to have something that sets you apart. Have great content, be easy to use, look great and up to date, and be responsive so no matter what is being used to view your site, you still come across exactly as you want to.