The Business Bulletin
What makes a great website?
In 2020, internet usage absolutely skyrocketed, with many UK service providers reporting an increase of over 50% in consumption. Now more than ever, your customers are online, and your website is your main business asset.
There are many components that
like, and consider the touchpoints of
of 400 word paragraphs. Breaking
make up a great website, and it really
your demographic. What age range
apart the text and allowing plenty of
is a sum of all parts that ensure your
are they? Where do they shop? What
clear space allows the user headspace
success. Let’s start with the age old
will inspire them? You may have several
to digest your content.
design principle: Form + {function} – It
audience types that will need a slightly
has to look great, but run brilliantly too.
tailored experience throughout the
Style
site. Be clear who they are, and what
Would your typical audience shop
they need.
at Aldi or Waitrose? Do they drink
Form Usability
Weird and wonderful menu
aged whiskey, flavoured vodka or
navigations may look cool – but the
green tea? Tone and style have an
It almost goes without saying that
majority of your users want to find
important role – in both visual tone
it has to look great. But it’s not just
out how to contact you or read more
and tone of voice – are you chatty
enough to be visually stimulating – it
about a specific service you have. Keep
and conversational, or edgy and bold,
has to connect with your audience.
the logo aligned left (it’s expected –
or minimal and to-the-point?
And humans typically have between
don’t confuse people for the sake of it)
0-8 seconds to decide if they like
and use meaningful words: Services |
try using images with people in –
something or not. Make it easy for
Resources | Contact us and so on. Have
ideally your own team in your offices.
your users! This is called ‘UX’ (an
your phone number on the header
Of course it’s not always practical to
abbreviation of ‘User Experience’)
(unless you only want email enquiries).
have your own image library, and that’s
and encapsulates the entire user interaction not just on your site, but with your ongoing service levels. One of the hardest things to do, is let go of what you want the site to look
32 | Issue 6 – Sales and Marketing
Set the text content to be
If you are a service based business,
where stock images come in. Choose
‘snackable’ – your user should be
carefully – a lot of stock images look
able to scan the page and find what
very generic, staged and too glossy –
they need from the headlines and
dig a little deeper and source some
highlighted text; not have to read lots
natural, realistic shots.
