A website is a way to organize and present information so that visitors can easily understand it, find the parts that interest them, and complete useful tasks.
Good Websites
- Make it as easy as possible for visitors to understand and to get what they want.
- Appeal to the people most likely to use them.
- Let visitors immediately know what the site or current page is about.
- Present the most important information first and let visitors move to more detail.
Bad Websites
- Are hard to navigate.
- Load slowly.
- Aren’t mobile friendly.
- Expect people to read a lot of text up front.
- Use text that is difficult to read.
Website Uses
Websites have many uses. Some uses are very obvious, like selling something or sharing thoughts. Other uses are less obvious, like getting people to trust you. Below are some of the most common uses of a website.
Most websites serve several of these purposes at the same time. Web design, user experience, content strategy, and search engine optimization all help a website serve those purposes well.
Education
Websites can make information easy to find. You can often search a website for a certain topic. Websites can also have media, like images, sound, and video that add a lot to what you can learn. Websites can also link to other pages and resources, giving the user more options for learning.
Identity
Websites are often used to give people a sense of the character of a person, business, organization, or project. Portfolio sites give others a sense of someone’s body of work, while commercial sites are used to communicate the feeling of a brand.
Trust
An important use of websites is to let visitors know that a person or business can be trusted. Sharing qualifications, experience, endorsements, and reviews can be powerful ways to do this.
Interaction
Many websites encourage visitors to communicate, participate in a community, or build a relationship with a person, business, or organization.
Attention
Websites can use design, content, and interaction to capture attention and direct it toward particular ideas, products, or services.
Action
Websites are often used to encourage or promote different kinds of actions. Some want you to buy a product. Others want you to attend an event. Still others may want you to engage politically.