What makes a great website? 10 key qualities

In the past, we needed trained web developers skilled in HTML and CSS to create a good website. Thankfully, today the process is much simpler. With quality Website Builders or WordPress programs, you no longer need formal training or coding skills to create a good website. 

A good website can be created in just minutes with AI and serves as a solid starting point. However, if you want to elevate your website from good to exceptional, it requires regular work. 

In this article, we’ll look at 10 factors that define a good website. We’ll discuss why these factors are important and what you can do to implement them on your website.  

What must a website include? 

There are some essential elements you should have on your website to make it appear professional, organised, and credible: 

• A headline that gives an impression of who you or your business are 
• Logo 
• Favicon (a small icon that appears in the browser tab) 
• A brief description of what you offer or the purpose of your website 
• Contact information 

These are the most basic elements. Depending on the type and purpose of your website, additional features might be beneficial, such as a contact form to collect qualified leads, an about us text, or pages for your digital products. 

Why having a good website is important 

Your website is your online identity. For many visitors, it’s their very first impression of you or your business. Others may already be curious about what you offer and are looking to your website for more information. 

In both cases, the experience on your website can determine whether the visitor becomes a customer or moves on to a competitor. 

A good website strengthens your brand and increases sales. 

10 qualities of a good website 

Let’s dive into what truly makes a website good! Here are 10 of the most important characteristics of a quality website. 

1. A first-class user experience

User experience is all about how it feels to visit your website. A positive user experience is essential for visitors to have a good impression of your brand—and for them to simply want to spend time on your site. 

UI and UX 

You may have heard the term UI and UX design, which stands for User Interface and User Experience. With the volume of websites out there nowadays, a strong visual expression and a seamless user experience have become more important than ever.  Today, both UI and UX design are well-established fields of study. 

In UX design, the focus is on making sure the website isn’t just visually appealing but also functional, understandable, and easy to use. Consider questions like: 

• What impression does the visitor get – does it encourage them to explore further? 

• Is it easy to understand what the website is about? 

• Is it easy to complete an action, such as purchasing a product? 

UI design is more visual and involves placing elements in a way that looks appealing and makes the experience intuitive: 

• Are all elements where the user expects to find them? 

• Are the buttons positioned so they’re easy to click? 

Every element on your website should contribute to a good user experience. It’s a shame to spend time creating a beautifully designed website, only to find that no one buys anything – because a “genius” popup is blocking the purchase button. Good UX ensures that the popup isn’t placed there in the first place, and with good UI, it would be appealing and easy to close. 

The overall experience 

To ensure a good user experience on your website, always consider the whole picture. Regularly visit your website yourself—ideally using different types of devices—and scroll through the pages to check that everything works as it should and looks good. You can also ask someone who isn’t closely involved in the website’s development to review it for you. 

A helpful tip is to use analytics and statistics to gain better insight into how the pages on your website are performing. Analytics can also give you indications of how the user experience is shaping up. 

2. Performance and speed  

Website performance and speed are essential characteristics of a good website. 85% of online users expect your website to load within 3 seconds, and for each additional second, you risk losing even more potential customers.  

You may have experienced the frustration of waiting for a site to load or reading a sentence that suddenly jumps up or down because another element finally loaded. It’s annoying and discouraging. 

Besides impacting user experience, performance and speed also affect your SEO score. Google and other search engines give extra points to sites with good performance and fast loading times. 

You can also ensure good speed without delving too deeply into the technical details. If your website is on WordPress, for instance, you could use the WP Rocket plugin, which instantly improves your loading time and site performance. 

If you want more tips on how to boost your website speed, check out our article on all the various steps you can take to improve it.   

Choosing your web hosting

Security is often the primary concern when selecting a web host—and for a good reason, as website security is also a fundamental requirement for a quality website. 

You should always choose a web host provider that prioritises the security of you and your visitors. It’s also worth noting that this choice impacts your website’s performance and speed. 

Choosing a host provider that uses SSD drives can lead to faster load times. It’s also beneficial to select a provider with high uptime. Ideally, select a provider who excels in all areas. Not to toot our own horn or anything, but… toot, toot. 

3. Website accessibility 

A good website is accessible to everyone, including those with visual impairments or other disabilities. Some quick items you can check off are that colours on your website have sufficient contrast for readability; your images should always include alt text; and it should be possible to navigate the website using only a keyboard. 

Globally, the standard to follow are the WCAG standards. WCAG stands for Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, which outlines the requirements for website accessibility.  

Website accessibility might sound complex, but the UK Government provides a straightforward breakdown website with tips worth reviewing to ensure your site is accessible for all.  

4. Intuitive navigation 

The design of your website shouldn’t just attract and evoke emotions from visitors. As we’ve discussed with UX design and accessibility, a website’s design is just as much about making the site functional, understandable, and easy to use.  

Intuitive navigation is a key element for achieving this. It can be stylish to have animations, unique placements of elements, or other engaging choices on the site.

However, the charm is lost if these elements are placed where the menu should be, making the actual menu harder to find than an open power outlet at the airport during peak season. 

Consider: 

• Is it easy to find the information a visitor is looking for? 

• Is the menu in a logical place where it’s easy to locate? 

• Is the most important information the most prominently displayed? 

• Does the crucial information stand out, or does it get lost among other details? 

• Are colours and fonts used logically, like keeping the same colour for buttons with the same function and a consistent font across pages? 

Responsive design 

A good website is responsive, meaning it looks and functions well on all devices, whether it’s a computer, tablet, or smartphone. 

Starting from scratch to create an intuitive, responsive design on all devices can be challenging. That’s why using a Website Builder can be beneficial. 

In one.com’s Website Builder, AI assists you in creating a responsive site tailored to you and your business in just minutes. Afterward, you can easily adjust details, colours, or other elements to fit your preferences. 

If you want, you can spend just a minute and a half learning how it works in this video:  

If you’d rather not use the AI tool, there are also hundreds of templates to start with, giving you a solid foundation. Both the templates and AI tool are designed with functional and attractive websites in mind. 

5. Visibility in search results

A good website is one that attracts visitors. It’s disappointing to sit on a goldmine if no one gets to benefit from it. It’s a bit like performing beautiful music in an empty concert hall. Whether you’re creating amazing songs or have put extensive work into your website, there’ll be no applause, sales, or traffic if no one is present to experience it. 

There are many ways to ensure that your website gets visitors, but organic visibility is something every website owner should aim for. 

Organic visibility includes working with SEO so that your website appears in the search results when users look for something relevant to your business. 

For example, if you run an online store selling clothes, it’s a huge advantage if anyone searching for “blue rain jacket” or “trendy rubber boots” finds your products—especially since you have everything needed to face the chilly autumn. 

How to increase visibility in search results 

SEO is a vast field, and there are many ways to boost your chances of ranking high in search results. You can optimise your metadata and anchor texts and work on SEO-friendly content on your site. 

If you run an online store, you can follow our SEO guide for e-commerce, and if your site is on WordPress, we also have an SEO WordPress guide. 

Additionally, if your site is on WordPress, you might consider using a plugin to make SEO tasks much easier. Rank Math Pro is an all-in-one SEO plugin offering a wide range of features to help you get noticed in search results. 

6. An active website 

A good website is one that has regular updates and clear signs of activity. Perhaps you’ve experienced looking into a business and noticing that their last news post was three years ago? This gives the impression that the business isn’t very active and that their website may not be worth checking out. 

An easy way to show that your website is alive is to have a company blog or news page where you can post relevant content. This is also a great way to build your brand, showcase authority, and boost your SEO score. 

Additionally, it’s a good idea to double-check that all the information on your website is up-to-date, and that any news page is regularly refreshed.  

7. A website that stands out 

A key trait of a good website is that it’s unique. Visitors remember something about it, even after they’ve closed the tab. With millions of websites worldwide, everyone is exposed to a vast number of them, and not all manage to stand out. 

What makes a website stand out can vary. It also depends on the business it represents, the company’s tone of voice, and the target audience it aims to reach.   

Examples of unique websites 

The UK-based learning platform HegartyMaths is a great example of a website that stands out from the crowd. HegartyMaths supports students with video tutorials and interactive quizzes, making math education accessible and engaging, while its user-friendly design ensures students stay motivated to learn. 

Another standout example is Sketch, a quirky café in London renowned for its artistic interior and playful website design. For instance, the homepage features animated elements that change depending on the time of day, and the menu page includes interactive illustrations that respond to your mouse movements, creating a fun and immersive online experience. 

While it can be fun to go all-out to develop a unique website, you don’t always need to reinvent the wheel. 

Conduct a competitor analysis and try comparing the websites you’re competing against with each other and with your own. Maybe there are simple steps you can take to create unique content aimed at your target audience that will make you just a bit more memorable? 

Also, remember that your website should primarily be functional and have intuitive navigation, as we discussed earlier. It’s a missed opportunity if everyone remembers your site just because your animated bouncing balls kept blocking the button they wanted to click.  

8. Good conversion rate 

Getting traffic to your website is essential, but a truly great website ensures that your business also achieves conversions. 

Conversions are the goal you hope to achieve when someone visits your website. For businesses that sell products, the main conversion might be a purchase, but it could also be signing up for a newsletter or submitting an inquiry through a contact form. 

If you want to increase your website’s conversion rate, here are a few things to consider: 

• Is it easy to fill out your contact form, or are there obstacles along the way? 

• Are there enough elements on the website that encourage users to move forward with a purchase? 

• Are there too many distracting elements on your site? 

The placement of CTAs (Call-to-Actions) is crucial for ensuring a high conversion rate. The overall design, content, and presentation also play a significant role in whether visitors feel compelled to take action.  

9. Relevant quality content 

We’ve discussed why it’s essential to have an active website and to be visible in search results. 

Relevant quality content contributes to both. Additionally, it builds your brand as a reliable and knowledgeable business. 

If a potential customer visits your website and finds interesting, relevant blog posts, they’re much more likely to remember you positively. This increases the chance that they’ll follow you on social media, return to your website regularly, and perhaps even make a purchase. 

A good SEO strategy also includes a plan for writing quality blog posts. If you’re finding it challenging to get started, check out our 30 blog post ideas for inspiration. 

10. Commitment to brand identity

Colourful, spinning spheres might be a fun animation on a café’s website. But if the same spheres appear on a gym’s website, it could almost be counted as bad manners.  

In other words, a defining feature of a good website is staying true to its brand. The design, content, and overall impression should reflect the company’s values, industry, and identity. 

You can certainly stand out and use creative elements on your website, but it’s essential to keep your brand’s identity in mind when doing so. 

A strong brand is recognisable, whether it’s on social media, a poster at your local central station, or the company’s own website. There’s a reason popular brands hardly need to use their logo in advertising—for example, most of us know who would likely be behind an ad with a runner and the tagline “Just do it.” 

An essential part of branding is defining what makes you you and understanding what the business truly is. Since your website is the face of your business online, it’s crucial that every element contributes to building the brand and showing who the company is. 

Give your website a boost!  

We’ve covered 10 of the most essential traits of a good website. A website is a constantly evolving medium, so it’s important to check in regularly to see how it’s performing, keep an eye on trends, and explore new opportunities for improvement. 

We hope these 10 qualities have inspired you to keep enhancing your amazing website! Or maybe you’re considering building a website and are excited to dive into this rewarding project? 

Wherever you are on your journey, we’d love to join you! If you’re curious to see just how cool a website can be in two minutes with AI, try our 14-day free trial of the Website Builder. You can sign up without entering any payment information, so you can enjoy building without worrying about a potential future cancellation. 

It’s entirely up to you whether you want to continue with our Website Builder after the trial. Give it a real test drive first and see if it’s the right fit for you!