Following are quality factors that distinguish great websites:

First Impressions

First impressions are very important. And websites are no exception. Your website visitors need to feel comfortable when they first arrive at your website. If so, they will stay awhile and shop around to see what you have to offer. If not, they’ll look elsewhere.

The Home Page

The home page should be a good stable reference point for people that is easy to get back to from anywhere on your website. It should be the central point from which people can find anything and everything on your website. Clicking on your logo should always take people back to your home page. But don’t rely on that as the only way for your website visitors to get back to the home page.

Arrive at Your Home Page

When someone first goes to your website, they should arrive at your home page. Not some fancy flash page where they then have to take action just to get to your home page itself. They’re more likely to go somewhere else than take the time to figure out how to just get to your website content.

Avoid Too Much Clutter

Don’t drive your website visitors away with too much clutter on your home page. A small amount of flash is OK, but too much “whiz bang” or obnoxious music will make people want to find the nearest exit.

Keep It Simple

Don’t make people have to think about what they have to do or what is expected of them on your webpages.  Each page should have the same clear form of navigation for getting around the website. Your website visitors should always know where they are and how to get somewhere else on your website.

A Clear Layout

Once someone arrives at your home page, they should find a clear layout of everything they will find on your website. This will enable them to know immediately if they’ve come to the right place to find what they’re looking for.

A Common Theme

All of your website pages should share a common theme or have the same look and feel so that people don’t think they have accidentally left your website when they go from one page to another. A consistent navigation scheme that is the same on every page helps to make it obvious that one is still on the same website.

Search Engines Love Textual Content

They are much better at reading and analyzing written words than making sense out of pictures. Make sure that the text on your website is actually text that search engines can read. Not just a picture of text that is meaningless to a search engine.

Write for Human Visitors

Write for the human visitors to your website – not just for the search engine robots. People are the important visitors who have the money to spend. They can be “put off” if your writing is unintelligible because it was meant for search engines rather than people.

Open 24-7

For displaying your goods and services to best advantage, your website is better than a brick and mortar storefront.  Your website is open 24/7 and is accessible from everywhere.