This expansive guide covers the key elements of a high-quality website and shows you how to implement them. We’ll dive deep into quick tips and long-term strategies alike—both of which can be applied by complete beginners.
Why Creating a High-Quality Website Is So Important
The differences between good websites and bad websites are fairly easy to spot, even to the untrained eye. It takes just 50 milliseconds for users to form an opinion about a website. That impression determines whether they’ll stay or leave.
Poor quality websites have high bounce rates, low conversion rates, and modest traffic at best.
This is a serious problem, especially for business websites and personal websites. Your site is a direct reflection of your brand and company. Potential customers will be hesitant to use your products or services if your website is subpar.
On the flip side, high-quality websites are refreshing to navigate. They emulate trust, professionalism and translate to an excellent user experience.
People feel more comfortable filling out lead generation forms and buying from high-quality websites. This positive experience will keep them coming back for more.
In addition to the user experience and public perception of your brand, website quality directly impacts SEO. So if your site quality isn’t up to par with certain standards, it will show in the search rankings.
High-quality websites grow exponentially. Site traffic can boost your search rankings, leading to even more traffic, and so on. This is a recipe for success.
To showcase the importance of a high-quality website, let’s review an inspiring case study on the Museum of Science and Industry of Chicago.
The website was getting over five million visitors per year, which is very impressive. Most people used the website to find information about exhibits, schedules, tickets, parking, and more. But even for a high-traffic site, the information just wasn’t translating well to the end-user.
After a complete redesign, including the addition of a mobile-optimized website, the museum saw immediate results. They benefited from a 16% boost in visitor intent and a whopping 35% increase in online sales.
Key Elements of a High-Quality Website
There are a handful of immediate actions you can take to create a high-quality website. These key elements are easy to implement and will get you started in the right direction, even as a complete beginner.
#1 — Keep the Design Simple
As previously mentioned, visitors form an opinion about websites within fractions of a second. This perception is directly tied to the design.
If you look at some of the best websites out there, all of the designs have one thing in common—simplicity. The pages are clutter-free, easy to read, and don’t overwhelm you with too many bells and whistles.
Fortunately, you don’t need to be a design expert or have any coding experience to have a professional website design. You don’t need to hire a web designer either.
Using a website builder like Wix takes the hassle out of your design. The platform has over 500 professionally designed website templates for you to choose from.
There’s something for everyone. From real estate agents to personal chefs, online coaching services, religious organizations, educational institutions, and more, Wix has it all.
Just select a template, and 90% of the work is already done for you. You’ll just need to customize a few components to make the site your own.
Alternatively, Wix can create a personalized website for you in seconds using artificial intelligence. Answer some simple questions, and the Wix ADI will instantly design your website, including custom text and images, which you can then further customize.
#2 — Mobile Optimization Is Critical
More than half of all website traffic comes from mobile devices. If your website isn’t mobile-friendly, it will immediately be perceived as poor quality. And search engines like Google penalize sites in the search rankings if the content doesn’t render well on smartphones and tablets.
There’s a misconception among new website owners that the mobile version of a site is just a smaller version of the desktop version—that’s not true.
Mobile sites need to have a completely different design and layout, so the content reads well on a four or five-inch screen compared to a 13 or 20-inch desktop screen.
All Wix websites are automatically optimized for mobile.
So there’s no extra work on your end. You can rest easy knowing that your mobile traffic will have the same great experience as users browsing from their computers.
If you want to make changes to the mobile version of your site without changing the desktop version, you can manage those changes within the Wix editor—no coding required.
#3 — Focus on Security
Security is synonymous with website quality. You can’t have a high-quality site if you lack basic elements to protect users.
Unfortunately, we’re living in an era where hackers and criminals target websites of all sizes with malicious intent. So don’t think you’re immune to these threats.
At a minimum, you need to have an SSL certificate. This certificate shows users that the connection between your website and their web browser is encrypted.
Without an SSL certificate, web browsers like Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and more will alert users with a “not secure” warning when they land on your site.
All Wix websites are SSL certified with TLS 1.3 protection, so you won’t have to worry about obtaining a certificate from a third party or installing it on your own.
Beyond the SSL, Wix is set up for secure payments as well, with payment gateways on their sites meeting the highest industry standard of security compliance. That, coupled with Wix’s team doing 24/7 monitoring for vulnerabilities and response to incidents, means your site and the shoppers that visit it will always be safe from bad actors or other security issues.
You can use Wix to create an ecommerce shop with a fully customizable checkout experience.
The platform has a built-in payment solution to facilitate transactions. Alternatively, you can sync your Wix store with a global network of payment providers, like PayPal, Stripe, and all major credit card companies. This process will be entirely secure for your customers without any extra work on your end.
Wix also makes it easy for you to secure certain aspects of your site when working with team members and collaborators on the backend. You can choose custom permission for unique roles like:
- Booking staff member
- Billing member
- Blog writer
- Store manager
- Designer
The list goes on and on. For example, your blogger and web designer wouldn’t need access to the financial aspects of your site. This is just another quick and easy way to secure your website.
#4 — Create Simple Navigation
Visitors should be able to navigate your site and find what they’re looking for without any confusion or hassle. It sounds obvious, but you’d be surprised to see how many websites get this wrong.
Navigation starts with your site structure following a logical hierarchy.
For example, a specific blog post shouldn’t be accessible from your top-level navigation menu. That will clutter the menu and page. Instead, the hierarchy would be Home > Blog > Specific Post.
Some of you might have different categories within your blog, like Men’s Fashion or Women’s Fashion. This is another way to segment your content, and the navigation hierarchy would adjust accordingly. Home > Blog > Category > Specific Post.
To simplify your navigation, limit the number of options on the menu at the top of the screen. Wix has these buttons and common landing pages built into every template, so you likely won’t have to make too many changes on your own.
#5 — Have Easily Accessible Contact Information
Website visitors should be able to find your contact information easily. Adding your contact information helps establish trust on the site.
People might be hesitant to buy something, subscribe, or share personal information if you’re operating anonymously.
Include your business email, business address, and business phone number. You should also link any social media profiles as a way for visitors to reach out.
Every Wix template comes with a contact page. Here’s an example of a built-in form on a template that visitors can use as well.
This is really useful if you’re running a personal blog or something out of your house and don’t have a dedicated business line or business address.
#6 — Proofread! You Need Accurate Spelling and Grammar
You can’t expect anyone to take your website seriously if it’s filled with spelling mistakes and grammatical errors. All too often, these are lazy errors that you can quickly correct with spellcheck or free editing software.
We all make mistakes. To say a misspelled word or grammatical error was never published on Crazy Egg would be a lie. But for your home page, landing pages, and product pages, you need to keep a close eye on this.
It just takes an extra few minutes of your time to proofread before publishing. You can even run your content through an online writing assistant, like Grammarly.
For example, would you sign up for an appointment with a physical therapist if the booking page on their website said, “Clickc Here to Schedle Your Appointmnt!”? Probably not.
Basic proofreading and editing are quick and easy ways to add professionalism to your website.
Long-Term Strategies For Creating a High-Quality Website
You can’t implement not all the elements of a high-quality website in minutes. Certain long-term strategic practices take more time and effort to see results.
Strategy #1 — Prioritize Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
High-quality websites appear on page one of Google’s search results for relevant keywords. The only way to achieve this is by implementing a long-term SEO strategy.
You can do this by conducting keyword research, publishing high-quality blogs regularly, creating videos, and prioritizing content that people in your niche will search for. Ebooks, webinars, tutorials, infographics—all of these can be part of your SEO content strategy.
At a higher level, you’ll want to start building backlinks as well. Contact other high-quality websites for guest posting opportunities or other ways to feature your brand on those sites.
Maybe you can get featured on a popular news publication website for a fundraiser or something you’re doing in the community. Validation from other high-quality websites shows search engines and users that your site is legit.
The trouble with SEO is that it takes time. Your efforts might not generate results for several months or longer.
SEO is an ongoing process. Just because one of your blog posts ranks on page one of Google today, it isn’t guaranteed that top spot indefinitely. You’ll need to keep working to ensure your website ranks high in the SERPs.
Strategy #2 — Build Brand Authority
Brand authority can be attached to a person or a business. Once you can establish brand authority, the quality of your website will automatically increase.
Let’s use Tony Robbins as an example.
He’s an author of six bestselling books, and over four million people have attended his live seminars. More than 50 million people worldwide have experienced his teachings.
When you land on his website, you’ll immediately see his credentials and track record. You’ll learn that he’s the chairman of a holding company comprised of 70+ businesses with combined sales of $6+ billion per year.
Tony Robbins has brand authority.
You don’t need to make a New York Times bestsellers list to achieve brand authority. But your name or your business name must hold some weight in a particular field.
The best way to do this is by proof of expertise. If you have a master’s degree in an impressive field of study, plaster that on your website. If you’ve been featured in a magazine, share that story on your site as well.
Building brand authority isn’t easy. Some people spend their entire careers working toward this goal. But nobody will question the quality of your website once it has been achieved.
Strategy #3 — Showcase Reviews and Testimonials
Validation and social proof enhance the quality of your website. This especially true if you’re selling products or services online.
Would you buy a product with zero reviews? Most people would hesitate.
The last thing you want is for visitors to feel like they’re your first customer. They might be running your site through Scam Advisor to ensure you won’t just take their money and run.
But reviews and testimonials from actual customers take your site to the next level and reinforces your brand and that people should trust you.
This takes time, especially if you’re starting from scratch. Sometimes you might need to provide an incentive for users to leave a review, such as a discount on the next purchase.
You should also make it really easy for people to leave reviews. Set up an automated follow-up email with a direct link. This way, customers feel like they’re not going too far out of their way to help you out.
Some bad reviews will be mixed in there—that’s okay. But over time, dozens of reviews turn into hundreds of reviews. Hundreds of reviews turn into thousands.
These reviews will ultimately validate the legitimacy and trustworthiness of your website.
Next Steps
After you’ve implemented the key elements of a high-quality website, you want to make sure that your site quality doesn’t diminish.
It’s worth investing in an online reputation management solution. These companies can help you get more reviews, suppress bad reviews, and take other steps to ensure your website looks good in the public eye.
Check out our list of the best SEO tools as well. This will make it easier for you to enhance your long-term SEO strategy.
