Assuming that we all agree on what makes a good book or a good film as opposed to a bad one (although I admit this is rather subjective and there’s no black or white aspect to this), I’m sure we all agree there are certain “ingredients” that go into making a good film or a good book, say in a genre like science fiction, drama, romantic-comedy, etc. For the sake of argument, let’s leave out the finer aspects of narrative style, cinematography and other aesthetic nuances that apply to both books and films.
Websites are no different. I’ve been snooping around and checking out various types of websites: from websites of IT companies, to newspapers, restaurants and bars, to internet dating and matrimony sites. Here are some elements that I thought were crucial to making a good website:
- It should be interactive - create and share media
- It should embed user generated content experience
- It should have appropriate gatekeeping methods
- It should be in line with its funding, advertisers
- It should have a USP and target a specific audience profile and be consistent with regard to that section. It can’t appeal to all and sundry
- It should build brand loyalty and ensure repeated visits by the chosen audience, while constantly reaching out to other people of the same category, attracting others to join
- It should appear that it is live and not static - that it is being moderated and updated regularly by real people who are interested in communicating with and building an audience base
- It can share images, announce news, videos of group activities, inform members about upcoming events, meetings, encourage members to contribute towards reviews, reports, experiences
- It must link to other similar, related sites
- It must have a convenient way to search for information - a good search algorithm, with user-intuitive, useful, relevant search criteria
These were the ones I thought were most crucial in determining a great site from an ok site. Feel free to add to this list.
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