The conversation around how to make a good website has shifted. Today, a nice-looking site isn’t enough. Your website has to work.
The website must load fast, guide users intuitively, and convert without friction. According to a 2020 Deloitte report, a 0.1-second improvement in mobile site speed can increase conversion rates by 8.4% to 10.1%. That’s not just UX trivia but becoming business consideration.
From what we’ve seen at Nexalab, helping businesses across Australia, this isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about setting up a website that supports what your business needs. Whether you’re refining an old build or starting fresh, this article outlines what makes a great website, and how to create one that actually delivers.
What Makes a Great Website?
A great website is built on a mix of solid design, usability, and relevance. Plus, the website loads fast, looks modern, and provides clear value to its audience. The qualities of a good website also include credibility.
Users should feel they can trust the site and find what they need easily. A great website aligns with your business goals and your users’ needs. So, the site is not just pretty, but effective in real terms.
And that’s what matters most: design and content working together to help your business (and your visitors) succeed. It aligns with business goals. It doesn’t waste your visitor’s time.
This is why, if you’re looking for a web design agency in Melbourne that builds for business goals, Nexalab might be worth a look.
Best Practices to Make a Good Website
Below are the several fundamentals making a good website we see working across industries. These aren’t guesses. They’re patterns we’ve validated while helping clients figure out how to make a good website from scratch or clean up an outdated one.
1. Define Your Goal and Target Audience
The first step in how to make a good website for business is clarity. What’s the job of this site? Who’s using it and what do they want?
We’ve seen projects get stuck because teams build for themselves, not their users. You can avoid that by anchoring decisions around your audience’s actual needs. If it’s unclear, please start with a short strategy doc.
If your site feeds into a sales funnel, this review on landing page fit by funnel stage can be useful.
2. Keep Navigation Simple and Clear
The best websites are boring in a good way. Familiar menus, logical paths, no mental gymnastics. If your users are hunting for information, that’s a problem.
Over-designed navigation might look clever, but it often adds friction. Simple wins. And clarity always beats creativity in menus.
3. Use a Clean and Consistent Layout
Consistency builds trust, visually and functionally. Use a grid system and set predictable spacing. Keep type hierarchy clean.
Even great content fails if it’s scattered across inconsistent layouts. The structure should quietly guide the eye and not compete with the message. And please: no five different button styles on one page.
For small businesses, this perspective on web design services lays out what’s worth prioritising.
4. Design for Mobile First
Mobile-first is the default now. In Australia, much web traffic comes from mobile phones. That’s where your users are.
So, always designing for small screens forces prioritisation. You’ll end up with simpler interfaces that also work better on desktop. Plus, it’s key for Google’s mobile-first indexing, so SEO benefits too.
5. Prioritise Speed and Performance
If your site is slow, everything else falls apart. Load time affects bounce rate, SEO, conversions. It’s everything.
Keep images light. This means you need to use modern formats, like WebP, and defer scripts. Plus, you need to avoid bloated plugins.
But, this won’t work for everyone. But we often recommend performance audits every 6 months. Evaluation and small fixes can go a long way.
6. Write Clear Copy and CTA
You don’t need award-winning prose. You need clarity. Say what you do and say what the user should do next.
This sounds simple. But vague CTAs like “Learn More” or fluffy headlines confuse users.
Good copy guides action. Be blunt if needed. This is useful: “Book your free 15-minute consultation.”
We’ve broken down what makes a landing page convert well in a guide on high-converting landing pages here.
7. Use High-Quality Visuals
Visuals matter but only when they serve a purpose. Stock photos that feel generic can actually lower trust. So, use authentic images.
Keep iconography consistent. Optimise all visuals for retina displays and speed. And if you’re working with a designer, standardise image aspect ratios from the start.
8. Make Forms Easy to Use
Make forms easy to use to encourage visitors to actually fill them out. We saw how long and complicated forms brake conversions. Users don’t want to work to contact you.
So, keep fields minimal. Label clearly. Use smart defaults.
Then test on mobile. And test again. If the form’s too annoying, users just bounce, no matter how good the site looks.
And if you’re refining your landing flow, here’s a step-by-step take on how to design a landing page that’s grounded in usability.
9. Build Trust With Social Proof
One of the fastest ways to build credibility is social proof. Some social proof you need to put in your website are:
- Testimonials
- Case studies
- Partner logos
- Certification
- Awards.
But authenticity matters in many social proofs. Simply put; don’t just paste a quote. Add context, like give name, company, role, and photo if possible.
Social proof done well builds confidence silently. That’s what makes it powerful. For example, featuring a short customer quote on the homepage or logos of partners adds credibility at a glance.
10. Optimize for SEO
Optimize for SEO (Search Engine Optimization) so your great website actually gets found. Search engines drive a huge chunk of web traffic. Even the best-designed site won’t help if no one sees it.
Use relevant keywords in your content, write descriptive page titles and meta descriptions. Then, make sure your code is crawlable. Technical stuff like XML sitemaps and alt text for images also helps search engines understand your site.
Those SEO approaches might sound tedious, but it pays off. This approach connects to your broader funnel. Pairing a strong site with solid marketing automation helps even more.
When Looks Alone Aren’t Enough
Making a good website is not about pretty pixels but about performance, purpose, and trust. We’ve worked with teams that came to us after spending months on design. Only to realise their site wasn’t doing its job.
The businesses we’ve supported at Nexalab learned that a clear, fast, and helpful site wins over any trendy gimmick. And that’s how to make a good website gets tricky: sticking to simplicity can be harder than it sounds. But it’s worth it.
Key Takeaways
- A good website must load fast, guide users clearly, have a good look, and convert without friction.
- Clarity around your site’s goal and audience is the first step that prevents costly misdirection later.
- Clean layout, mobile-first design, and smart SEO aren’t optional. They’re the baseline if you want the site to work.
- Strong CTAs, easy forms, and real social proof help build trust and keep users moving, without second-guessing.
