Here are 10 Golden Rules of website functionality:

    1. A good website should be easy to navigate. If visitors find it difficult to navigate from one page to another frustration will set in and if they leave the website, they may never come back.
    2. Have a clear indication of where in the site the visitor is. Which site page are they are on and how did they get there. To make navigation easy, present them with a ‘breadcrumb trail’ to get back to the beginning.
    3. The URL (web domain) should be easy to remember. One of the most common mistakes in website design is not choosing a proper domain name. Your domain name should be easy to remember and easy to spell.
    4. A website should be easy to find, look up and search for. Ensure your website ranks high in search engine results and is easy to find.
    5. A website should work on multiple browsers. Today, there are various Internet browsers that people choose to use. Therefore, it’s imperative that your website be able to load on any popular browser.
    6. Content should be updated often. The main factor that drives website traffic is content. If content is not updated often, visitors have no reason to visit the site often. Updating content on a regular basis also helps rank your site higher in search results.
    7. Layout consistency is key. It’s important for your website pages to follow a certain layout in order to maintain a common theme and uniformity. If the layout of your website pages are not consistent with one another, your website will look untidy and disorganized.
    8. Eliminate Clutter. If there is too much information together on a single page, the visitor will experience information overload.
    9. A website should be quick to load. In today’s fast-paced world, patience has become a thing of the past. Website visitors want the website to load fast and want to be able to look at photos, articles, and watch videos immediately. When a website has too many large images within it, it will take longer to load. This leads to frustrated visitors who end up leaving your site. Keep efficiency in mind and mitigate bottlenecks.
    10. Use SSL (Secure Socket Layer) encrypted pages if dealing with monetary transactions. SSL is the standard security technology for establishing an encrypted link between a web server and a browser. This link ensures that all data passed between the web server and browsers remain private and integral.

    One Yellow Tree is a marketing company, and we’ve been around for a while. Our job is to help grow your business, cultivate lasting relationships with your current and potential customers and communicate your business strengths to the world. It just so happens that these days, most marketing is done online. We combine research, planning, consistency, cohesive deployment, diligent measurement and refinement