What are “the four pillars” of great website design?

We recently had cause to refer back to our much-loved blog “James the Plumber – a heart-warming story about website design”. 

We were helping a prospective new client to understand the difference between our “bespoke website design” proposal and one from another agency that simply planned to populate a WordPress theme with images and content that he provided.

Anyway, the point is that there is more to great web design that one might think…  It might look pretty, but is it interesting? It might be full of great information, but what’s the point in that if no-one can find it? Who cares how cleanly coded it is, if first impressions say the wrong thing?

To illustrate this, we devised and often refer to “The Four Pillars of Great Web Design”:

Content

It’s not your customer’s job to try and decipher why your product or service should be of interest, it’s yours. This is the value of concise, clear, well-written and persuasive wording, combined with relevant, eye-catching and original imagery.

Design

There’s more to great design than looking pretty. The planning, navigation and structure are vital too.  Now, where have they hidden the telephone number?  How do I get back to the page I was just on?

Coding

Coders can be a lazy bunch… if a bit of code doesn’t quite work they’ll keep adding more code until it does.  Why not just re-write the first bit so it’s right? Clean coding improves website speed, performance and search engine visibility.

SEO

Clear SEO strategies should be part of the DNA of a website, not an afterthought.  Trying to retrospectively optimise a website is a bit like trying to add foundations to an existing building.