Building an excellent website can be done. All it takes is following a few guidelines that I'll go over in this article. A key in starting out, is understanding what you want to end up with. This will help you to stay focused and keep the site's scope manageable.

How a site functions will immediately set a marginal site apart from an exceptional one. Websites have as varied a number of functions as there are stars in the sky, but they do have functions. A killer site performs those functions extremely well over and over again, and with as much ease as possible. Something as simple as making sure you use a contact form instead of a mailto: link can make all the difference as to whether your prospective customers will actually contact you or not. Remember, if it doesn't work, it ain't that great!

The IA or Information Architecture of a website, which is heavily tied into the navigation of the site, can be one of the more critical factors as to whether a website is really making the grade or just getting by. Making sure a visitor can find what they are looking for with the minimal amount of effort is always the goal of any good IA. If they can't find it, it isn't there.

Style and design aspects are what most people think of when they imagine how cool their new website is going to be. This is the emotional component of a website. Much like what a person is wearing, the type of perfume or cologne they may have on, their style of haircut, do they have on a Rolex watch or a Swatch, leather and beads or gold and diamonds. A great website makes the visitors feel at home. It will make them feel comfortable and at ease. This can only be done if you design your site for the appropriate audience. If your website targets teen girls, use common sense and don't use a conservative business motif.

A slow Load time for a website is always a sure way to lose a visitor before they even get to your website. They teach this in every basic website design course from here to China, but getting that fat content out there is just too tempting. Video and bump'n Flash animations are all the rage, but they have to be used where and when appropriate or they will cause more harm than good. A great site has a great load time.

A lot of quality information is always at the core of any great website. Without good content why would a visitor even want to come to your website? However, having exceptionally unique and valid information will set it apart as an exceptional site.

How current and up-to-date a site's information is can make or break it. Exemplary websites will always be 100% current and be used as an almost real-time communication tool to interact with their visitor base. Stale content, even if it was all the rage last month, often times just won't cut it for today's best websites.

Making sure your visitor's time at your website is as safe from hackers and criminal elements as possible is vital to any website. There is no doubting that your website sucks if someone gets their identity stolen while visiting. This can mean spending some money and making recommended changes to otherwise working code, but it has to be done. Security for your website and the people that visit it is critical. Call in the experts and play it safe.