What Makes a Good Site?

Have you ever wondered: "What makes a good site?". There is no definite answer, of course, because people tend to have subjective minds (meaning that each person views things in a different way. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder). However, there is a way to attract a certain group of visitors, and making them think What an amazing site!.

What's First....

What's first is.... The First Impression. According to most graphic-related site visitors, people tend to stay on your page only from the first glance of your homepage. So, if a person did not have a catchy first page image, layout, splash, or any introduction the visitor might leave in a matter of seconds.
However if you captured that image, the visitor will decide to browse around, and it's your time to show off your skills at their best.
How to Capture This: To capture a great first impression, design your layout or splash / introduction page to suit the layout's theme. If your site is an anime related site, stick an amazing picture of an anime character that will grasp the thoughts of the visitor. You can find tons of images from image boards and PNG resources. For more ideas on where to look for these images, you can check Pokeshore's Resource site.

Grammar Counts!

Ever wondered: Why the hell do I take grammar in school? Well, grammar helps in many ways. A visitor is attracted to a site with a good usage of the English language. NoBoDy LiKeS tYpInG LiKe ThIs. While, I know that absolutely no site would type like that, I would say that the visitor might view it in the same way you view that use of grammar. Keep your grammar clean and right.
How to Capture This: Study your grammar! I'm being serious about this. Next, you could use a program that checks your grammar, like Microsoft Word, although I wouldn't recommend that entirely because it misses a lot of grammar errors. Another way is to peer-edit with somebody. Send them your paragraphs / site pages and let them judge for themselves whether the grammar is done well. Remember, send it to somebody with good grades and high standards ^^;

Spelling, Spelling, and more SPELLING

Spelling. Ah, spelling. How many times how you been quizzed about this in school? Spelling is an important skill for your site. Nobody likes a site that misspells words constantly. This is a major turn-off for visitors. Sometimes you use slang, and that is actually all right with people, as they are human too, and we humans use slang in our everyday life. However, I recommend that you stick to proper spelling and grammar mechanics when writing an article or pages for your website.
How to Capture This: Again, you should study your spelling. Yes, you can again use spell check on microsoft word or peer edit with a friend. However, what I recommend if for you to get a browser like Google Chrome or FireFox. These browsers automatically spell check for you as you type, just like in Microsoft word. So, if you make a mistake, the word would be underlined in red. This is an easy way, especially since most people type directly through their FTP host instead of uploading it. If you are a person that types their pages on notepad and then uploads it, then after uploading the file, enter and edit it, and you will see that your browser has automatically underlines your spelling mistakes.

Stick to The Topic

I've seen many sites where the owner would change the whole topic to another. For example, in a news post on the front page, the owner would talk about how they missed their cat back home, how they spent their Summer, etc., and mention a tiny part about their site's topic (for example, graphics). Although I really love reading people's daily rants, and I do write them myself, I believe that owners should post their site updates as the important topics.
How to Capture This: Owners should post their site-related updates on the top of their paragraphs, and then their day's story next. This way, new visitors would know that the site is serious about business, and then get to know the staff members better through their post.

Be Nice...

You are here to create a site and become friends with visitors. You are here to experience the site life and work on your skills at the same time. Most important of all, you are here to be a friend. Visitors do not like a power hungry lord who forces others to do things they don't want to. They want a friend.
How to Capture This: Be nice to your visitors and others generally. Chat with them, and become friends. You'll see them coming back and you visiting their site often, and so you will remain in touch. Ignore haters and spammers, and delete their posts or block them from your chat box. Be sensible and level headed. If somebody took something from you, don't go shouting around and cursing, instead think in a level-headed matter, contact that person, and make it a private conversation.

Enjoy Yourself!

Nobody likes to see a webmaster / webmistress posting "This site is boring" or such phrases. It makes them think that this site is not even worth visiting if the owner is not proud of it.
How to Capture This: Stand proudly, update and do what you love. Never continue on something you hate, and you can always change the topic to something that interests you more. The most important part is to have a good time while doing so.

The Aftermath

You are the owner of your site. You are an individual person that resembles no one but yourself. This is what makes you and your site creative. Sit back, enjoy yourself, and makes tons of friends as you go through the life experience of a proud webmaster / webmistress to an amazing site.