9 key website features that will help you maximize your site’s potential

Website features list Although aesthetic design is important when planning how to build a website, it’s not the only thing that matters. As a Wix Partner who has built hundreds of websites, I (and the rest of the Wix Pro team) know that a quality site is so much more than a pretty picture. User-friendly navigation, intuitive design and airtight security are just a few of the most vital website features. Whether you’re figuring out how to create a website or how to improve an existing one, make sure to cover everything in this website features list. Want to hire a Wix Partner like me? Find website designers on the Wix Marketplace. Get to know the Wix Editor on Wix Learn. Website features list The importance of different website features depends on the purpose of a site, but there are a few that every site needs: Intuitive navigation Responsiveness Accessibility for everyone Mobile-friendly interface Attractive design High-quality content Multiple contact options Airtight security Reliable infrastructure Creating a professional website? This website launch checklist can help you get started. 01. Intuitive navigation If you have what a site visitor is looking for, they should be able to find it without much effort. That’s why it’s so important that your site is easy to navigate. An intuitive website smoothly guides site visitors and directs their entire experience. User experience (UX) design is not only helpful for site visitors, but it’s also a way for site owners to manage user behavior. One of my responsibilities as a website designer is to create paths that lead visitors where my clients want them to go. For example, the primary aim of the Symmetryk website is to encourage users to try a demo version. I designed a “Book a Demo" call-to-action (CTA) button in a grapefruit color that stands out against the blue background, then used it twice above the fold. The "book a demo" CTA button is an essential website feature on the Symmetryk site. Olya Black's site design for Symmetryk. The website features that make a site easy for users to navigate also help search engines understand its structure. Therefore, implementing navigational elements on your site increases the likelihood that search engines will index and rank its web pages. Let’s discuss a few website features that’ll make your site easy to navigate: Breadcrumb trails: Breadcrumb trails show site visitors where they are within a website and helps them understand its overall structure. They also make it easy for visitors to navigate back to higher-level pages. Breadcrumb trails are typically displayed near the top of a page and show the path that a visitor has taken to reach the current page. With Wix, you can customize breadcrumb trails to fit your purposes and brand. Clear calls to action: When implemented effectively, CTA buttons drive conversions and encourage visitors toward the desired actions. The language should be clear and concise, leaving no room for confusion about what the button does. Wix users can design and animate buttons to attract attention and make them more interactive. For example, I gave the CTA button on the GG Event House website a hover effect that reveals confetti when a mouse moves over it. Navigation bar: Also known as a navigation menu or header, a navigation bar provides links to the main sections of a website. This essential website element enables visitors to quickly find their way around the site. I typically use single-level navigation bars to avoid overwhelming site visitors, but complex websites can benefit from multi-level site menus. When designing the site for Primavera Clinic, for example, I built a custom navigation system that splits the menu across three slides. The multi-level site menu is an essential website feature on the Primavera Clinic website. Olya Black's site design for Primavera Clinic. 02. Responsiveness A responsive website is one with layouts that adapt to the size and orientation of a visitor’s browser window. That responsiveness ensures that the site looks great and functions well, regardless of whether the visitor opens it on a laptop or a smartphone. This website feature also makes the design process more efficient, because the site owner doesn’t have to create separate mobile and desktop versions of each web page. The Wix Editor has a variety of design tools that enable users to make their site more responsive: Customizable layouts Wix Columns Slideshows Galleries Full-width elements Container boxes Learn more about how to use Wix here. 03. Accessibility for everyone According to the World Health Organization, more than one billion people experience disabilities. They are all potential customers that a business could lose if their websites aren’t designed with them in mind. Plus, having a website that doesn’t meet the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) opens you up to lawsuits. Here are a few website features that are necessary for accessibility: High-contrast color schemes: Customers with limited vision and color blindness struggle to read text that is too similar in color to that of the background. Use this contrast checker to assess your color scheme. Keyboard navigation: People with visual and mobility impairments often rely on their keyboards rather than a mouse to navigate websites. Simplified language: Writing conversationally, using simple vocabulary and avoiding complex sentence structures ensures that people with learning disabilities (and skim readers) can understand your site. Alt text: Screen readers use alternative text on images to translate them for people with visual impairments. Clear hierarchy: Design your site and content hierarchically, so that information flows from most to least importance. Use headings predictably and keep your design language consistent across the site so that people who use keyboard navigation can move easily through the site. Easy-to-read fonts: Choose simple or familiar fonts so that people with dyslexia, learning disabilities, aphasia, and poor vision can read comfortably. Wix's Accessibility Wizard helps identify and fix accessibility issues that I might otherwise miss. This handy tool ensures that every visitor, regardless of ability, can view and navigate the site. Keep in mind that the Wizard doesn’t address the entire scope of web accessibility, so consider hiring an accessibility expert to check your site for glaring issues. 04. Mobile-friendly interface As of February 2023, about 61% of internet traffic comes from mobile devices. Therefore, there’s a significant chance that most people are accessing your site from their phones. If your mobile site isn’t up to snuff, they might not stick around. Plus, mobile-friendly design is essential if you want people to find your business on search engines. Google uses mobile-first indexing, which means that it prioritizes websites that are optimized for mobile devices. Your mobile website must be convenient to use, quick to load and as interactive as possible. Although responsiveness is an important aspect of mobile-friendly websites, it’s not the only thing that’s necessary. Simple navigation, readable fonts, and quick-to-load imagery are also important. With Wix’s mobile editor, you can easily adapt your desktop website to a smaller screen and even create a customizable mobile app for your brand. You can eliminate and add content or even change the layout completely. I especially appreciate the quick action bar website feature because it encourages mobile site visitors to get in contact with the business. Be sure to consider mobile-friendliness right from the start as you map out how to plan website. 05. Attractive design An attractive design can capture the attention of visitors and make them more likely to stay on your site. This can lead to increased engagement and a lower bounce rate. Attractive site design can also convey a sense of trustworthiness and professionalism, which can help to establish your brand as a reputable and trustworthy source of information or products. MOOI Clinic has hired me three times in the past six years to give their website a makeover. This investment ensured that their website design is always current and that it evolves with the business’s evolution. According to the owner, these efforts have helped to bolster credibility and success. Luckily, you don’t have to be a professional designer in order to take advantage of this website feature—Wix has hundreds of website templates that you can customize to suit your needs. Attractive design is an essential website feature for MOOI. Olya Black's site design for MOOI. 06. High-quality content The text, images and videos you put on your professional website are just as important as (if not more than) how well you build it. Content that is informative and unique catches and holds a visitor’s attention. It can also help with search engine optimization (SEO), because their algorithms avoid recommending poor-quality web pages to searchers. Content that is high-quality isn’t just accurate and well-written; it also provides value for a site’s target audience. Keep their needs and interests in mind as you create your content and aim to deliver information that is both relevant and engaging. Although AI bots such as ChatGPT or Wix’s AI Text Creator can be great for producing content, they can’t offer the unique perspective and human touch that you can. Because of that, search engines might skip over AI-generated content and site visitors might not find it engaging enough to stay. Therefore, it’s best to use AI-generated content as a starting point and editing it to best fit your site. The website I built for Unlimited Robotics demonstrates the power of high-quality content. With the Academy of free tutorials for robot developers, the robot-focused blog and the FAQ page, Unlimited Robotics attracts, engages and fosters relationships with its relevant audiences. 07. Multiple contact options Whereas some may want to speak to someone on the phone, others may prefer getting in touch through social media. Offering different contact options gives visitors the flexibility to choose the communication method they prefer. This shows potential customers that your business is reliable and prioritizes customer service. It also increases their likelihood of becoming customers. By providing multiple contact options, you can also make your site more accessible to a wider range of people. For example, visitors who are hard of hearing may prefer to use email or live chat instead of calling, while visitors who are visually impaired may prefer to use a text-based chat feature. Because you can respond to many different channels from the Wix Inbox and keep track of customer contact information with Wix Contacts, it's easy to provide efficient customer service. Therefore, offering multiple means of communication improves the customer experience without creating extra work for you. Here are a few website features to include so that all customers are comfortable getting in touch: Live chat: Users can customize Wix Chat according to their availability and design preferences. They can also automate the chat box to start conversations or reply to customer messages. Social media links: Linking to all your social media accounts in a social bar gives people more opportunities to get to know and engage with your business. Phone number: When you use Wix to set up a business phone number, you can accept both calls and texts. Contact form: A contact form is a great website feature because it enables you to keep your communications organized and collect customer information. Wix Forms automatically adds form submissions to your contact list. Email address: Some customers prefer emailing directly over filling out contact forms, so consider offering both. Quick action bar: As previously mentioned, I love adding quick action bars to mobile sites because customers can get in touch with the click of a button. 08. Airtight security If your website collects personal data (such as credit card information and email addresses) from visitors, a strong security system is a vital website feature. Site visitors need to know that they can trust you with their information, and security breaches can jeopardize your brand reputation. Luckily, every Wix user has enterprise-grade website security with features like two-factor authentication, secure payments and anti-fraud protections. 09. Reliable infrastructure Can your website’s infrastructure drive away business? Absolutely. If a site is slow to load, cluttered or hard to navigate, users may become deterred and abandon it. According to a recent survey, almost a quarter of consumers find slow loading to be the most frustrating aspect of shopping online. In order to keep your visitors interested, it’s important that every page on your site loads in fewer than three seconds. Compressing images, removing unnecessary plugins, fixing broken links and reducing cookie sizes can help to improve site reliability. That said, the best thing you can do is use a reliable website builder to run your site. Wix optimizes every website feature for performance. It even has a site speed dashboard that helps you track and improve load times. Check the load time and overall performance of your site on a regular basis to ensure that it is optimized. Website features FAQ What are features in a website? Website features refer to the functionalities and elements that are integrated into a website to enhance user experience, improve engagement, and achieve specific goals. The features of a website can vary based on the site's purpose, industry, and target audience. What are some important website features? Reliable, robust site infrastructure and security are two of the most critical website features as these impact a site's functionality. Other important functions can include navigation, responsiveness, accessibility, mobile-friendly design and great design. What are website features vs functions? Website features refer to the distinctive characteristics and capabilities that enhance user experience, such as navigation menus, search bars and contact forms. Functions, on the other hand, pertain to the practical operations a website performs, like processing payments, sending emails or managing user accounts. While features focus on user interaction and design, functions are the operational aspects that fulfill specific tasks or purposes, collectively contributing to the overall performance and utility of a website. What are some important business website features? Business website features include a clear and compelling homepage, an intuitive navigation menu, contact information accessibility, and a responsive design for various devices. Product or service pages with detailed information, a secure and user-friendly checkout process for e-commerce, and a blog or news section for updates and industry insights. Testimonials, social media integration and a well-designed "About Us" page can build trust. Lastly, incorporating SEO elements and analytics tools can enhance visibility and measure performance for business growth. What are some features of a dynamic website? Dynamic website features include real-time content updates, interactive elements like forms and user-generated content and personalized user experiences. Content Management Systems (CMS) enable easy content modifications, while databases store and retrieve information dynamically. Dynamic pages adapt to user preferences and behaviors. E-commerce functionalities for dynamic product displays and pricing enhance user engagement. Integration with APIs allows for seamless connections with external services. Overall, dynamic websites provide flexibility, responsiveness and interactivity, catering to evolving user needs.