No, I'm not asking, or even suggesting, that your website should be the cyber-equivalent of a stand-up comic. But your website does have a role to play. Without knowing expressly who is looking at it, a website has to engage the viewer, effectively deliver its message and encourage the visitor to take the next step: to complete a form, buy a product, make a contact, whatever.

Your website visitor is in complete control of his or her experience. If the page seems interesting or necessary to his or her goals, the likelihood is to stay longer and become engaged. However, if that spark isn't kindled within the first few seconds, she'll be off looking at someone else's webpage.

 

What will help keep those fickle folks interested in your website? There's no Holy Grail of webdesign, but there are factors that help, including:

• good design
• good organization
• great content

Good Design

Is your website visually appealing to the kind of audience you hope to attract? Is your message clear? Is the text easy to read? All of these and more contribute to good design. Remember, also, that chances are that most of your site's visitors are not using the same device that you are to look at the site. On a desktop or laptop, their screen may be larger or smaller, might have better or poorer resolution and color, or they may be using a tablet or smart phone. If you don't know what your website looks like on other devices, you might want to check that out.

Good Organization

In many senses, organization is just another aspect of design. It's important for folks to easily find the information they are looking for. This includes the ability to navigate logically from one page or section to another, but it also addresses the quality of the writing on the page. Poorly organized or written content can do more harm than good. At the least, it can be confusing, at worst, it can affect the credibility of your message.

Great Content

Notice that I said that your design and organization should be good, but here I am saying that your content must be great. That's because, ultimately, it's the content that folks are coming for. An example of this is FaceBook. FaceBook's design is constantly evolving, in part I think, because there's still room for improvement. There's also room for improvement in the organization of the site, as anyone who's trying to figure out something more than the news feed is likely to discover. However, a billion people have gone onto FaceBook. Why? Because it has content that they want to see. The lesson here is to know what it is that people want to get from your website, and give that to them in the best way that you can. Overwhelm them (but in a well designed and organized way). Impress them. Make your site important to them in some specific way.

So what does this have to do with a website being fun? When you go to a website that draws you in, engages you in some way, keeps you interested in what it has to offer, isn't that fun?