In a recent lecture that I gave, a student asked me what did I feel made a great website and how did I judge them. Great question. Fortunately, a long blog post is not necessary to answer, from my point of view. Here's what I use currently to analyze websites.

...

1. The most obvious criteria to start with is does it come up on the first page of a Google, Bing, or Yahoo search? If not, it probably does not matter how good of a site you have since fewer people will ever see it!

2. If I were to poke around within the website, I want to find these things:
a. It loads quickly and easily
b. The colors and fonts used are easy on the eyes (red backgrounds with white text are hard to read; serifed fonts and small type are hard to read)
c. There are lots of articles and research that potential patients can read or download
d. There is an opt-in newsletter
e. There are possibly testimonials from happy patients
f. The navigation is obvious and intuitively obvious
g. There is a call to action visible above the fold (i.e., you don't have to scroll down to see it)
h. A person can request or make an appointment right on the website
i. The practitioner(s) policies, services, and even pricing are easy to find and understand
j. There may be a survey to fill out or some interactive qualities to the page ("Fill out this form to find out if Chinese medicine might be right for you. We'll get back in touch with you within two working days.")
k. There may be a map or directions to the clinic and a photo of the practitioner(s) and the inside of the space.
l. lots of links to related sites and good information for patients.
m. perhaps an audio or video of you teaching/ or discussing something that is easy to do in less than 10 minutes like a Qigong exercise for the season or a recipe, or how to make an herbal decoction, etc.

3. If I were to go to www.Compete.com or www.Alexa.com, the site would compare favorably in terms of how many hits it is getting with other sites in the same town.

Some of my current favorite sites include:
www.ActiveTCM.com (fun video, good newsletter archive)
www.AmazingHealing.com (easy to use, lots of info, map and directions, good photos, loads easily,
reads easily)
www.ManhattanAcupunctureClinic.com (Free consult option right at the top of home page; opt-in
Newsletter on the home page, plenty of patient information)
www.SilkRoadAcupuncture.com (just gorgeous and easy to use)

So if you have other suggestions about what makes a great site (or a horrible one) I hope you add your comments so we all get better educated!
Thanks for stopping by my blog.