What makes a good website design?

I know a lot of web designers that want to prove how excellent of a graphic designer they are, and they build websites that are extraordinary. I often look at them and think to myself, I wish I could do that but the sad truth is that they will never make their client any money.

A couple years ago, flash was the hottest thing going, now it is rare to run across a flash website. Not that flash is not cool, flash is still a kick ass program however, it will not convert the traffic as well as an HTML website.

Don’t get me wrong, flash still has its place in the world of web design. There is nothing better than an html website with flash sprinkled into the call to actions.
A couple years ago I was made to believe that all websites would be made out of flash before long however, that is not the case and as I have gotten older and wiser I realize it will never be the case.

The purpose of a website is not to amaze the website visitors. The purpose of the website is to make money for the website owner. Nobody that comes to your website cares what your website looks like, they are there for a purpose and that purpose is either;

entertainment

information

or to purchase a product

Those are the only three reasons anyone is going to visit your website. They are not there nor do they care about what you are website looks like. The purpose of the website is to be invisible while at the same time creating a desire inside the visitor that causes them to take some form of action.

Your website design has a purpose however, that purpose is not to amaze the website visitor.