Before you begin to build a
site, you need to determine the purpose of your website.
Your primary objective when you are planning your site is
to be able to identify what you want visitors to do when
they visit your site. In other words, what is your
site’s purpose? Generally speaking you will want your
visitors to take one of the following five actions:
- Purchase a product or
service
- Provide contact
information
- Download a white paper,
datasheet, or other promotional materials
- Join your newsletter
- Click on advertiser’s
banners or affiliate links
There are other goals websites
have, but these are the primary five goals most any site
has. I have built over 100 websites – everything from
consumer oriented e-commerce sites to B-to-B corporate
sites to municipal management systems and intranets.
Regardless of size or scope, the single biggest mistake I
see managers make over and over is trying to make their
sites do too many different kinds of things. You should
establish your site’s primary purpose, and make
everything on the site revolve around that goal.
When a site is properly focused on it’s primary purpose,
visitors understand intuitively what it’s about and are
not left with the feeling that they are being “gamed”,
or worse that the site is irrelevant to them. They are
also less likely to become confused about what they are
supposed to do if they are ready to take the next step
with your company.
That means that if you are trying to collect names and
email addresses of potential clients for your consultancy,
you shouldn’t waste valuable real estate on your
homepage discussing your “corporate vision”, you
should be concentrating on establishing your expertise and
demonstrating the knowledge your potential clients are
looking for. Likewise, if you are supposed to be selling
products on your website, then forget about trying to
appeal to investors. Investors will be most impressed with
a retail site that effectively converts visitors into
customers, and you’ll make a lot more money in the
process.
This doesn’t mean that you don’t have multiple goals
for your business. This simply means that your site should
focus on its primary purpose, and that purpose should be
directly related to revenue-generating activities.
Once you have identified your site’s purpose, you should
take the time to write out the general path you would
expect your visitors to take through your site. Think
about it from their perspective. Some examples of this
are:
Example 1
The visitor comes into the site and sees that my site is a
retail seller of electronic devices. I plan to have
several items featured on the front page of the website
that represent the major product lines that I carry. The
visitor can select one of the featured items, or select a
product category from the navigation bar. Once the visitor
selects an item, he or she is then given a detailed
description of the product and a price. By clicking the
“Buy Now” button, the visitor is taken to the shopping
cart system where he or she is given the option to
continue shopping or check out.
This site’s purpose: Sell Electronic Devices
Example 2
The visitor enters the site and sees that we are a
manufacturer of aftermarket automotive parts. We do not
sell direct to the public, and our target audience is
retail auto parts stores and other resellers such as auto
mechanics. Therefore, we begin our site copy with an
overview of why our parts are more attractive to retail
customers and how we can help retailers become more
profitable by carrying our product lines. The visitor is
given the opportunity to do one of two things:
- View a catalog of our
products
- Obtain more information
on how to qualify for our “preferred retailer’s
program”
If the visitor decides to
get more information, then he or she is taken to a form
that collects contact information and sends that
information to our business development staff. If the
visitor elects to view the product catalog, then he or she
is given access to our product catalog in PDF format. The
product catalog has the telephone number of our business
development staff on every page.
This site’s purpose: Give retailers a reason to call
the business development staff
Example 3
The visitor enters the site and sees that I provide
freelance graphic design and copywriting services to
companies in the St. Louis area. The visitor is given the
option to view my online portfolio or view a partial
client list. Each page of the site gives the visitor the
opportunity to fill out an online form to receive a free
1-hour marketing consultation. If the client fills out the
form, it will send their contact information to me via
email.
This site’s purpose: Obtain leads via the online form
Clearly, the businesses in the three examples above are in
completely different industries and have totally different
objectives. The one thing they have in common is that each
of them views their website through their customer’s
eyes, and each has a clear objective in mind.
- Site number 1 wants to
sell electronics
- Site number 2 wants to
attract resellers
- Site number 3 wants to
obtain contact information
In conclusion, you should
identify one action that you want your site visitors to
take, and make the entire site focused on channeling
visitors to take that desired action. If you ever feel
inclined to put something on your homepage or in your
navigation system that isn’t directly related to your
site’s primary purpose, then you are about to redirect
visitors away from a revenue-generating activity and into
something that doesn’t help your business. Remember to
Focus, Focus, and Focus.
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About
The Author
Mr.
Coers specializes in helping entrepreneurs
build effective web businesses. His
website, www.profitchoice.com
contains useful articles and
"how-to" guides to help
organizations build their brands and sell
more effectively. |
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