The Importance Of Having A Goal Before Building Your Website

Before you start the design process of a website, it is important to have your goals in place and have a clear objective of what you want the site to be. Without a having a goal your website is doomed to fail before it’s even completed and live on the web. I am going to reveal what you can do to avoid a disaster.

Every Website Needs A Goal

There are different goals that each person will have when going into building a website, and it really depends on what kind of business you are running as to what your goal should ultimately be. Here are the main ones:

1. To sell a service – people like lawyers and web designers are examples of businesses who sell a service.
2. To sell a product (digital or physical) – eCommerce retailers and brick and mortar businesses are usually the types of businesses with this kind of goal.
3. To inform people about something – These are usually sites like Wikipedia and .edu sites from universities so that people can find a solution to a question.
4. Getting people to come to your business – Restaurants, Hotels and Bars are just a few of the types of businesses that will have this goal.

A clear call to action

Once you have a clear goal you should now focus on the content of your website and making sure that you have a clear “call to action” for people to take when arriving to your site. A “call to action” is when you tell your visitor what to do when they get to your site. This is usually done by have a message that is visible as soon as you arrive to the site with some sort of link, or button that urges you to either buy a product or sign up for an email list.

Keep it above the fold

It’s important to keep your call to action “above the fold”, which means that it appears on the top half of the website so that when people arrive on your site they do not have to scroll down the page to see it. The reason for this is because of the way people read websites, which in a nutshell people normally just scan websites while browsing. I have a post on the F Pattern that explains the importance of how you set up your website.

Let your products or services sell themselves

Hard selling products or services can often times turn people away from doing business with you. Simply put people are sick and tired of the sales pitch and just want some honesty, and that is why you should write to inform people about what you have to offer. Try to solve the question or problem your website visitor is looking for, and pointing out the pros and cons for people to see will gain a lot more respect than if you hadn’t. This is how you gain long term and repeat business.

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