3 questions to ask when you are building a business website.
1) What is the purpose of your website? WHY you need a website.
I ask this question to my potential clients when they reach out to me wanting a new website. I ask them WHY they need a website. And the answers are mostly: I want an online presence for my business, I want to be found on Google, I want to reach more customers, I want to showcase my portfolio, I want to build a mailing list etc. It is important to know WHY you need a website because this determines the overall marketing strategy, how you build it, and which elements and tools to go for.
2) What is the goal of your website? WHAT do you want to achieve?
The second question I ask is what do you want to achieve by having a website? What results do you expect? The most obvious answer is I want to have more clients! Well, of course, you do! So, the goal here is: to convert visitors into customers. But let’s be more specific. For example, if you have an online course, your goal could be to sell 50% more than now. Your goal could also be: to increase the number of your subscribers by 30%, to gain more members for your online membership website etc. The difference between the goal and the purpose is that the goal has to be more specific, so you can measure the results. You can have a few goals, but I always encourage my clients to focus on a maximum of 3 to avoid overwhelming themselves and the visitors of your website.
3) HOW do you want to achieve your goals?
Here you need to be more specific on what elements on your website are important to achieve your goals. If your goal was to increase the number of your subscribers then to achieve it you will need a well-implemented and easy-to-find subscription form ideally with a lead magnet, maybe a pop-up, or a banner on each of your blog posts, you need to connect the form with your email marketing platform etc.
A website should be developed as part of a marketing process as a whole and not in isolation. Specifying the purpose and goals will also point the visitor in the right direction so that once they land on your website, they don’t feel confused about what to do next. Because the last thing you want is for them to abandon your website after a few seconds.
