Setting goals for your website
Without Goal its like sailing a ship without radar. Goal setting is an integral component of any business venture, and this holds true for your website since its a critical component of your business.
Primary and Secondary Site Goals
Business websites can have many goals. Thus, it is important to classify them by priority in order to give each one its due focus during the web development process. This also allows the results to be measured and compared accurately once the website is completed.
Primary goals are those that produce direct and tangible results. They are the goals that bring in the money and generate a return on investment. Primary goals that are appropriate for small businesses are:
- Generating Leads
- Selling Products Online
- Producing Referrals
Secondary goals support the primary ones and produce less tangible benefits, but are important just the same. But, as its description implies, your site should not be centered on the secondary goals. Good examples of secondary goals are:
- Building up Credibility
- Sustaining Current Customers
- Recruiting Affiliates
Goal-setting requires you to be self-centered and think in terms of what your site can do for your company, and not on how it can help other people by disseminating information. Although creating awareness of your company is a valid goal, a one-way communication channel does not generate sales.
These goals will be examined and referred to frequently as the site is being developed. They will be taken into consideration during the development of the critical features such as site structure, messaging, calls to action and graphic design. Primary goals will make up for the majority of the site’s contents and secondary goals will probably be single-page contents.
Questions to ask which will help in setting goals -
- What actions you want your visitors to perform?
- What are the secondary tasks that you want your website to do?
- Will existing customers be using your site?
-Marina, vcBytes.com
