Do you know why you have a website?

Can you answer "Yes" to the question?  Have you really sat down and thought about clearly defining what the purpose of your website is?

Your website should form part of your business planning, you should know why it's there and what your business should get out of it.  If you don't, how can you justify the investment, or at least consider what an appropriate investment is?

The purpose of your website may be to;

• provide information about your business to your clients and potential clients

• sell your products or services

• generate leads and attracting new clients

• accept payments

• reduce advertising costs

• reduce operating costs

• facilitate direct and indirect communication with people or groups

• even manage your business

How you define what your website should be doing will determine how you measure its success. It will also allow you to consider what steps you need to take to ensure your website can realise it's potential.

If your primary goal of your website is to generate new leads then you need to look at it from the perspective of a potential new client.

• What are they going to search for firstly to even try and find you and does your website even contain those words or content?

• What would they want to see when they got to your homepage?

• What are they likely to click on? What information do they want to see?

• AND how can you capture them as a lead from this point.

A lead can only be measured (and your website deemed as successful - if that is your measurement) if you know they have been on your site and have the opportunity to communicate with them again. Keep in mind most people are not ready to buy at this point so think about what value you can offer then to get them to give you their details. It could be as simple as a newsletter sign-up, a contact form or consider being more creative and getting them to download a “How To Guide” after they give you their name and details.

Another example would be if your primary goal of your website is to act as a communication tool for your existing customers and clients, then maybe you could consider a login only area where they can access useful tools and resources. You could then measure the website success by the number of times your customers log in.

If you would like to discuss the purpose of your website in more detail give us a call in the office today on 02 49677 255.