Your small business website needs to be built for your customers. After all, your customers are who you need to impress, not your employees or competitors. You need to explain to your customers why they should give you their business, and this is done through a goal-driven website.
What is a goal-driven website?
A goal-driven website is created around a single or set of goals. These goals determine how your website is planned out, how it's designed, and the writing that goes on every page (your content). If the goal is to get visitors to request a quote from your business, it's pretty clear that you will ask them to request a quote, but it goes deeper than this. Everything on a goal-driven website should be created and placed to accomplish those goals.
A good practice is to have a connection who knows little about your business visit your website for five seconds only. Ask them, after spending just five seconds on the page, what they got from it and what they still don't know about your business. Goal driven websites speak to and connect with their customers, and they convert far better than any website not created with specific goals in mind ever could.
Why is this important?
Benjamin Franklin once said, "If you fail to plan, you are planning to fail!" And without clearly defined goals you're trying to accomplish, it's nearly impossible to properly plan.
For example, if you want your business to become "successful," what does that look like? Do you want to sell it for $10 million? Do you want to increase your sales 100% a year for the next 3 years? Whatever that measure of success is, defining it and then planning out the steps will significantly increase your odds of achieving that goal or goals.
Without a goal-driven website, your customers also suffer. The best small business websites give their potential customers the exact information they need, where they need it and in a timely fashion. This doesn't happen by accident. It's presented in a clear and concise way and is focused on the customer, not on the business. When we work with clients, we don't ask what they want on the website, we ask about their clients wants and needs, and their goals.
Also Read: The Biggest Mistake Businesses Make When Building a Website
How do you create a goal-driven website?
Start by following these five steps:
- Set your personal website goals in order of importance (ex: Generate 30 leads a month, increase website traffic, increase brand awareness, etc.).
- Write out the goals of your users/customers in order of importance to them (ex: Get information on products and services, find contact information, compare prices to competitors, reach a live person to discuss, etc.).
- Find out how users are currently navigating your website. This will give you insight into how they currently use your site, and what changes you'll need to make in order to better give them what they're looking for. Google Analytics can provide this insight. You should also collect information and feedback from your customers throughout this process to learn from them and make sure your plan, which comes next, is structured to help them accomplish what they are trying to do when visiting your website.
- Create a plan. Whether working with an internal team, developing a plan yourself, or working with a team like Mavidea, use your goals and the goals of the customer (put their goals first) to create a new sitemap and plan for your website.
- Execute. Now it's time to put your plan into action and work with your team or developers to create your goal-driven website.
Want help creating the goal-driven website of your customers' dreams? Mavidea can help! Email me today at kimmy.mascari@mavidea.com to get free personalized tips on creating a goal-driven website.
