Your website is the culmination of all your business information, along with details on how you can help your potential customers with your variety of services or products.  If set up correctly, it’s possible that a company website can be a ‘perfect salesperson’ – delivering a curated presentation each time a potential customer visits the website.  You have total control over the information that is presented, from your images, content regarding your specific services – and contact information, so visitors can quickly call you.  The style of elements on the page should match your other branding efforts and marketing materials, and be clear and simple to navigate.

Goals

Before you even start on building your website (or having it built for you) – spend some time and establish the goals you want the website to achieve.  If you’re looking to get leads from the website, your website will have a drastically different interface than if your goal was to inform your visitors on your services and abilities.  It’s too easy to start a website without a goal – and end up with a poorly designed ‘face’ of your company online.  To have a clear, concise message delivered to your website visitors – just set your goals before you even think about designing your website.

Examples of Website Goals:

• Establishing differences between your company and your competition
• Gathering email addresses for an email newsletter (eNewsletter)
• Showcasing your portfolio/gallery of work
• Informing your website visitors of your specific skills
• Getting website visitors to call your phone
• Providing a signup form, for updates/scheduled appointments
• Giving visitors a chance to sign up for a new account/posting content (news/blog)
• Selling a product using a sales funnel process

There are many other reasons why you’d want to establish a goal for your business – but there is no reason why you would start a website without a goal in mind.  It’s best to write this goal down, and think about this goal during each step in the design process. How will this image help me achieve this goal?  Is there a better way to write this paragraph that will help me achieve this goal?