You can pretty much be certain that most websites you find online haven’t been designed with a specific purposed in mind. The majority of business owners decide that they need a website because (a) their competitors have one, and (b) because it’s pretty much expected for any legitimate business to have their own website these days. Then you have a smaller group that think a little more about it, and are looking for an online presence that they can send send their prospective customers to learn more about them and the products and services they provide. But in the end, if you don’t know what the actual goal you really desire from having a website is, then in the end you are going to end up with something that like a range of of ill-fitting parts all bolted together, and it won’t provide site visitors with an enjoyable experience and a good reason to stay on the site.
Most service businesses start with an easy brochure type website, which shows exactly what they are offering. This is normally the simplest and least costly type of website to develop.
Then you have special interest groups that have niche websites that focus on a single topic or related subjects, by offering write-ups, resources, reviews, opinions, suggestions and other things.
Then things become a little more difficult when you add certain types of functionality such as eCommerce or membership type websites, which take a little more time to design and build. And will usually cost more too.
However, regardless of what kind of website you’re building, you need to have a clear function in mind from the start. Not only so you know what type of website you need to build, but also to plan all of the pages you are going to need, and how you are going to easily help navigate your website’s visitors to the target page or pages you are looking for them to reach. These pages are usually things like your Contact Us page or perhaps a checkout page after making a purchase.
You need to remember that your customers are also busy people, and therefore want to spend as little time on your website as possible, while still getting everything they want from it. So it’s important that from the moment they land on your website they know exactly what you have to offer them, and if they are interested what they need to do next to further progress towards their own goal. Make sure your content is very easy to read and understand, and if necessary provide video to make the visitor’s visit that much more interactive. Remember you can probably give out more information in 60 seconds of video than a visitor can take in after reading 10 minutes worth of text content.
Keep these things in mind, and you should be well on your way to having a website that is functioning in the way you need it to so that it is contributing to your business.
