What are your website goals? And what should they be?
So you’ve got your website – and let’s be honest unless your business is still operating 15 years in the past then you’ll have one no matter what you do!
So now you want it to start working for you, but creating a website and hoping that it will just start to work for you is a bit like putting a wind up car on the floor and looking at it expectantly.
Firstly, you have to put some juice into it, some way of getting it moving in the first place!
We recently wrote a blog about SEO titled “5 step self SEO guide” which is something to consider, but before you even do that part you need some clear goals that you want your website to achieve!
Setting these goals is the same with any marketing strategy you undertake – you need to have a clear outcome in mind – what do you actually want your website to achieve for you?
More phone calls? More emails sent in? More sign-ups to your newsletter? More sales? More direct approaches for quotes?
There is a vast list of things that your website COULD set out to achieve for you, all you have to do is decide what that goal is. We can help you with the consulting process if you want. Or you can create your own targets and contact us once you have a clearer idea of what you want to achieve from your website.
A successful website can really aid your business development. It can boost sales, build awareness, enhance customer experience, reduce costs, improve workflow and help grow your company. Before setting website goals, it is important to ask various stakeholders to produce some feedback about the current website and how it could be changed to suit their needs.
Common stakeholder examples
Marketing – website needs to attract and engage prospects, generate leads and re-engage existing customers.
Sales – the website should validate and support communications of the sales team, helping to close sales.
Customer Support – the website should be used to improve customer satisfaction, help service and support new and current customers through the use of a client login area.
Content Contributors – the website should be easy to use and update.
IT – the website should be able to integrate with the current technical network; meet security, performance and scalability requirements.
Production / Operations – the website can be used to streamline workflows, automate tasks and reduce overall business expenditure.
HR – the website should be a great tool to attract and recruit new employees and can be used to support current employee requirements. For example, a staff login area or a company portal.
Executives – the website should increase profits and help to reduce expenditure through streamlining and automating processes.
Create a reference point
Before you embark on your website redesign project, you should determine how well your current website is doing compared to where you would like it to be. If your goal is to increase qualified leads, you should know how many qualified leads your current website is generating now.
Set goals that are SMART
Now that you’ve interviewed company’s stakeholders and benchmarked your website, you’re ready to set some goals. A good method for setting your website’s business objectives is the SMART Model.
For those unfamiliar with SMART it stands for:
- Specific
- Measurable
- Achievable
- Realistic or Resourced
- Timely
For example: To increase the number of qualified leads by 10% by tracking conversion rates using Google analytics. The increase in qualified leads will be achieved through using value propositions, offers and effective tested call to actions. The additional traffic will be created through social media advertising and SEO provided by Razor Edge Media. Our online marketing efforts will commence on 3rd January, after the Christmas break, with a review taking place every 3 months. We hope to see clear and consistent results by August 2017.
Specific: To increase the number of qualified leads by 10%.
Measurable: By tracking conversion rates using Google analytics.
Achievable: The increase in qualified leads will be achieved through using value propositions, offers and effective tested call to actions.
Realistic/ Resourced: The additional traffic will be created through social media advertising and SEO provided by Razor Edge Media.
Timely: Our online marketing efforts will commence on the 3rd January, after the Christmas break, with a review taking place every 3 months. We hope to see clear and consistent results by August 2017.
So just follow these steps with the goals for your website, make sure above all that they are realistic! There is no point in hoping that with a budget of £500 for your website that you are going to gain national reach, you just won’t!
Plan it, research it, set your goals and then ask us to help you make it happen!
