Website Design & The Power of Setting Business Goals
The most critical first step in a website design project is to define your intention. Many business people seeking a new website identify their situation, but fail to define their intention in an actionable way.
Here are a few situations we often encounter with clients seeking a new website design:
- “Our competitor just put up a new site and it’s really good.”
- “We have a new CEO or CMO who’s taking the company in a new direction.”
- “We have a new product strategy and need the website to make our vision clear.”
- “Our site looks really old:, too much text, not enough pictures and it looks bad on mobile devices.”
- “We have multiple audiences and we’re worried that our ‘one-size-fits all’ content will alienate some customers.”
Every one of these scenarios is legitimate and needs to be addressed, but none tap into the single most important value modern website design can provide: driving leads and nurturing them through your sales funnel.
The commercial website was born as an online brochure and despite the passage of time, the growth of Search Engine Optimization, Social Media and today’s mobile landscape, many business professionals still think of the website as an electronic brochure. But the website has matured into a far deeper, richer, customer engagement experience, one that can be your most effective means of achieving your business goals.
So, what do we mean by “intention?”
We mean, “Precisely, what are the criteria you will use to measure success?”
- X % increase in quantity of leads?
- Less leads but higher quality?
- Greater amount of time spent on specific pages?
- Greater quantity of pages visited?
- Steady rise in repeat visits?
- X % reduced bounce rate on specific pages
- Increase use of website for sales team?
When you define your intention, you are then prepared to design and build a user experience to achieve your goals.