Set your website goals.

Have you ever thought about setting specific goals for your website?

It’s easy to get into the habit of just “maintaining” your site. You may update your content, add blog posts now and then, and even keep an eye on your website traffic. But without specific website goals, it’s very difficult to know how any of that translates into success. If you want to grow your business, goals can keep you on track.

Part of the web design process is to establish what you want your website to achieve. What’s the purpose of your site? What information do you want visitors to know and what’s the number one action you want them to take? Once you know this, setting and monitoring the website’s objectives is key to its long term success.

• Start with purpose
• What is your website’s purpose?
• Start off by listing any general business goals that come to mind. Write them down.

Then, it’s time to explore how your website can help achieve those goals. You already know you want a great website. What does that actually mean for you though?

• Increased revenue?
• Maximise profitability?
• Improved client satisfaction?
• Reduction in your personal working hours?
• Showcase your portfolio or services?

Website goal #1 Appeal to your ideal customer

If your goal is to appeal to your ideal customer and let’s face it, we all want that, here’s how…

Want to get more online leads? Copy is key. Write your website content to attract your target market. What problems are they facing and how do you help? State the problem and explain your solution in no more than three simple steps. Then make it easy for them to take the next step with clear calls to action. You can also promote case studies through social media channels to demonstrate your work and expertise. If you are struggling with your sales copy, it might be worth hiring a website copywriter for help. (edited)?

Website goal #2 Make your site design user-friendly

Want to gain new readers and subscribers or increase user happiness? Make your site with a responsive design (so it looks great on all devices), optimise images so you have a fast load time (under 3 seconds), format your copy with headings so it’s easy to scan, and have effective navigation (so your visitors can find what they’re looking for quickly). Remove any unnecessary content on your site, annoying pop-ups and flashy third-party advertisements. (edited)?

Website goal #3 Drive more traffic to your site with SEO

Increasing website traffic is one of the most common goals for business owners. However website traffic alone means nothing if it’s not coming from your potential ideal clients. That’s why it’s important to understand who your target audience is and how to reach them.

So how do you make that traffic consist of your target audience? Increase website traffic with search engine optimisation. This means using keywords on the page, using proper heading tags, great meta descriptions, frequent blog posts or content updates that appeal to your audience, quality backlinks, and social media advertising (organic or paid).

Website goal #4 Blog regularly and update popular posts

Quality blog posts will increase your traffic, especially if authoritative websites reference and link to them. You can update your most popular blog posts with new information and repost them with a current date to boost your traffic. To ensure they are quality posts make sure they have 1,000+ words, images, videos and infographics and have a unique angle that appeals to your audience.

Want to be an authority in your industry? Regular blogging helps show your potential customers that you know what you’re talking about and allows you to teach and share important topics within your industry.

Providing free info builds your know, like and trust factor. Once people trust you, and like you, they will buy from you! Plus when people spend lots of time reading your website, Google recognises that, and it will help your search engine ranking.

Struggling to be consistent or to come up with topic ideas? Try using an editorial calendar to map out your blog posts. Built Visible has a list of great editorial calendars you can use for free. And Mention has some great ways to generate topic ideas, like answering your clients’ questions and using Google AdWords keyword planner.

Website goal #5 Increase your email subscribers

Want to sell more? Get an email list and use it. Subscribers on your email list are your ‘hottest’ leads. They’re interested in what you have to offer and they’re more likely to convert. Plus, you can communicate directly with them – right in their email inbox. Boosting your subscribers is an essential goal.

Email marketing is more powerful than social media. Increase the number of signup boxes on your site and use your website to capture emails by offering visitors something in exchange for their email—a lead magnet such as an eBook, checklist, discount code, exclusive newsletter, special offer, etc.

Email newsletters provide a great opportunity to keep your existing customers informed, encourage repeat sales, and continue to communicate with potential customers. It can be an extremely effective way to make sales!

If you haven’t already, set up a Mailerlite account. They’ll keep track of your subscribers and monitor the growth of your list.

Website goal #6 Increase social mentions

You love it when friends or family directly refer potential clients to you right? Social mentions are organic online referrals.They’re a great way to organically reach your customer base! Start by simply making your content easily shareable. For example, add a “click to tweet” link for text quotes, a “pin it” button for images and graphics, and definitely have social sharing buttons for your blog posts. When people share your content and repost you they are marketing for you!

Website goal #7 Make your website accessible

This one goes hand in hand with making your site user-friendly. Accessibility is important as it lets people with disabilities use your site easier. Use descriptive links like “read more”, add descriptive alt tags to your images, and use subtitles for videos. Make sure you have adequate font size (no smaller than 16px for body type) and strong colour contrast. You can scan your site to see violations and/or add this great accessibility widget to your site to ensure that you deliver an accessible digital experience.

Want To Start a New Blog?

Writing your first blog is an exciting and nerve-wracking challenge, but a necessary one. Blogs are an interesting, engaging, and fundamental part of our businesses, so to ignore the challenge to start a new blog would be crazy.

If you’ve been thinking about writing a blog then give me a call and we’ll get you set up.