Silly question maybe, but have you ever thought about why exactly your business has a website? What do you hope to achieve with your site? Do you have a budget established to work on continuous improvements? How do you measure the success of the time and money invested in your site? Do you have realistic goals or expectations established?
I often hear from clients, “I don’t sell anything online, so I can’t really measure the effectiveness of my website”. If you don’t directly sell a product on your website, what are the factors you use to measure and justify the return on your investment?
What is the goal of your website?
Your website will have some value-generating goal, something that helps grow your organization. These goals are usually in line with larger organizational goals, and may include:
- To generate leads
- To provide information and create interest in a product or service
- To get donations or volunteers
- To inform or persuade a specific user group
- To seek votes
There would then be a specific page viewed or action complete that would signify a successful goal completion. Below are a few examples:
- A visitor makes it to the Thank-you page after a successful purchase
- A visitor has signed up for a newsletter
- A visitor has completed an information request form
- A visitor views a specific page on your site
- A visitor views a specific video or file
These goals are only sometimes directly tied to tangible monetary results. Others may require a cost per conversion analysis to determine their true value.
At the beginning of any new website design project or digital marketing initiative, you should always ask, “How or what would need to happen with this project for it to be considered a successful and profitable investment?”
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