What is the Purpose of Your Website?

What is the Purpose of Your Website?
When designing a website, it is important that webmasters
ask some general questions before they begin the design
process...

What Is The Purpose Of Your Website?

Many companies use websites to establish their brand.
Others use websites as a communication tool. Some companies
see websites as sales vehicles and "billboards". Still
others use their website as an educational tool. And some
may be any combination of the above. The website must have
a purpose in order for it to be effective.

What Is It That You Are Trying To Accomplish With The
Website?

A strong understanding of the website will allow a
webmaster to emphasize the action they want the website
visitor to take on the website. By defining and
understanding the purpose of the website, webmasters and
publishers can better structure the information on the
website. Information can be provided with the appropriate
emphasis and navigation. An ideal website will lead the web
visitor to take the action the webmaster wants.

Who Is Your Audience?

You must identify and understand your target audience.
Understanding your demographic will allow you to cater
content specific to that group.

What Are The Objectives Of The Website?

You also need to determine what the objective of your
website is. What are you attempting to accomplish? Are you
trying to sell something? Are you looking for downloads, or
is sales your real objective? Is your website trying to
promote a specific product or service? Do you want your
visitors to take a specific action? Is the intent to profit
from ad space in general or to have website visitor's click
on specific ads? Are you trying to build a brand? Do you
want visitors to purchase a product, or provide an email
address?

When attempting to solicit a specific action, there are
some general guidelines that you should follow. Your
website should be designed to solicit the action you
desire, so the navigation should intuitively lead the
visitor to take the desired action. If clicking a link is
the goal, then that link should be clearly indicated and
prominent on the page. This will not only help insure that
the maximum number of visitors will be able to adequately
view and navigate your content, but it will also help
prompt those visitors to take the action you wish to have
occur.

For example: Many software companies struggle with the
action they wish to solicit from the website visitor.
Software companies and eBook publishers are often guilty of
pushing users to download, at the expense of the actual
sale. Some companies prefer to have users download prior to
making a purchase decision, while others lose impulse
purchasers by only pushing the download rather than the
sale.

In Order To Maximize The Websites Sales Purpose And
Objectives, Follow These Simple Steps...

Address Compatibility Issues

If a website visitor is unable to view the website's
content, they are obviously going to be unable to complete
the desired action. The compatibility issues could be
related to technology or usability. Avoid using
technologies that require the website visitor to download a
plug-in before they can view the website content. If
providing content using flash is important to you, you
should also provide a flash-free version as well. Also, do
not alienate website visitors who might have a disability
-- use proper web construct, provide alt tags for images,
and avoid using a color scheme that will cause confusion.

Define A Clear Navigation Path

A website's navigation should provide the visitor with a
clear path. Information architecture is the organization
and categorization of online content -- the process of
creating clarity and organizing online information in a
purposeful, and logical way. Prioritize and emphasize the
most important items on the website. Give visitors a clear
path to what they are seeking. Each and every page should
intuitively provide them links to additional information
and purchase options.

Minimize Distractions

Minimize choices and other website distractions. Website
visitors should be provided a clear path of action. Do not
provide the website visitor an abundance of choices --
studies show that a large number of choices often puts the
consumer off. It is generally recommended that you provide
no more than 3 choices. Keep your message concise and
on-topic. Website visitors will often just scan a webpage
rather than reading it, so bulleted lists and headlines
might be used to emphasize your message.

It may sound like a cliche, but it's the little things that
can make the biggest difference. Pay attention to all
aspects of your website. Defining the specific website
objectives and purpose will help to encourage the desired
action or behavior from your website visitors.

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Sharon Housley manages marketing for FeedForAll
http://www.feedforall.com software for creating, editing,
publishing RSS feeds and podcasts. In addition Sharon
manages marketing for RecordForAll
http://www.recordforall.com audio recording and editing
software.