Web Design Solutions

Achieving any kind of goal in business and life requires you to know and articulate what you want from the end game. If nothing else, understanding the goal can help guide your decisions related to planning for achieving it. Setting a clear goal also helps you determine if and when you actually achieve it.

Your website is no exception. If you’re clear about what you want visitors to do when they land on your site, convincing them to do it is more likely. For your small business website, this means featuring a primary focal point and call to action.

Small business expert Mathis Tate says a good website has one main goal – one thing that the business wants a viewer to do — and this desired action is clear to site visitors on a well-designed website.

Having a single top priority and guiding your site visitors to complete this action conveys a certain respect for your audience’s time and demonstrates that you understand your own goals and conversion points.  Tate argues that the problem with most websites is that they’re too complicated, too crowded with things to look at and do. These sites overwhelm viewers with too much visual stimulation and too many options. A simple and clean, well-considered and focused web design gives visitors a clear path and enables them to progress through your messaging in a calm, organized way.

Naming a goal

Here are some possible goals for your small business website:

  • Motivate visitors to sign up to receive your email communications.
  • Get people to Like your company on Facebook.
  • Interest prospects in receiving information about your company by phone.
  • Convince visitors to purchase your product.
  • Encourage visitors to share your branded content such as blog posts and infographics.

Using your goal to focus efforts

Based on the goal you set for your website, you can make decisions about what kind of information and features to include on your website. For example, if your goal is to build a list of recipients for your email marketing campaign, then a subscription form needs to take center stage on your site. You’ll also want to create a certain level of trust among visitors that what they’ll receive from you will be well-timed, interesting and relevant to their needs — and that they’ll be able to opt out easily if they decide to no longer receive your messages.