Two Pillars of a Successful Web Site
By Nick Usborne
For a web site to get close to fulfilling its potential,
you need absolute clarity on two points.
First, achieve clarity on what your site’s core
purpose is
Is to provide information? Is it to complete direct sales?
Is it to drive prospects to pick up the phone and call you? Is
it to start a free trial? To register?
The more companies I work with, especially larger ones, the
more apparent it becomes to me that very few sites have
absolute clarity of purpose.
All too often, too many different stakeholders impose a
variety of different ‘purposes’. The result? A site that is
not clearly focused. A site that appears disorganized and
complicated to its visitors. A site that wanders, meanders and
ultimately fails – because none of the writers or designers
really know what they should be doing.
When and if you do achieve clarity as to the purpose of
your site, everything becomes easier.
You can look at every page, every heading, every line of
content, every link and image...and ask yourself this simple
question: Is this content working hard enough to achieve our
purpose?
If it isn’t, change it, or dump it. It’s as simple as that.
You may be thinking, “Nick you are so naïve. Our business
is complex. We have more than one purpose.”
That may be. If you are selling high-end hospital
equipment, for instance, your site may serve both to drive new
sales and also to support existing customers.
That’s OK. But make it clear. Make it clear on your home
page. Make it obvious to visitors that there are two distinct
areas of the site – one for people who already have some of
your equipment, and one for those who don’t.
Then apply the same discipline to every page in each area.
Does the page drive your purpose?
Second, understand what your visitors are hoping to
find
I’m written about this before. But without this second
pillar in place, your site won’t work as hard as it should.
Put simply, you need to understand the expectations of your
visitors. Understand why they are coming to your site, what
they are hoping to find.
When someone arrives at your site, whatever the landing
page, they have a ‘pain’ or problem they want solving.
If your site is doing its job, it will take that visitor
only a couple of moments before they think, “Yes, I can find
what I need right here.”
When that happens, they become filled with confidence.
It’s then your job to help that person achieve their task
as quickly and as simply as possible.
Both pillars working together
When your own purpose is clear, and when you meet the
expectations of your visitors, everything becomes golden. You
both get what you want.
How do you get to this ‘golden’ place?
Just step back from your site for a while and do some
thinking. Get clarity on the purpose of your site. And go back
over your site’s history to figure out what it was people were
hoping for when they arrived.
For sure, not everyone came to your site for exactly the
same reason – but maybe 80% came for one of three reasons.
This isn’t about achieving perfection. It’s about getting
as close as you can.
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