Primary and secondary site goals really help companies determine what their website should “do” and what it should “say”.
A pervading rationale among corporations for having their own website is to maintain an image of being “in”. They want to keep up with the competition, they want to have a positive reply to customers who ask for their web address, or they just want to be able to say their company has a website.
Some create a website to build a brand name while others just want to provide information to people via the internet.
These are flimsy reasons for building a website, in my opinion, and are a waste of company resources. They miss out on a great opportunity to generate leads and sell their products to potential customers. The prospects of getting a return on investment is thrown away or bypassed.
A website must be viewed as a capital expenditure, just like the other resources. As such, it must give a return on investment that has a time table and is measurable. The time, effort and finances required to set up and maintain your website should be recovered through conversion.
Without the goals, it’s easy to become sidetracked and add features and content for the sake of it.
Let’s have a look in detail as to why it’s important to do some goal setting:
1. Setting goals eliminates the confusion of what to put in your website.
In a typical process, the goal is found at the end of a series of sequential steps. However, in creating a website with a specific goal in mind, the typical process is reversed. You build the steps starting from the end going backwards. Having goals enables you to plan the site structure and decide on what contents to include. Goals set the criteria for establishing site content based on an objective viewpoint. This eliminates bickering among the executives of a company on what contents are significant to the site and what are not relevant. They only need to consider one question: Will this (content) help us reach our goals?
2. Goals can be used as the yardstick of the effectiveness of your website after it is completed and published.
Effectiveness or its lack is determined by the rise and fall of conversion rates. And improving a sluggish conversion rate is difficult if you cannot measure it in the first place. You will not be able to identify the improvements you need to introduce and you will not know if you have achieved that ROI you are after.
Primary and Secondary Site Goals
Business websites can have many goals. Thus, it is important to classify them by priority in order to give each one its due focus during the web development process. This also allows the results to be measured and compared accurately once the website is completed.
Primary goals are those that produce direct and tangible results. They are the goals that bring in the money and generate a return on investment. Primary goals that are appropriate for small businesses are:
- Generating Leads
- Selling Products Online
- Producing Referrals
Secondary goals support the primary ones and produce less tangible benefits, but are important just the same. But, as its description implies, your site should not be centered on the secondary goals. Good examples of secondary goals are:
- Building up Credibility
- Sustaining Current Customers
- Recruiting Affiliates
Goal-setting requires you to be self-centered and think in terms of what your site can do for your company, and not on how it can help other people by disseminating information. Although creating awareness of your company is a valid goal, a one-way communication channel does not generate sales.
A word of caution here: not every product or service shown on a website is fit for purchasing as is. Products that are quite expensive, those that require a more complex selection process or technical professional services such as CPA’s require interaction between the seller and the buyer. If this is the case, or if you see your product as being unlikely to get sold through credit card payment, aim for lead generation as your primary goal.
These goals will be examined and referred to frequently as the site is being developed. They will be taken into consideration during the development of the critical features such as site structure, messaging, calls to action and graphic design. Primary goals will make up for the majority of the site’s contents and secondary goals will probably be single-page contents.
Questions that will help you set your site goals
- What action do you need your visitors to take?
The answers will help you determine your primary goals.
- What are the secondary tasks that you want your website to do?
Examples: provide investor information, list partners
- Will existing customers be using your site?
If yes, what do they want to do? How are you going to cater for the needs of prospects and customers on the same site.
If you would like help with setting goals for your website, why not post a comment and let me know what you’re thinking. I’d be delighted to review your goals with you.
