Website Design Strategy, what are the goals of your website? Does it have a purpose?

lewistmay
09/01/21

Figuring out the purpose of your website has everything to do with asking the right questions during the development of your website design strategy.

Asking questions is fun, I love studying website design strategy, and I love asking this question. 

Just another reason why I started HammerSport Marketing. 

You see, marketing can be so powerful when it is done with intent.  How could it be that so many people and businesses are having a hard time with it? 

I don’t remember when I first had these realizations, I just remember that I had to do something about it. 

At this point, curiosity was my major driving force.

I started to look at a lot of websites and I paid attention to the feeling that each website would elicit when I visited it.  When it gave me an experience or a feeling that made me want to engage or respond, I could tell that this was an effective website. When this happened, I would dive into that website even further.  

I started to see the patterns of the website design strategy that made me want to take action.

Over and over I asked myself, “What are the specific things that the site did or said that made me feel what I felt? Why did it logically make me want to take action? Was that action in alignment with something that would ultimately benefit the company whose website I was on?”

If you ask a question enough… You’ll find the answer.

I have been doing this for years.

Most of the time I choose a subject or an industry, do a google search.  Then I look at one website design after another. 

I do this until I find an example of a site I like that I feel is doing it well, Then I study it, then I look for another.

The thing I want to say about website design strategy is that I am not talking about the appearance of the website itself.

I’m talking about the entire design of the website including text, copywriting, graphics, pictures, and functionality and whether or not it helps you achieve your business goals.

In this article, we will look at what is the difference in thinking that it takes to build a website that turns visitors into clients.

To do this we need to look at marketing in general and ease into how that translates to designing a website.

This is only a discussion about some of the processes and is by no means a complete set of instructions to build a website.

If you need an article with some steps to follow this article is a good start, SmashingMagazine Article

I wrote this article more to discuss some of the most poignant topics within website design strategy.

These are the two things I have discovered that got me pumped about marketing.

The first thing I noticed was the power of a real marketing strategy and its ability to allow a business to focus its marketing efforts.

A real marketing strategy means that the studying, observing, and researching of your ideal clients are completed.  You now know who to go after, where to find them, what they are motivated by, and how to speak to them.

With this information, you can develop multiple different campaigns using multiple different tools and tactics.  When you run them all and A/B test them you find what is working and what isn’t.  Then you do more of what works…

This is the power of a real marketing strategy.  It’s not random.  This isn’t done with luck.

It is calculated and measurable.

The second thing was understanding the power of a brand, how few companies really ever obtain a developed brand, and why this is such an enormous opportunity.

As a marketer, one of the known holy grails is a totally scalable, optimized sales funnel running at full capacity.  When you have your first glimpse of this, it is a memorable experience. 

An effective Brand is another one of those amazing things in marketing.  It’s just a more difficult anomaly to recognize because everyone wants one but not many people can explain why or how.  Once you understand it exists, the world of business is forever changed.

Once you know this, the power of a fully developed brand, you start to see how much potential everybody else has.

If only they had access to a real marketing strategy that includes brand development.

Well, you can have both of these things, we can help.

Here is another of our HammerSport Marketing articles with a little info about a way to incorporate your brand into a campaign.

Once you see an effective brand in action and how powerful of a connection it creates and how it drives the entire purchase decision, you will always want one for your organization.

You can never go back to the time in business where you didn’t know what a brand was. When you didn’t know how influential they are. When you didn’t know what it’s like to sell with a brand behind you.

The difference between companies with a brand and without a brand is astounding.  The opportunities for local businesses to develop a brand are everywhere.

These two ideas in marketing are what drive me to the final conclusion of what is the purpose of a website?

Why all this talk about sales funnels and brands? Because this is a discussion about the purpose of a website. 

And I believe that you get to decide the purpose of your website.

But to get to that purpose you have to have a website design strategy.

If that’s the case then why wouldn’t your website design be focused on making it easier to make money at your business? If you want your website to make you money then how would we design it to do that?

So, let’s start now!

What is the purpose of a website?

The short answer is a place to publish information about a company. 

The answer could be:

A website is one of the main marketing assets of any successfully scaling company.  It is the central marketing hub of the entire digital marketing plan.

The answer in between the short answer and the long answer is this: 

The website is a way to share information, collect data, and begin the process of communicating with your business prospects.  It is a way to inform your prospects and then turn them into customers.

At the present time, a website should be the central hub for all of your digital marketing. Your website is a place that converts users into customers and or converts these users into fans of the brand.

In this case, your website design strategy is to understand what your customers need to learn to make them take action. Then you publish that in a manner that takes them through the info they need.

Your website is a content management system capable of doing this and we can do it for you.

They can have a front-end interface that can be adapted or adaptable to multiple types of users. The website is often also a login hub where different people in different positions of the company login to interface.  

This can connect users to something on the front-end or the back end of the website.  

These websites are built to be functional for the business.

In this case, the website design strategy is to build a functional website that achieves a business operation.

Sometimes the back end can be linked to other marketing assets or marketing platforms.

This is a web app that makes API calls to other websites to accomplish a task or solve a problem.

Let’s back up again, and examine this question from another perspective.

How do I decide on my website design strategy?  What is the purpose of my website and what are my goals?

First, it depends on what type of business you have. If you are an e-commerce business then the purpose of your website is to sell your product.

If you’re a service-based business in a local community, the purpose of your website is to allow people to become familiar with your services.

It needs to give you the opportunity to communicate with them, speak to them, and sell your service.

Now we can see that the first question or the first answer for what is the purpose of a website, comes from the question: What does your business do? 

Then we can begin to formulate the website design strategy.

Does the business need a marketing strategy with some new marketing tools like a website? 

Or, Is the business in need of a platform that is proprietary to the business?  Does it need something to help the business achieve its main function through using programming technology? 

If this is the case, the purpose of the website is as a web app that solves a problem or provides a business function. 

We’ve identified that there are multiple different reasons to have a website, now let’s discuss marketing aspects of a website.  For the rest of this conversation, we will be talking about WordPress websites for service businesses.

A WordPress website designed by a marketer is one of the first major marketing investments that a small business should make. 

Why? 

There is still so much opportunity to scoop up market share over the long term.  That is why we are talking about website design strategy, so that your website converts traffic into customers.

So many websites currently in use totally miss the boat when it comes to communicating to achieve this.  All they need to do is show their results and value to their ideal prospects.  But instead, they talk about what they do.

The reason their website isn’t performing is that their website design strategy did not include, “conversions”, as the outcome.

To get this right, the work must be done to truly understand each market segment.  We must understand each individual and do the demographic and psychographic analysis for every one of them. 

We truly start to understand what messaging really needs to feel like to have an effect on our target market.

Effective messaging causes our prospects to take action.  At HammerSport Marketing his and only this is the measure of a truly effective website.

The secondary goal of your website should be to turn the visitor into a fan of your brand. 

Understanding your brand will be a big part of your website design strategy.

The goal to build a brand is to identify, develop, and rectify certain ideas and activities that the company will do.  This helps us discover, create, and maintain what we call Brand Elements. 

A brand element is something that gets people to like your company but is not directly related.  This means it doesn’t have anything to do with the service or product your company provides.

Why does this matter?

Because if all you do to get people to know, like, and trust you is talk about your product, people won’t be interested.  Many people in your market may not need what you have right now, brand elements give you the opportunity to attract their attention anyways.

The website is a great place to tell these stories about you and your company.  It makes it easy to do in a way that feels relatable and authentic.  Brand elements on your website will get more attention from a higher number of visitors.  They give them a reason to feel connected with you and your company. 

Once a person is emotionally connected to your brand there’s a better chance they’ll remember you when they need you.

This is another reason why understanding your purpose will help with your website design strategy.

Branding is the process of gaining recognition and notoriety in your community.  A great way to do this is by bringing value and making the world a better place.  Learning ways to do this outside of the product or service will be infinitely valuable.

In review, there are a lot of different reasons and purposes for websites. 

Understanding your business type is the first big step to your website design strategy.

For service businesses in local communities, a WordPress website is a great marketing tool.

Use a marker to strategically design the website to speak to your target market and their needs.

This will do amazing things for the growth of your business. 

It is important to have a website that clearly communicates to every visitor.   What you do and why you are often the best option.  How you present this depends on your ideal target market.

Next, tell them what to do to get started and make sure the process is clear and easy.  They need to know this if they are to do business with you.

Hopefully, now you are aware of some of the main ideas to utilize for your website.  With this information, you can be on the way to turning your website into an effective marketing hub.

Here are some other tips from a 20-year website designer in an article from Inc. 

Good luck.  We know your website can be an asset that creates and cultivates sales in your company for years to come.

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