If you started your business a while back, you most probably did not start with a website. But as your business grows, you need to get a website. Not many business owners articulate why they need a website. A recent survey revealed that half the consumers trusted a business with a website more than one without one. But going through a structured process will most probably help you get the most from your website. Here are the steps that we would urge you to take to get most from your website.
Step1: Define the objectives of the website
Articulating the objectives of your website is really helpful in getting the most of the website. Write down the specific objectives of your website. Be as specific as you can be. Think both of your new customers as well as existing customers.
Step 2: Translate your objectives into customer actions
You meet your objectives when a customer takes some actions.
These can be achieved over the web and you could free up your office staff on things that help your practice more long term.
In this case, you need to build a site which will enable the customers to do all tasks intuitively. So think of all the tasks you want the visitors of your site to do and design your site around the tasks.
Step 3: Design the website around the tasks
It always seems a great idea to put a lot of stuff on the website. After all there is space and you have all these things to say. But recognize that there are times when more can be less. You want customers to be able to focus and complete the tasks you want them to do. You may be better off building a site that enables customers to complete 90% of the tasks very efficiently than one that enables 100% of the tasks with less efficiency. The more you try to do, the more clutter you build.
Step 4: Design each web page with a key objective
When you are trying to get a task done through a series of pages, try to understand the specific objective of each page. Some pages seem nice to have but are they really meeting any specific objectives? What purpose does the page serve? "Inform the customer" is not good enough. Is it information that is really important for the customer to complete that specific action? There is a significant cost you incur with more pages in terms of lost visitors and customers.
Step 5: Be true to your brand in your website design
In this drive towards traffic and conversion, people often forget that your website is your face to the world. Your website is an opportunity to let people get to know your business. Remember, there may be some brand erosion if all your customer can see on your site is "Free".
Step 6: Get customer feedback to improve your site
Just ask few of your target customers to perform the series of tasks that are in line with the key objectives of your website. Getting the feedback will help you improve on the designs. Keep the designs really simple.
If you get reports on your site, keep iterating and improve your website on an ongoing basis. Is the site meeting its objectives? If not where is the gap? Are you not getting enough customers?
Step1: Define the objectives of the website
Articulating the objectives of your website is really helpful in getting the most of the website. Write down the specific objectives of your website. Be as specific as you can be. Think both of your new customers as well as existing customers.
Step 2: Translate your objectives into customer actions
You meet your objectives when a customer takes some actions.
These can be achieved over the web and you could free up your office staff on things that help your practice more long term.
In this case, you need to build a site which will enable the customers to do all tasks intuitively. So think of all the tasks you want the visitors of your site to do and design your site around the tasks.
Step 3: Design the website around the tasks
It always seems a great idea to put a lot of stuff on the website. After all there is space and you have all these things to say. But recognize that there are times when more can be less. You want customers to be able to focus and complete the tasks you want them to do. You may be better off building a site that enables customers to complete 90% of the tasks very efficiently than one that enables 100% of the tasks with less efficiency. The more you try to do, the more clutter you build.
Step 4: Design each web page with a key objective
When you are trying to get a task done through a series of pages, try to understand the specific objective of each page. Some pages seem nice to have but are they really meeting any specific objectives? What purpose does the page serve? "Inform the customer" is not good enough. Is it information that is really important for the customer to complete that specific action? There is a significant cost you incur with more pages in terms of lost visitors and customers.
Step 5: Be true to your brand in your website design
In this drive towards traffic and conversion, people often forget that your website is your face to the world. Your website is an opportunity to let people get to know your business. Remember, there may be some brand erosion if all your customer can see on your site is "Free".
Step 6: Get customer feedback to improve your site
Just ask few of your target customers to perform the series of tasks that are in line with the key objectives of your website. Getting the feedback will help you improve on the designs. Keep the designs really simple.
If you get reports on your site, keep iterating and improve your website on an ongoing basis. Is the site meeting its objectives? If not where is the gap? Are you not getting enough customers?
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