Friday, July 30, 2010

Tangled Web: Designing Your Website With Purpose...

Did you ever go to a website and find it impossible to find what you're looking for?

It happened to me last week. To make matters worse, I had to jump from one company website to another to find what I was looking for.

One of the biggest problems I encounter with new client websites (and marketing campaigns) is that they lack a clearly defined objective. If you don't know where you're going, it's hard to get there.

In a Direct Marketing Association survey, when asked the goal for their website 71% of marketers said brand and image building. Only 45% said to deliver product information and 43% said to collect customer and prospect information. I think that shows a lot of websites are missing the boat. Branding is great. But a web site's primary goal should be to disseminate and collect information.

It's the ability to measure effectiveness that makes the web so powerful. Being able to count how many people visit a page on your website can tell you what customers think is important. That's why studying usability is important. You want to be sure an outsider can navigate your website easily.

Having a visitor give you an email address or other information gives you a chance to keep in touch with them, and shows your site has built a certain level of trust. Selling requires several touches (six touches according to some). So if you want to make the most of an opportunity, you want to do all you can to keep in touch with customers and prospects.

Building a website that looks great is good. Building a website that works great is better. And having clear objectives allows you to measure if you're achieving your goals.

Takeaway: What's the purpose for your next sales or marketing action? Is it to inform? Educate? Gather information? Will it bring you one step closer to a sale, or is it just about image?

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