Website planning: setting clear objectives

So you have a small business and you're looking at creating a new website, or redesigning your existing site. But where do you start?

10 years ago this question would have been simple to answer. Creating a website was very difficult if you weren't a designer with extensive knowledge in programming and coding, so you would simply have gone to a local web design agency, and get a quote. Today, technology has advanced tremendously and there are many platforms available for creating websites without knowing anything about coding, which opens new opportunities for small businesses to design their own websites.

Whether you choose to work with an agency or build your own website, I think the most important step towards creating your website is to plan it carefully. You need to think long and hard about this website, why you need it, how much time and money you are going to invest in it, what it is going to achieve for you, who it is going to be addressed to, etc.. All these questions should be properly answered before you even start wondering what the site will look like or who will design it.
Website Objectives.



Photo credit: PhillipC

This is the first post of a series that will teach you how to start a new website. In this series, I will give you tools and recommendations for each step of the project, from the initial planning to the design part if you wish to go down this route. I will also talk about working with agencies, outsourcing work, managing the content and the maintenance of the website. In the last 8 years I have worked on many websites, small and large, managed either by agencies or in-house, B2C or B2B, so I have been exposed to all the stages of a website life cycle and can draw from my experience to share what I've learned.

So let's go back to planning, and first things first: create a business case for your website.

Set clear objectives for your website:

Even if internet plays a large role in everyone's life today and most of your competitors seem to have a website, don't create a website just to follow the flow. Make sure you know what it will bring you. Write down a list of goals for your website, and if possible, make them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time bound).

You can set objectives related directly to the success of your website (number of visitors, articles leading to it) or to the benefits you want the site to bring (number of sales, brand awareness).

Examples of objectives:

• Help establish your brand reputation: be featured in 3 websites/magazines.


• Reach 2000 daily visitors by the end of the year.


• Increase customer leads by 30% within the next 12 months.

 

Write a mission statement

If you are clear in your head about what you want your website to achieve, you should be able to describe it for anyone. Write one or two paragraphs presenting your website. You can think about it as the "about" page, except that instead of presenting your company, you are presenting your website. For example, here is the mission statement for the Handy Marketer:
"The Handy Marketer provides practical information - articles, resources, tips - in the fields of Marketing, Communications, Graphic Design and productivity, to help small businesses and entrepreneurs promote their brand with better design in a more cost effective way."

Define calls to action

Finally, along with the objectives, you should give some thoughts to the immediate impacts you want your site to have on your visitors, by defining calls to action. What do you want your readers to do when they visit your site: Call you, register for your newsletter, buy your products, etc.. If you keep these in mind when designing your website, you will have better chances of adding the right functionalities and prioritizing content.

I spent a lot of time before launching this blog going through this exact process so I hope you will find it useful. You can download a template to work directly on it:

Website planning template: Setting your objectives.