Questions You Must Answer Before Your Website Goes Live

If you have a website, do you know how effective it is? If you don't have a website and you're thinking of trying one for your business, do you know the difference between an effective website and one that is a waste of money? The questions that follow will help you plan for the success of your website, regardless of if you're redesigning a website or if you're brand new to this online business marketplace.
- All websites need a goal. Do you know what your goal is with your website? Depending on if your site is designed around generating sales or leads, or distributing information all affects the structure of your website. If you don't plan accordingly, your site won't be as effective at doing what you want it to do.
-Who is your target audience? You must target the language, pictures, and content of your website towards your target audience. Don't assume everyone has the same level of understanding that you do.
- What is your traffic funnel for your site? Once someone finds your homepage, where do you want them to go next? This question is related to a different question, in that your website's goal will determine the preferred traffic pattern for your site. Whatever your goal, make your website navigation simple and clear. Fancy animated links are occasionally confusing, and the search engines hate them.
- Have you encouraged your website visitors to take action? Nearly all websites, in order to be profitable, will need the website visitor to take action. Your site's call to action should be simple, clear, and easy to accomplish. Words like "Click here to purchase" or "Sign up for our newsletter" should be clearly visible and the task easily accomplished.
- How will you know if your website is being successful? You will need specific metrics in place to measure whether or not your site is working for your business. Again, this goes back to a different question: What is the goal of your website? If you know your goal, you should be able to measure it. This way you will be able to determine future changes for your website as both your traffic and your business grows.
It doesn't matter if you are doing all your own website work or if you are paying a website professional to do the work for you. You need solid answers to these questions before you start implementing a website into your marketing plans. The better answers you have to these questions, the better your website will be able to help your business grow.

About the Author

Before you try to build your own website, take a moment to explore LMDesigning's powerful and affordable website designs. Lisa Munoz has created some of the most engaging and attractive websites with her affordable website designs.

by: LisaMunoz
Total views: 62 Word Count: 442 Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2008 Time: 12:09 PM 0 comments