Three Key Questions To Ask Before Building Your Website

Today’s post is by Marta Goertzen.

Marta is the founder of Trail Guide WebWorks, a WordPress consultant and website development company. She is also the author of The WordPress Website Discovery Guide: 7 Steps to Easily Plan A Website That Works For You.

When not on the computer she can often be found exploring her home state of Oregon with her camera and four-legged companion, Bailey, in tow.

Visit her website: TrailGuideWebWorks.com

Three Key Questions To Ask Before Building Your Website

We all know we need a website to promote our books, products, and services. But where to start?

What do you do with this new space on the web that is just waiting for you to fill it with content? Content that lets a visitor know who you are, what you do, and how you can help solve their problem?

The usual knee-jerk reaction is to add something, anything you can think of so that you can at least say you have a website.

Instead, why not develop a strategic website action plan by first asking yourself a few key questions. The answers to these questions will help in building your website, making it one that is effective and that works for you.

The Many Hats Our Websites Wear

Have you ever sat down to think of all the roles you ask your website to play in your business?

• It’s the friendly receptionist welcoming a visitor and asking, “How can I help?”
• It’s your online brochure letting visitors know who you are, what you do, and who you do it for.
• It’s your line sheet showing your product line.
• It’s your lead generator helping you find potential buyers.
• It’s your publisher as you add new blog posts.
• It’s may also be the tool you use to sell products and services.

With all that we ask of our websites, there are three questions you need to ask before you add or update any content on your site.

Question #1 – What are your business goals?

Make a list of all your goals for the next 12 months. Things like:

1. Publishing a new book.
2. Grow your email list by 20%
3. Launching a new product or course.
4. Sell 30% more books, products, or services.

To help you reach each of these goals, you will be creating a marketing plan.

Question #2 – What are your marketing plans?

Again, take a look at your current plans as well as any that are coming up in the next 6-12 months. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Publish one new post per week.
2. Promote your book on Instagram and Pinterest.
3. Send out a regular monthly newsletter.
4. Start using search engine optimization to increase website traffic.

With these goals and plans in mind, it’s time to take a look at how they impact your website.

Question #3 – What role does your website play in helping you reach your goals and implement your plans?

Here is where you can start to think strategically about your website. You need to make sure it has the content, pages, and the functionality you need in place to make your plans work.

Here are a few questions to consider:

• What tools will you need to capture emails and grow your list?
• Do you need a landing page for your new book?
• Do you need to add in a shopping cart so you can sell on your website?

A Confused Mind Doesn’t Buy

As you review your goals and plans you can see just how much we ask our websites to do. Your list may even be longer, so your first thought will probably be to stuff as much as possible on a home page and to cover all your bases.

Before you do that, think about a website visitor landing on your site for the first time. When you throw everything including the kitchen sink at them during their visit, you will overwhelm and confuse them.

You only have about five seconds to grab their attention. If they’re confused, they will most likely leave your site instead of staying and engaging with your content.

Get Strategic and Pick Your Top Three Website Goals.

Having a short list of website goals in mind will help you make decisions about your website design, functionality, and the content needed. You will be able to answer questions like:

• What headline should be the first thing visitors see when landing on my site?
• Will the optin offer I have on my site help me grow my list?
• Is my book easy to find and purchase?
• What next step do I want a website visitor to take when they land on my home page?

As you answer these questions, you will start to see how important it is to know your business goals and marketing plans before you start your website.

Deciding on only three website goals will feel impossible at first but stick with it. Since you have such a short amount of time to grab your website visitor’s attention, your site needs to tell them quickly and clearly what you do and who you do it for. Once they see that they are in the right place, you then need to tell them what’s the next step they need to solve their problem.

Have you discovered your top three goals for building your website ?