Setting Website Objectives
Whilst working for Concise Services in Mandurah I wrote the following article about the importance of setting website objectives. The article was featured in their client newsletter, which gives information about the company in addition to helpful tips for smaller businesses, it is also featured on their website and can be viewed here.
Concise Services continue to offer great value marketing solutions, and since my departure have added some very talented young professionals. Please excuse any errors contained within the article as it was quickly written, and not properly proof read 
very professional of me! Anyways, for your entertainment:
Is your website working? Setting Objectives, and avoiding pitfalls
Today most businesses have a web presence, with a range of reasons for building one. The single most common reason businesses invest in a web presence is simply because: “everyone else has one”.
Jumping on the website bandwagon can actually be detrimental to your business not to mention your brand. When building a website you need to identify key objectives as to why your business needs a website, these could include:
• Create an E-Commerce website
• Convert traditional sales to online
• Build a customer database
• Reduce costs of traditional marketing
• Build brand awareness online
• Distribute Information
• Gather Market Research
• Build relationships online
As you can see, those examples are business or marketing objectives. The objectives listed above will influence the design/layout of a website and need to be considered before the design process
begins. A website may have one or more objectives it needs to fulfil. For instance; a company may build an online presence purely to convert customers to buying online, this in turn should decrease traditional marketing costs, whilst building relationships online.
Once the site is up and running we can track key metrics to evaluate its success. By creating an E-Commerce website, one metric would be the amount of sales generated online. If the site needed to build
a customer database, another metric would be the amount of site sign-ups/registrations. Not to mention how many people visited your website, where they came from, how long they stayed, what is the most popular page, how many people are returning to your site and where the visitors are located geographically.
That is just a handful of information used to measure your websites success, helping you identify its strengths and weaknesses. It can be the difference between promoting your product on a national/international scale or instead promoting your business at a local/regional level.
By setting achievable objectives before the start of your website project, it will be easier to assess its effectiveness. Your website can do more than stagnate online, it gives your business a good reason for investing in your online presence. Your brand needs to reflected in your website, ensuring that
the quality of service delivered offline is matched or exceeded online.
A website is often considered a luxury, and more often than not, businesses cannot justify spending thousands on a long term marketing project, and a website is a long term investment. However the benefits
of investing now, outweigh the costs. With a structured digital marketing plan, your site will assist your business to reach a larger audience. It can be integrated into traditional marketing, enabling you to
track how effective your Radio or Press advertising actually is. Because websites can automate manual processes, they can improve business efficiency by reducing staffing costs, helping increase profit margins.
Not every business is ready for a web presence. Prematurely investing in a website may result in your website failing to meet expectations, reflecting negatively on your brand. Invest when the time is right, when you have considered what your website needs to achieve, and ensure there are real business objectives for your website.
The internet is rapidly changing the way we think and behave. Google is used by millions of people
worldwide. It is replacing traditional printed directories which people used to find information, its faster, relevant and at peoples finger tips. A quick search enables you to access information within seconds.
The word “Mandurah” is searched extensively each month, with barely a handful of websites set-up to benefit from this traffic. People are looking for your business/products and are more receptive to your
online messages. Take your time to research why you need to build a website, but remember, for everyday
you delay, your competitor may beat you to the prize.
Planning and setting goals are often neglected by most bloggers. This is a good procedure in which people can follow so as to find any issues that they could rectified during the planning stage.
Wei Liang
http://successbiz4all.blogspot.com
Hi there. I just wanted to advise you that some components of your web site are tricky to read for me, as I am color blind. I am afflicted by tritanopia, however there are more varieties of color blindness that will also experience difficulties. I can read the largest part of the site Okay, and the elements I have issues with I am able to comprehend by using a adapted browser. However, it would be cool if you can bear in mind us color-blind types when undertaking the next web site re-working. Thanks.
Hi Colin,
Apologies for late late late reply, been a bit busy the past few months and have ignored/forgotten about this blog! Appreciate the comments, the old design was bashed out in a week. The old website never had a blog either, so its kind of been a slight progression. Anyway, taking your comments on board, the site is currently undergoing a bit of a refresh
– starting with the blog, and making its way across the rest of the pages in due course. The aim is a more clean and simple look, with decent contrast which should appeal to those with colour blindness.
Thanks again!