Your website requires 1-2 clear goals, and it’s important to define them so that design and development decisions can prioritise them. You might say – “ I want my website to do it all, it needs to make a lot of sales AND my blog needs to stand out AND it needs to educate my customers.” The issue with this is, if you have a lot of competing goals, less of them are fulfilled – visually, a lot of call-to-actions can overwhelm the user.
Choice overload halts users in their tracks; not ready to make a decision right here and now, or too confused to, feeling like they’ve been pulled in too many directions, they may just abandon your site altogether.
Think of your website as your employee with 1 key task. In the same way you wouldn’t ask 1 employee to stock the fridge, sell tickets, usher people to their seats and also serve popcorn, it is irrational to expect your website to juggle all your goals at the same time on the one screen. Work out your goals, and prioritise them.
Examples of goals for your website
Do you want to increase to sign up customers to your newsletter
Do you want to increase your brand awareness
Do you want to make lots of product sales
Do you want people to give you a call
Do you want people to read your blog regularly
Is your website purely a confidence & credit check
Do you want to educate people
Do you want people to book and attend events
Do you want people to book and attend events
This helps your web designer map out a suitable user journey, prioritising different goals at different points. This also channels their focus and your budget into the right areas so that your priority conversion points convert optimally – you want a couple of star protagonists and a few good supporting acts.
Examples of conversion points
Shopping cart
Newsletter sign up
Blog page Blog
Image gallery
Services Page Services
Booking form