You're about to get a website for your new business.
You're excited, and so you should be!
What do you need to think about first?
What should your domain name be?
What pages do you want on your site?
What pretty colours should you use?
Stop! Take a step back!
You will need to think about those things in due course, but the most important step comes before all that.
You need a clear strategy!
Before doing anything you need to be clear about what you do and what you want from your website. After all, your website is a key element of your business marketing strategy so you need to be clear on what that strategy is and how your website will help you attract customers.
So ask yourself these questions:
What does you business do?
Who do you do it for?
Be specific!
Let's say you are a physiotherapist. What type of physiotherapy do you offer? Help with managing pain? Help with mobility? Sports injuries? For elite athletes or fun runners?
Who is your ideal client? Affluent lycra-clad weekend cyclists? Older people with chronic conditions? Those are two very different markets and this will affect your messaging, your imagery and how you present information on your website.
Once you have worked this out you'll have a much clearer idea of how your website should look, what the tone of the copy should be, who it should appeal to, what type of images & media you should use.
What do you want your website to do for you?
Be an information source for potential clients? Will it feature prices, opening hours, how to find you?
Enhance your credibility & professionalism? Should you include your qualifications, case studies & testimonials?
Generate leads? What do you mean by that? Enquiries? Bookings? Sales?
How are you going to drive traffic to your website? Hint - don't rely on Google doing all the work. (I'll be doing a blog on this soon so watch this space.)
And here's the zinger!
What is the one thing you want visitors to your website to do?
Fill in an enquiry form? Book directly through the website? Call you?
Visit your shop?
You may want your website to do all the things mentioned above, but you need to be clear on what you want your visitor to do. Everything in your website should be aimed at that. So, if your aim is to encourage visitors to book, you need a prominent "book now" button. Your site structure, your customer journey and all your messaging should aim at that outcome.
Does this feel like a lot of thinking to do up front?
Yes, it is but you know most of this stuff already. Getting your strategy clear in your head before you start will save you time and money in the long run and lead to a more effective website.
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