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Seven Questions To Ask Yourself When Considering A New Website
Added by
David Coleman
on
07 February 2011
Like everything in life, a website should be planned if it is to be successful.
Sometimes for some small businesses, yes, it is enough to have a page with your contact details on that you can point people to, but a website can be so much more. We’ve put together a detailed guide that contains, from our experience to date, questions that will get you thinking about what your website should do for you.
A companion workbook is available for you to download and fill in as you go along. We really believe it will be a benefit to you whether you currently have a website or not. Download the companion workbook here.
To save you from information overload, we’ll be adding a new chapter every couple of days. Let's start at the beginning.
1) What are your Website Expectations?
What a website can and can’t do for you
Firstly, you need to understand why you need a website and how it is going to help you. It is important to know what a website can and can’t do for you.
A website cannot:
- Make you rich overnight
- Instantly supply you with fresh leads (unless you have a further advertising budget, see Pay Per Click marketing)
- Instantly, easily and automatically appear in the results when someone searches the Internet for your type of industry or broad product range.
A website can:
- Be part of your overall marketing plan
- Give your company a professional image
- Bring in leads and sales...
...if you are able to allocate time, effort and / or money to it.
In Conclusion
With the right planning, carefully addressing the following questions, setting goals and measuring their achievement there is no reason your website can’t be a lead-generating or money-making machine.
2) The Purpose of your Website
Can you answer the question “Why do you want a website?”?
It needs to be clear in your mind how your website is going to help move your business forwards.
Here are a few examples of what websites can do. Write down on your worksheet points that are applicable to yourself.
- Give an overview of your business along with contact details
- Present a good argument as to why people should buy from you or call you
- Showcase your products for people to buy and pay for online
- Allow people to download your terms and conditions
- Give people driving directions to you
- Allow people to fill in and submit forms such as signup forms or mailing list forms
- Show videos of how to use your products
Like anything you invest money into as a business, your website must either save you time or generate you more money. Telling people to download your direct debit form from your website saves you having to email it out all the time. Being able to take orders for products online has the potential to bring you more money.
In Conclusion
By spending money on a website simply because you were told by a friend that you should have one, you’ll be missing an opportunity to improve your business as a whole.
Are you now forming ideas of what you would like to achieve with your website?
Read part 2 here: "Who is your Typical Customer?"
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