Function and Goals

   Function and Goals

 When a website is not functioning as well as it should, or when you are setting out to avoid disappointments, the process begins with clearly defining the expected function and goals. A website should DO something that is necessary. A few pages thrown out there that tell no more than a

business card, will do nothing. They serve no function. Site function can be summed up in two concepts: 1.

Most importantly, what value will it have to a site visitor?

What would make them want to find it, and

what will make them glad they did?

2.

What do you need the site to do for you?

This comes second, because if you focus on this, and

ignore visitor needs, it won't do anything at all for you.

When I talk about a website making money, I don't just mean bringing in revenue directly. There are two

ways a site can pay for itself:

1.

By processing orders, generating leads, or encouraging new clients or customers to contact

you.

Don't be mislead into thinking this happens easily, it doesn't.

2.

By saving you time, or providing a service that you'd have to pay a person to do otherwise.

You

can refer leads to it for frequently needed information, dispense documents (applications, spec sheets,

employee or downline educational material, etc), or use it for routine customer support needs with a

good help system (not to replace personal support, just to reduce the number of calls). When you save

time, you save money.

A good website will serve a useful function to both you, and your site visitors. It becomes a virtual member of

your business team, another facet in the complex balance of your business, serving vital functions that provide

convenience to your customers, and necessary assistance to you. If it does not do that, then it won't earn as you

need it to.

In addition to knowing how you need it to function, you need to know what your goals are.

I recommend

to clients that they base their goals on trends, not on dollar amounts. For example, “I want to see significant

evidence of growth potential in six or nine months.”, rather than “I want to be earning $1000 a month from the

site within six months.” The reason for this is that you can't know exactly what the potential for a site is until it

begins to function, and then it may do better or worse than you thought it would. If you can spot trends though,

even if they tell you it is going to be a long hard slog to get where you want to go, you can at least see that it

CAN get you there. And if it can, it would be silly to give up just because it did not give you what you wanted right

away (certainly reassessment and adjustment along the way helps to improve trends).

I spoke with a marketer four months ago, and the first thing he asked me was,

“What do you want to get out of

it?”

I thought for a second, and said, “I want people to start calling me instead of having to chase down every

contract personally.” He replied, “That is an attainable goal.” I knew that to attain that goal, I'd have to actually

act on specific tasks, or it would not happen.

You need to figure out what the most important thing is that you expect the website to do for you. And it

needs to be a realistic goal.

I did not want to have people start calling me within a week, I knew that would take

time, and that I'd have to keep working it until it did. And it did take some time. But five months later, someone

called. And a month after that, someone else called. That was success, and that was the beginning of the

realization of that goal.

Usually, if you can achieve a simple goal, then by doing more of what works, and less of what does not, you can

achieve additional goals. With a website, that means stating the goal, then writing down a plan of what you will

do to achieve it. Then you follow through with the action plan, until you can accurately tell whether it is working or

not.

In the web world, that means 3-6 months to see significant indications of results.

Many of the sites that we see that fail, were not designed with an effective function in mind, and the site

 

owner's goals were not attainable by the methods they were using.

A little revision of the site and the action

plan helped to improve the results and trends.

If it isn't working like you feel it ought to, there IS hope!