Website Goals for Your Small Business

By Emily Krause, Design Powers 

Setting goals can be hard. And sticking to said goals can be harder. But when it comes to your website, goals are an important part of your marketing strategy.

You may occasionally add blog posts, update your content, and look at your website analytics. Don’t get me wrong, these are all great things to do! Keep up the good work. But, setting and accomplishing site specific goals will help you track growth of your website and business.
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Need help figuring out what goals to set?  You’re in the right place. We’ve put together some simple steps and example of goals to get you started.

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What’s the Purpose of Your Site?
Before you make a list of goals, figure out the number one reason you have a website. What action do you want site visitors to take and what do you want them to know?

What Website Goals Should You Set?
Once you have a clear understanding of the purpose of your site you can set your goals. Your goals will vary based on your industry, products or services, where your site is right now and many other factors, but here are the top three common website goals for most businesses:

1. Generate leads, gain readers, or build subscribers.⁣ This means potential customers or clients fill out a contact form, sign up for your email list, give you a phone call, visit your physical location, or share your blog.
2. Convert leads and increase sales. This means new subscribers, online purchases, emails or phone calls asking to purchase your services.
3. Establish credibility and become an authoritative resource. This means informing your audience ⁣of your expertise, explaining your services, and providing valuable information about a topic.

How to Accomplish Your Goals
Create small objectives to step in the direction of accomplishing your larger goals. Your objectives will vary based on your business, but here are some achievable goals that will push you in the right direction:

• Appeal to your ideal visitor. Write your website copy to attract your target market and make it easy for them to take the next step with clear calls to action.
• Make your site design user-friendly. Make your site have a fast load time, responsive design, well-formatted content that is easy to scan, and effective navigation.
• Drive more traffic to your site. Increase your website traffic from your target audience with SEO, guest blog posts, quality backlinks, blog posts that appeal to your audience, and social media (organic or paid).
• Start blogging regularly. Regular blogging allows you to share topics within your industry and show site visitors you know what you’re talking about. Plus, Google values relevant high-quality content.
• Increase your email subscribers. Use your website to capture emails by offering visitors something in exchange for their email — an eBook, coupon code, exclusive newsletter goodies, etc. Email marketing will keep customers informed, keep you top of mind, and make sales.
• Increase social mentions. Reach your target audience on social media by adding social sharing buttons to your website, for example, a click to tweet option or Pin It button.
• Boost your conversion rate. Improve your conversions by clearly explaining your products or services, using bold calls to action and removing unnecessary content on your site like third-party advertisements.
• Make your website accessible. Use descriptive links like “read more”, add alt tags to your images, use subtitles for videos, test your site with a screen reader and a colorblind web page filter. Accessibility is important as it lets people with disabilities easily use your site.

Measuring Success
Take a look at your analytics right now to see where you’re starting from. Pick as many goals as you can manage and implement them on your website for a certain amount of time. Check back on your analytics to measure the changes, see what’s working and what isn’t.​