What Is The Purpose Of Your Web Site?

Most Online Business Owners answer to this question would
be that their Web Sites purpose is to create a "presence"
for their product, service, business, or practice, on the
Internet.

To this I would respond that creating a "presence" on the
Internet in and of itself will not add to their bottom
line, and to think it would do otherwise....would be a
waste of their time and money.

Instead, there must be a strong call to action generated
from your web site that will guide every visitor to your
"Desired Result", be it.... Getting The Order, Getting The
Subscriber, or Getting The Lead.

Decide first what it is you want your visitor to do while
they are at your site, then design your site to accomplish
this "Desired Result".

For instance if it is imperative to your business to sell
products and services from your web site, then you must
have an order page and/or shopping cart.

If it's important for your business to sign up subscribers,
then your site must have a sign up form on every page, and
an autoresponder which is set up to send a welcome message
within minutes of the visitor signing up.

If your product is best sold one and one and it's important
to have the visitor call you directly, then you must have a
toll free number available for them to use, or a form where
they can enter their phone number so that you can follow up.

Perhaps you want to have your visitor listen to a message
from you while they are on your site, then you must have
audio available, and instructions on how to use it.

Or maybe you need the visitor to order your catalog, then
you must have a 800 number, or email address available for
them to do so.

In a nutshell the purpose of your web site will be to get
one of the following "Desired Results":

* GET THE ORDER
* GET THE SUBSCRIBER
* GET THE LEAD

With the suitable purpose in mind, you can design your web
site to achieve your "Desired Result". There is absolutely
no point in having your web site online and paying for a web
host if your site does not achieve the "Desired Result"
(most of the time).

Let's assume that the purpose of your web site ("Desired
Result") is to get an order. Here's what to look for in your
web site design:

1. Does your web site content (sales letter, ad copy) lead
the visitor naturally and directly to your order page?

2. Does your order page allow the visitor to pay securely by
credit card, personal online check, through the mail or
by phone?

3. Does the navigation on your web site lead the visitor
easily to your order page and back to the sales content?

4. Is your content benefit rich? Does it lead the visitor
through your sales message wanting them to know more? Do
you have "joiner's" such as arrows or ellipses at the end
of each page urging the visitor to continue?

5. Is the font you are using easy to read? (black type on
white background) Is the placement of the content easy on
the eyes?( plenty of white space on each page) Does
your font scream at your visitor or intelligently inform?

6. Are your graphics pertinent to the sales message? Do
they load quickly? Will they distract the visitor? Will
they annoy the visitor? Do you really need them?

7. Are your web sites color combinations soothing on the
eyes?

8. Do you have your contact information on your web site,
making it easy for your visitor to reach you?

9. How about a pop up real time customer service window?

10.Do you offer guarantees and/or free trials and
prominently display satisfied customer's testimonials
for the "not so ready to buy" visitor to see?

Anything less than the above effort will fall short of
achieving your "Desired Result", and you will lose the
visitor and the sale each and every time.

All of the time and effort you spend.......

- writing and placing your ads
- tweaking your meta tags to gain higher positions in the
search engines.
- Submitting classified Ads
- Submitting to FFA's
- Submitting your site to Search Engines
- Writing and submitting your articles
- Participating in Discussion boards

Combined with the money you spend......

- Bidding on keywords in the Pay-Per-Click Search Sites
- Paid Ezines Advertising
- Purchasing Internet Marketing Training Courses and Books
- Paying for Leads
- Offline Advertising

.......in fact everything you do to bring visitors to your
web site will all be for naught if you have a web site with
any other purpose in mind except to....

*GET THE ORDER
*GET THE SUBSCRIBER
*GET THE LEAD

....there in lies The Purpose of Your Web Site.
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Copyright 2000 Diane Leonte, - All Rights Reserved
DianeLeonte is Business Coach specializing in Internet
Marketing, the Web Master of Wealth In Mind
http://wealthinmind.com and publisher of "Achieving Success
& Wealth" mailto:subscribe@wealthinmind.com
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