Two Pillars of a Successful Web Site

Home
>
E-commerce
>
Two Pillars of a Successful Web Site

Two Pillars of a Successful Web Site

For a web site to get close to fulfilling its potential, you need absolute clarity on two points.

First, achieve clarity on what your site's core purpose is

Is to provide information? Is it to complete direct sales? Is it to drive prospects to pick up the phone and call you? Is it to start a free trial? To register?

The more companies I work with, especially larger ones, the more apparent it becomes to me that very few sites have absolute clarity of purpose.

All too often, too many different stakeholders impose a variety of different 'purposes'. The result? A site that is not clearly focused. A site that appears disorganized and complicated to its visitors. A site that wanders, meanders and ultimately fails ? because none of the writers or designers really know what they should be doing.

When and if you do achieve clarity as to the purpose of your site, everything becomes easier.

You can look at every page, every heading, every line of content, every link and image...and ask yourself this simple question: Is this content working hard enough to achieve our purpose?

If it isn't, change it, or dump it. It's as simple as that.

You may be thinking, "Nick you are so naïve. Our business is complex. We have more than one purpose."

That may be. If you are selling high-end hospital equipment, for instance, your site may serve both to drive new sales and also to support existing customers.

That's OK. But make it clear. Make it clear on your home page. Make it obvious to visitors that there are two distinct areas of the site ? one for people who already have some of your equipment, and one for those who don't.

Then apply the same discipline to every page in each area. Does the page drive your purpose?

Second, understand what your visitors are hoping to find

I'm written about this before. But without this second pillar in place, your site won't work as hard as it should.

Put simply, you need to understand the expectations of your visitors. Understand why they are coming to your site, what they are hoping to find.

When someone arrives at your site, whatever the landing page, they have a 'pain' or problem they want solving.

If your site is doing its job, it will take that visitor only a couple of moments before they think, "Yes, I can find what I need right here."

When that happens, they become filled with confidence.

It's then your job to help that person achieve their task as quickly and as simply as possible.

Both pillars working together

When your own purpose is clear, and when you meet the expectations of your visitors, everything becomes golden. You both get what you want.

How do you get to this 'golden' place?

Just step back from your site for a while and do some thinking. Get clarity on the purpose of your site. And go back over your site's history to figure out what it was people were hoping for when they arrived.

For sure, not everyone came to your site for exactly the same reason ? but maybe 80% came for one of three reasons.

This isn't about achieving perfection. It's about getting as close as you can.

Nick Usborne is a copywriter, author, speaker and advocat of good writing. You can access all his archived newsletter articles on copywriting and writing for the web at his Excess Voice site. You'll find more articles and resources on how to make money as a freelance writer at his Freelance Writing Success site.

In The News:

MyBinding.com Joins The Ecommerce Mafia
MarketWatch (press release)
Even the most experienced and seasoned ecommerce operators are facing a rapidly evolving and changing environment. Our goal is to create a climate where senior executives can communicate with each other efficiently and candidly.

and more »

Acumium Rebranding Efforts Strengthen eCommerce and Website Offerings
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
Acumium's Strategic Re-branding of eCommerce, CMS and Email Marketing Platforms will Help Online Businesses Grow Madison, WI (PRWEB) May 23, 2012 Acumium, a solution provider who helps businesses grow online through their content management and ...

and more »

Ecommerce: 5 Things You Need To Know
Huffington Post
The ecommerce barrier to entry continues to get lower as more tools pop up to help even the most tech-aversive entrepreneurs go digital. "Almost anybody can set up an online store," says Mark Hayes, head of marketing and public relations at Shopify, ...

GoECart Announces First Breakthrough 'All-in-One' Ecommerce Suite
San Francisco Chronicle (press release)
'GoECart 360' is the industry's first truly integrated SaaS solution that combines an advanced ecommerce platform with multi-channel order management, inventory management, fulfillment, CR. Bridgeport, CT (PRWEB) May 23, 2012 GoECart® today announced ...

and more »

VSI Products Goes Big with Shopatron, Launching Seven New Online Stores
MarketWatch (press release)
The Shopatron eCommerce platform gives VSI the ability to sell all of its products directly to online shoppers in the US, and then assign the orders to local bike shops for delivery to the customer. "This partnership with Shopatron opens a new sales ...

and more »

Home and Hearth Launches Fireplace Store Ecommerce Website
Seattle Post Intelligencer
Home and Hearth Outfitters announces the launch of their new fireplace and Viking appliance e-commerce store to allow purchase of fireplaces, grills, and outdoor living and fireplace products online. Home and Hearth Outfitters is proud to announce the ...

and more »

BBC News
SAP Buying E-commerce Vendor Ariba for $4.3 Billion
PCWorld
By Chris Kanaracus, IDG News SAP is buying cloud-based e-commerce vendor Ariba for US$4.3 billion, the companies announced Tuesday. Ariba's platform focuses on business-to-business commerce transactions. It makes a natural fit with SAP's "broad ...
SAP to buy Ariba for $4.3bnFinancial Times
With SAP deal, Ariba's 13-year headstart pays offFT.com (blog)

all 458 news articles »

Discovering More Information On The Ways An Ecommerce Website Can Guide You
The Bakersfield Voice
Finding out more about how an eCommerce website can be of use to you can put this powerful and effective financial tool at your disposal. Making the most out of any future investments you may be considering will only be possible when you have access to ...

DermStore, blush and BellaSugar Pave the Way for eCommerce
MarketWatch (press release)
MANHATTAN BEACH, Calif., May 23, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Sister sites DermStore.com and blush.com are excited to unveil the newest breakthrough in ecommerce. By delivering a hybrid content/commerce experience on BellaSugar--the beauty ...

and more »

Brazils Ecommerce Surging and Estimated to Reach $26.9 Billion by 2015
Virtual-Strategy Magazine
Leading Ecommerce Software vendor Fortune3, Inc. expands its reach to the fast-growing Brazilian E-commerce market. As ecommerce holds steady growth in the US, Brazil is a market that is surging in ecommerce as it becomes the strongest economy in South ...

and more »

Google News