When it comes to websites, or any other online marketing, you should have specific goals for what you want to accomplish.
A lot of times, companies will decide to redesign their website because they feel it’s outdated, they’re not happy with the conversion rate on their site, or they just want something different.
Some of those reasons for a redesign are tied to goals and some aren’t. And sometimes the problem is that the goals, either for the business or the website, or both, aren’t clear to everyone involved. Or perhaps the company never set goals for their website to begin with.
Ten years ago, if you had a website that looked good and had a professional appearance, that was enough. That’s not the case anymore. Now websites need to meet the business need and show tangible return on investment, whether that’s through increased traffic, more newsletter subscribers, or more sales.
So, what might goals for a redesign look like? Here are a few examples of specific goals for a website redesign:
- Increase website donations by X percent by featuring the donate button more prominently and streamlining the online donation form and process.
- Lengthen the total time visitors spend on the site by providing more engaging blog and video content.
- Restructure navigation to align with the target customer’s needs as identified through customer surveys and analysis of common search terms in order to reduce website bounce rate.
Notice that all of these goals are measurable in some way? In order to measure success for these goals, you will need to track metrics before and after your redesign. Some of these metrics (time spent on site and bounce rate) can be found through Google Analytics, while others (total amount of website donations) may come from internal records.
You may be thinking a website redesign is surely more complex than a single goal, and you’re right. The redesign process will also factor in the overall brand, colors, images, content, and more. But none of that matters as much as the organizational goal you want to meet by redesigning your website.
So before you contact a website company to talk about a redesign, talk within your company about the specific goals you want to achieve.
