3 Simple Questions to Create The Perfect Website

Travis McAshanDevelopment
May 2010

In a Nutshell…

The answers to three very simple questions will give you more insight, understanding, and power in creating the “perfect website”. (1) Why are people coming to your site? (2) What are they expecting to find? (3) How can we make it easier for them to find? These questions while simple in understanding can be difficult to answer. However, with proper thought, research, and application, they hold the power to transform your site into a lead generation machine.

Knowing Your Audience

Websites should be designed for the audience they are intended to reach. The problem is that most companies make little effort to anticipate the needs of their customer’s needs, much less design their sites to address those needs. For example many large companies tend to organize their sites based on the company structure instead of based on the prioritized needs of their customers. At the end of the day knowing who your customers are, why they are visiting your site, and what they are expecting to find is the secret weapon to your online success. Remember, it isn’t about you. It’s about the audience.

Question #1: Why are people coming to our site?

There is a common saying in sales that states, “if you can describe a person’s problem better than they can you are likely to establish trust and gain the sale.” The most simple way to determine their problem is to ask yourself this simple question, “what event or circumstance has happened in their lives to make them WANT your services?” The answers to this question will depend largely on your customer segments and describe what has brought them to your doorstep. For illustration purposes I’ll use our website. I know that there are roughly four basic scenarios people are looking for when they visit my website in order of priority:

They are ready for a new website
People are not finding their site online
They are not achieving enough leads or sales
They need help maintaining their site

Question #2: What are they expecting to find?

Because of these needs I know by experience and testing that there is certain information they are EXPECTING to find to give them the comfort to contact me for more information. These distinct pieces are the essential elements to a successful conversion for my customers include:

They want to see our past work
They want to check out our services
They want to find out who we are
They are ready to contact us

In addition to this information I have peppered my site with content I feel increases the chances of a site visitor to contact me. For example I have two pages on the site I’m rather proud of including “Why Choose Us” and “Best in Class Website Design” which receive a respectable number of views per month. Other pages that I feel help give my site an edge are:

Raving Fans
Our Approach
What We Value
Blog (relevant articles like this one)

Question #3: How can we make it easier for them?

With questions #1 and #2 answered I do my best to organize my site and service offerings to cater to these basic needs in order of importance. Now, because they are interested in my portfolio over anything else I make sure to highlight this strongly from the homepage and ALL interior pages. I KNOW this is the first place (97% of the time) that a site visitor views. After they decide they like what they see, visitors will typically surf to the “Services” page (80% of the time). Then on to the “About” page (75% of the time) and lastly to “Request a Proposal” (50% of the time). Because I know this PATH I try to make sure the calls to action facilitate this flow accordingly.

What have we learned?

Are you starting to get it? First, know your customers and (1) why they are visiting your site. Second, (2) know what they are looking for and lastly (3) how to make it drop-dead simple to find. The purpose of all this “customer-centered” craziness is to create a site that converts visitors into leads. By giving your site visitors what they are looking for you’re doing what your competitors are likely not doing, you’re giving them the power to find what they are looking for. Believe me this is a GREAT place to be. Will you join me?

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3 Simple Questions = 1 Perfect Website

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