Defining Your Website’s Goals Part 3

Marketing Guideline
Oct 17
5 min read

Updated: Dec 2

Turning Website Goals Into Action (What Goes on Your Website)

It’s time to connect the dots: turn Website Goals into Website Features.

So far you’ve:

Defined your website’s job: Part 1: How to Set Website Goals That Actually Help Your Business Grow
Identified what is most important for your business: Part 2: Prioritizing Your Website Goals (Without Overthinking It!)

Now it’s time to turn those goals into action and make sure your website has the items it needs to reach those goals.

Step 1: Match Goals to Website Features

Every goal should have clear action items that support it. It’s very possible you’ll want to add multiple features on your website for each goal. To make everything easier for you I have created a Goal - Feature cheatsheet. Here you will find common goals and website features to support them. Take your time and compare each goal and feature to your business needs.

Ask yourself: Will this feature help me reach my goal or will it distract a website visitor from completing the goal?

Let’s take a look.

Goal Feature Cheatsheet

Goal: Sell Products or Services Online

Website Features:

Easy to find “Shop Now” button on your website
Streamlined Navigation so customers can get to your products
Clear and tailored product pages that connects with your audience
Callouts that showcase your top products

Goal: Grow Your Email List

Website Features:

Email capture form that is easy to use
Prominent placement of sign up button or email capture callout
Clear reason to join your email list (From benefits to promotions, whatever will speak most to your customer base)

Goal: Educate Your Audience

Website Features:

Well formulated website blog
Easy to use video tutorials
Clear navigation that leads your users to the content that fits their needs
Content that is tailored to your audience’s preferences

Goal: Gain Social Followers

Website Features:

Social icons that are prominently placed on your website
Content (products, blog posts, tutorials, etc) that can be shared through social media channels

Goal: Build Credibility

Website Features:

Customer reviews or testimonials
“As Seen In” section that has recognizable and credible icons of trusted news sources, with links to articles about your services or products
Well designed and written About Us page
High quality photos and videos
Tailored text and content that makes a connection with your audience

Goal: Gain New Customers

Website Features:

Feature prominent products and services that speak to your audience base
Have a strong introduction to your products or services that is prominent on your home page. Can also be in the form of an intro video.
Develop strong SEO so customers can find your website through search engines
Easy to use cart and checkout experience
Promotions tailored to new customers
Incentives for email sign up geared towards new customers

Goal: Get Repeat Business from Existing Customers

Website Features:

Feature new products
Easy way to purchase products again
Add email sign up option at check out
Subscription or membership sign up

Goal: Keep People on my Website for Longer

Website Features:

Highly engaging content that speaks to your audience base
Clear and enticing callouts or suggested links to content that your users will want to explore next
Easy to use navigation

Even if you do not find all of your goals on here, it will give you an idea of how to identify website features you need in order to turn your goal into an action item.

Try it out: Take each of your goals and underneath them or next to them list out what features you want to include on your website to aid you in reaching those goals. Use the cheat sheet above as a helpful guide.

Step 2: Map It Out (And Make it Super Obvious)

Now that you have a list of features let’s take it one step further and indicate where each of them will live on your website.

The key here is that your website visitors shouldn’t have to search for what you want them to do - it should be front and center. I always like to say the phrase - people don’t read, they skim. Your features should be easily found with just a glance at your web page.

Prioritize: Your primary goal features should be the most prominent, followed by your secondary and tertiary.

Create your outline

Next to each of your features write down where they will go on what pages (Home, Product, Blog, etc.) and where on the page (top, middle, bottom, navigation bar, etc.). If you are a visual person, sketch out your pages and add a square block with the label of the feature on the placement on the page.

Some examples to get you started:

Goal: Sell more products

Features and Placements:

Feature: Buy Now button
- Placement: Prominently in the universal navigation bar, using a button on the right hand side of the screen. For mobile, a sticky button that follows the user on the button of the page.
Feature: Popular Product Carousel
- Placement: Home page, second block from the top.
- Placement: Product home page, top block
Feature: Product Categories
- Placement: Navigation bar drop down under Products
- Placement: Home Page Product Category Carousel, third block from top
- Placement: Product Category pages, accessible from navigation and related callouts.

Goal: Gain more email leads

Features and Placements:

Feature: Email sign-up form
- Placement: On its own page
Feature: Email sign-up callout
- Placement: On the bottom of the Home Page and every Landing Page
Feature: Email sign-up link
- Placement: Footer
Feature: Checkbox to sign up for company emails

Placement: Cart checkout

Step 3: Keep it Simple

I think the title of this section says it all. Don’t overwhelm visitors with too many choices and items that can take their attention away from completing your desired goals. If you try to make your website do everything equally, it won’t do anything well.

As you add more elements to your website and web pages, the key takeaway is to not make it overcrowded. If your primary goal is to sell products, then you don’t want to have clutter of blog posts, social feeds, and company history distracting your audience from actually making product purchases. There’s a place for each of these items within your site, but keep your primary real estate simple and goal oriented.

Once you build out your full website outline, ask yourself, “Can visitors find where to go to complete my primary goal action in the first 5-15 seconds of being on the page?” If not, then adjust your web page layout to make that clearer.