At one time or another, you’ve probably thought, “I really want to improve my business’ website.” There’s always room for improvement, after all, and you have some big ideas about how you could drive more visitors to your digital platform. Your mind is in the right place, but how will you know you’ve succeeded unless you set some website goals?
Website objectives can act as a waypoint, empowering to you envision what future success looks like. With an endpoint in mind, you can begin to take steps towards bringing those objectives to your live website. If your website goals are specific, actionable, and audience-focused, you’ll find that your website can become a core tool towards driving engagement and sales for your business.
All things said you can take your business website in a variety of directions depending on your marketing goals and objectives. However, these 4 website goals have a broad appeal and take into account several factors that business website managers across the board should consider as they strive to improve their website strategy:
Goal #1: Take Steps to Improve Search Ranking
While absolutely every modern internet user is familiar with Google searching from a user perspective, few are familiar with how Google trolls the broader internet and organizes the results it finds. These “search rankings” are based upon several actionable metrics, each of which can help your website content appear higher in Google’s search results.
First and foremost, do some research and learn more about what search engine optimization (SEO) means for your business. In many cases, SEO requires business websites to match the language of their website to the expectations of its prospective visitors. One way to accomplish this is by completing preliminary market research and identifying keywords that can be naturally slotted into your business website’s primary content.
Another option is to include more “backlinks” within published content on your website. In simple terms, backlinks are any type of link you make within your content to other webpages, including your own. These backlinks create a web of interconnectivity that search engine algorithms appreciate.
Goal #2: Find a Reliable Web Host
Because of the very nature of website hosting and the process required to switch from one host to another, many website administrators put off the task until a critical breaking point is reached. But instead of waiting until a serious problem like insecurity or untenable costs arise, you should make it a goal to find new, more reliable web hosting as soon as possible.
All web hosts are not created equal, especially when you begin to take features and costs into account. While comparing web hosts, be sure to find an option that provides up-to-date security protocols, as well as access to a knowledgeable customer support service 24/7. For costs, try to find a hosting option that provides cost-effective introductory pricing that transitions into manageable billing afterwards.
Finding a more reliable web host is not the kind of goal you should put low on your priority list. Instead, you should make it a goal to strike while the iron is hot and take advantage of everything a modern web host has to offer. Remember that the longer you wait to complete this goal, the more likely you are to run into undesirable performance issues on your website.
Goal #3: Decrease Bounce Rate
In website terms, a “bounce” occurs when a visitor toggles to your website (often the homepage) and jumps ship before traversing any further into your website. As is obvious, this phenomenon creates an overall poor retention rate that makes it near impossible to engage new customers and drive sales online. If you’ve noticed a preponderance of bounces in your website metrics, then you should swiftly make it a goal to decrease your website’s bounce rate.
Depending on your current bounce rate, you should set a quantifiable goal for lowering said bounce rate. For example, digital market analysts generally agree that 10% bounce rate is desirable for websites trying to capture customers online. In order to quantitatively track this goal, you can monitor your website’s bounce rate using Google Analytics (if you are not already using it).
There are also several optimizations you can make to improve the chances that a new website visitor hangs around for further engagement. From a technical standpoint, you should strive to improve your page load times (including on mobile platforms). A large portion of internet users that abandon a website do so in the first several seconds, so it is essential that your content appear at their fingertips within seconds of their request for it.
Goal #4: Create Fresh Content that Drives Engagement
More than any other factor, your website’s content speaks directly to the business it represents. If your core content is information-rich, authoritative, and fully unique, you can bet that you’ll see traffic to your website increase in short order. With this in mind, you should also set a website objective to refresh your website content creation process.
One way many business websites today output fresh content is through regular blogging. Whether these blogs are focused on your business’ services or on your industry at large, you should always strive to provide novel content that is both creative and contemporarily relevant. Google’s rankings appreciate both factors, allowing a well-crafted blog post to act as entry point for prospective customers scrolling through search results.
If you’re struggling to decide what to blog about, consider making a long list of topics that you possess expertise in and then supplement this list with other topics that are currently relevant to your industry. After narrowing down your list, you can begin to populate an editorial calendar that will keep your content output consistent going forward.
Website Goals Will Drive Your Business Further
In so many words, setting website goals is essential to reenergizing your website and allowing it to drive both sales and engagement in the digital marketplace. While the goals you set may take extra time and resources to complete, know that every minute you expend in accomplishing your website objectives may soon pay dividends when your website traffic takes off like a rocket.