Five goals every website should have

timjpriebe's picture

He has: 2,667 posts

Joined: Dec 2004

I just updated my blog with Common goals every website should have. Without reposting the entire article, I thought I would just list the five goals and see what you guys thought.

1. Provide information.
2. Increase credibility.
3. Create approachability.
4. Provide a customer/client benefit.
5. Provide a benefit for you.

What do you guys think? Do you agree? Can you think of any other goals all websites should have in common?

Megan's picture

She has: 11,421 posts

Joined: Jun 1999

Those are all good points, Tim. I was trying to come up with some other examples but couldn't think of much.

I would probably change "provide information" to "communicate something". First of all because it's a more active word. You're actually doing something and reaching people rather than passively putting information up and hopeing people will want to consume it. And not all sites are purely information based either. Communicate is also also much broad term, so this could apply to a site that was only providing a service, for example.

I would also add something about encouraing people to take the next step. When you create a website you usually want the visitor to do something - buy a product, tell their friends about your site, subscribe to your newsletter, come back again, bookmark your site, share it on social networking sites, whatever.

You could also add something about differentiating yourself from the competition or filling a gap in the market place. Every site should know what makes it special or different and why people would want to visit your site instead of the competition.

He has: 1,758 posts

Joined: Jul 2002

I think being unique is definately important. Whether it's something small such as offering free shipping for orders, or something big like being the only place to find a certain product/information/service it always helps if you offer something that no-one else does.

Andy

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