7 Questions to Ask BEFORE You Build a Website

According to Google there are currently 2 billion websites in the world.

But only 400 million are active! 

First of all, I don’t think I ever could have imagined saying the word “only” in front of the number 400 million!

But I digress…

To stand out in the crowd, and make sure your website is one of the 400 million that remain active, you will need to make sure it serves a purpose.

Because frankly, if it doesn’t, it won’t stay relevant.

So, before we dive into the things you need to ask yourself before you start on your website (or before you revamp one) I want to share a few things to show you why putting this effort into building your website is so important.

Studies show that people decide whether or not they will stay on your site within .05 seconds! That’s less than a half a second. In fact…it’s a half of a half a second.

I think.

Anyway, that’s not much time.

And a website without a plan will no doubt lose more visitors than it keeps.

70% of websites lack a clear call to action on their homepage.

Usually this is due to the web owner not being clear on their goals.

After all, if you don’t know what you want your visitors to do the odds are slim that they will do it.

So…

Both of these things can be corrected with a little extra thought and planning before building a website. 

Ok, ready to get into the 7 Key Questions that will unlock your website’s success?

Let’s dig in.

What is the purpose of your website?

The real question here is why are you making a website. What do you want it to do for you?

If you have a brick and mortar business then your website’s primary function will be to offer credibility and support your local marketing efforts.

This is a very important role and the website will need to be designed around.

How will you get people to visit your site?

The old saying of “If you build it they will come” certainly was not said to refer to new websites!

Driving traffic to your new website will take work and a regular plan that you take action on every day. 

Whether it is through social media, offline tactics, paid ads, email list or SEO/organic traffic, you will need a plan to get people to come to your website to check out what you have.

Make sure to set aside some time to put that plan together so you don’t end up disappointed with no one looking at your website after you put all this time and effort into building/revamping it.

How will you keep visitors on your site?

Getting visitors to your site is one thing. Keeping them there is something else entirely.

But it is just as important!

Getting visitors to stay on your site lets you know that you are providing information they find valuable and interesting. You are hitting the mark. They want to know more about you.

It also lets Google know that you are a valuable site that visitors like. If Google sends visitors to your site they will be happy and will want to stay there.

So what are you doing on your site to keep people there? Do your pages have internal links so people can go deeper into your site? What is your content strategy to offer your visitors everything they would want?

What do you want visitors to do?

You know how when you tell your kids to clean their room, if you aren’t specific, they probably won’t hit the mark.

Right?

Website visitors are the same way. If you don’t tell them exactly what to do they probably won’t do it.

And you can’t tell them what to do if you don’t know what you want them to do. Set aside some time to get clear on what you want your visitors to do. Do you want them to sign up for an email list, make a purchase, come down to your location?

Whatever that is, make it clear so they can do what you ask.

How will you get people to come back to your site?

Once someone has been to your site why would they come back?

Are you continuing to add new info? Are there useful tools they will want to access on an ongoing basis that live on your site? 

What reason would they have for returning after they have already been there and looked around? Repeat visitors are not only important for your organic rankings, they are also important for your revenue.

How will you measure how well your site is working?

Knowing what you will measure and how is critical to being able to make changes and improvements as you go.

Will you measure your success by looking at Google Analytics? Opt in numbers? Purchase numbers? Visits to your store?

When you know what you will measure you can set your website up from the beginning to track those metrics. You can put processes in place to ask visitors in your store where they learned about you.

You can set up systems to track your metrics.

And what is measured will improve.

How will you define success?

Finally, now that you know what you are building and why, what you want people to do and how you will get them to do it, and what you are measuring, you must define success.

What numbers will you define as successful? How many visitors on a monthly basis, either offline or online?

What will be the bar against which you will define success? Knowing this will give you the direction you will need to go each day and each week.

There you have it! 7 questions to ask yourself BEFORE you build a website.

Keep in mind. These are questions to ask whether you build your own site or you have someone else build it for you.

By answering these questions PRIOR to building your site you will be more likely to see the results you are imagining when thinking about your new site!

Tracy Hoobyar

Tracy Hoobyar

With a dynamic career spanning over 15 years, Tracy has been at the forefront of digital marketing, sales, and coaching. As the founder of System Chicks, she's deeply committed to empowering Carepreneurs and the neurodivergent community. Tracy's unique blend of professional expertise and personal experiences, including balancing a thriving online business while caring for her aging parents, gives her a profound understanding of the challenges and rewards of juggling family responsibilities with business aspirations. When she's not strategizing the next big digital move, you might find her reminiscing over classic 90s TV shows or enjoying quality time with her family.
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