3 Things To Do Before Building Your Website
If you're tackling the DIY route for your website, figuring out where to start can be a bit tricky. This blog includes three strategic questions that will help you build a more intentional, customer-focused, solution-based site.
Think of these three questions as the pillars for your website content—the "what to include." Whether you're still pondering platforms, templates, or finding your brand identity, this is the perfect starting point. And if you're further along, no worries.
Knowing these three things is beneficial, no matter where you are in your website-building journey.
Here are the questions. I recommend completing them in order.
Who are you speaking to on your site?
What problem/s are you solving?
What are your website’s objectives and CTAs?
Now, open a word doc, get your brainstorming hat on and let’s dive in.
"When you speak to everyone, you speak to no one."
- Seth Godin.
[01] Who are you speaking to?
It can be helpful to create a persona or ideal audience type before writing your website content. Creating a persona for your ideal audience is a crucial step in tailoring your website to meet the specific needs and interests of your target demographic.
Below is an example persona for a business with service or tool that helps small business owners streamline their processes.
Demographics:
Age: 28-40
Gender: Female
Occupation: Small business owner
Location: Urban or suburban areas, possibly managing a local business
Common Struggle:
Balancing Act: Juggling the demands of running a business, maintaining a personal life, and managing family responsibilities. This audience often finds it challenging to strike the right balance and may feel overwhelmed by the myriad of responsibilities on their plate.
Unmet Needs:
Time Management Solutions: Your audience needs effective strategies for time management to efficiently run and grow their business without sacrificing personal and family time.
Support System: They may be seeking a supportive community or resources to navigate the unique challenges faced by small business owners in the early stages of growth.
Work-Life Integration Tools: Tools and insights on how to seamlessly integrate work, life, and family obligations without compromising any aspect.
By developing a persona that encapsulates these key attributes, you're better equipped to tailor your website content to address the specific pain points and aspirations of your target audience. For instance, you might feature blog posts or resources that offer practical tips for time management, success stories from business owners who have faced similar challenges, or tools that facilitate work-life integration.
Remember, the goal is to make your audience feel understood and supported through your website content, fostering a connection that goes beyond a transactional relationship. The more your website resonates with their experiences and aspirations, the more likely they are to engage with your business.
Action Step:
Create 1-2 audience personas for your website. You can use Chat GPT to help you get started. Hootsuite also has a detailed blog on buyer personas and a free buyer/audience persona template.
[02] What problem/s are you solving?
Identifying value and solutions your customers gain from working with you is essential in creating a compelling "why" for them. Let's explore some potential intangible and tangible values. Feel free to use the following examples as jumping off points and tailor them to your business.
A Sense of Empowerment: Your customers may experience a newfound sense of empowerment and confidence in their ability to navigate the challenges of running a small business successfully. By providing them with valuable resources, insights, and support, your business empowers them to make informed decisions and take control of their entrepreneurial journey.
Fostering a Supportive Community: Through your products or services, customers may find themselves part of a supportive community of like-minded individuals. This sense of belonging and shared experiences can be a powerful motivator, offering emotional support, networking opportunities, and a feeling of camaraderie that extends beyond the transactional nature of a business relationship.
Time Liberation: One of the key solutions your business offers could be the liberation of time. By providing effective tools, strategies, or services that streamline their workflow and enhance productivity, your customers can reclaim precious time. This could translate into more moments spent with family, pursuing personal interests, or even focusing on strategic aspects of their business that truly matter.
Holistic Life and Work Balance: Your business might contribute to a more holistic balance between work and personal life. Customers could experience a shift in their ability to harmonize professional responsibilities with personal and family commitments. This not only reduces stress but also enhances their overall quality of life.
Tailoring your messaging to highlight these values will resonate with customers on a deeper level, addressing not only their practical needs but also their emotional and aspirational desires. This, in turn, strengthens the connection between your business and your customers, making your products or services more appealing and valuable in their eyes.
Action Step:
Write down 3-5 intangible/tangible values that your customers experience after working with you/purchasing your products. Ensure that they are unique to your business. If you want to take this step further, create a survey and incentivize past clients to provide feedback.
[03] What are you website’s objectives and calls-to-actions?
Taking time to define your website objectives will help you measure your success and create relevant content that aligns with your objectives.
Defining your website objectives.
List your primary goals for your website. What are you hoping to achieve with your website? Do you want to book x amount of clients with a particular service? Do you want to sell a course?
Tier your goals in order of importance. Websites usually have 1-5 goals depending on the complexity of the business. 3 is a healthy average. You’ll want to ensure your objectives are clear throughout your site. You can choose to have the same objectives for each page or different ones for different pages. Just remember, less is usually better (you don’t want visitors experiencing analysis paralysis), so pick what’s truly important for you and your business when starting out.
Here are some examples website objectives:
Book a specific service/sell a particular product.
Inform my visitors about x, y, and z topics and have them book.
Provide credentials, testimonials and resources to showcase my expertise to build brand trust.
Have people subscribe to grow an email list.
Once you know your objectives, you’ll want to write down corresponding calls-to-action. The objective is your business goal, while the call-to-action is how you’ll steer your visitor towards helping you achieve your goal.
Creating a call-to-action
A call-to-action (CTA) is a prompt or directive that encourages someone to take a specific action. In marketing and advertising, a CTA is typically used to persuade the audience to perform a desired action, such as making a purchase, subscribing to a newsletter, downloading a resource, or clicking a link. CTAs are designed to be clear, compelling, and straightforward, guiding the audience on what steps to take next.
CTAs can be found in various forms, including buttons, links, images, or text, and they are commonly used in online content, emails, advertisements, and websites. Effective CTAs are usually action-oriented and create a sense of urgency or importance to motivate the audience to act promptly. Examples of CTAs include phrases like "Buy Now," "Subscribe Today," "Learn More," or "Download Your Free Trial." The goal is to prompt immediate and specific engagement from the audience.
Pro Tip: Write your CTA’s with your target audience in mind; it should serve them and appeal to them and speak to their needs. Otherwise, what’s the incentive, right?
Any reputable website will have a clear call-to-action as soon as their visitors land on the homepage.
Take a look at a few home page examples below.
As soon as you land on the Apple site, they direct you to their shopping event. Their CTA entices visitors by offering up $200 if they make a purchase.
Podia’s CTA includes key information and a clear graphic, so their visitor can make a quick an easy decision. Visitors can see the benefits of signing up right away.
Similar to Podia’s example, but a more minimal approach. Squarespace’s CTA includes catchy headline, a couple key pieces of information, a big button, and a striking photo, visually enticing the visitor to sign up.
Action Step:
What is the main action you want your website visitors to take when on your website?
Once you know your objectives for your main pages (e.g. home, services, about, contact), create a clear call-to-action that aligns with your objective but is valuable for your site visitors. It’s usually best practice to place your CTA’s at the top of each page, but you can repeat them on relevant sections throughout your site.
Summary
Take time to complete these three steps and you’ll create website content that is relevant, customer-focused, and solution-based. It’s a great starting point if you’re in the early stages of your business. Re-visit these things every 6 months to a year to check-in and make necessary updates. Your visitors will continue to feel seen and heard, and your website will have clear directives, which is great for business.
Welcome :)
I’m Kay Lea, designer, creative entrepreneur, and closet-writer on a mission to hep small business owners craft brands that make a lasting impression.
