There are many rules to creating a website: It needs to load fast, be easy to read, have good navigation, come up 1st in Google, look cool printed out and hanging on the fridge (okay, not as often on that last one.) But one important rule rarely comes up: have a point.
Does your website have a point? Here’s a 7 second test:
In only 3-5 words, what is the one action you want visitors to do on your web site?
Have an answer? Great! Your website has a point and you now know the primary goal you should design your website around: get as many visitors as possible to perform that one action.
Is it that simple?
Well there’s a little bit more… that one action needs to directly contribute to your overall goals. If you sell toothpaste, then “Download this white paper” probably isn’t a good call to action, but “Subscribe to my newsletter” where you can regularly mention your specials or include coupons works pretty well. It directly adds to your bottom line and it’s easily trackable. With a little bit of testing and some number crunching, you can figure out which call to action you should focus your design on. (I give an example in Previous Dilemma: The price of social media)
So does your website have a point?