Why Website Objectives Are Just As Important As Goals

by Sandy Cosser
Mediatorr

How often do you think about your goals and objectives; the big life changing ones and the little ones that get you through the day? Do you even have goals and objectives? Driven people often swear by setting goals and objectives to achieve success. In a professional field one seldom finds successful enterprises without a business plan, including carefully determined goals and objectives. So why wouldn’t you apply the same principles to creating a website?

Many people make the mistake of assuming that a website will take care of itself. There is the mistaken assumption that one website is very much like another and that so long as you look something like your competitors your website will be ok. Unfortunately this kind of thinking will land you in search engine purgatory.

A properly designed website is one of the key elements of a digital marketing strategy, but websites can’t be designed properly unless the designer has a clear of idea of what the website is intended to achieve, and how it will grow in the future.

Support goals with objectives

Ideally, there should be open lines of communication between you, your designer and online marketer.
The world isn’t perfect though, so this is often difficult, if not impossible, to achieve. This is one of the reasons why you need to spend time creating clear and tangible goals with equally clear objectives.

Chris Rackley says that one of the reasons most websites fail is that owners spend too much time thinking of goals without thinking about how these will be achieved. He defines objectives as the “how” and goals as the “what”. He likens goals to a heavy load that you have to get up a hill and objectives to the rope that you use to pull it. Without goals your only option is to push your load blindly uphill without any warning of the obstacles that crop up along the way.

He cites three rules to live by:

If the goal is measurable, have the objectives support it. Each goal should have unique objectives; they are not a one size fits all solution.
Objectives should be stated in a way where anyone can come in to the conversation and better understand your goal. Basically, keep them clear and easy to understand. Don’t complicate things unnecessarily.
Ambitious goals are okay, but support them with objectives you know you can complete. If you know that you won’t be able to do the tasks necessary to meet the goals then you need to come up with new objectives or tweak your goal so that it is achievable with the skills at your disposal.

Keep your eye on the long-term but don’t forget the short-term

Wes Trowers says that you need to keep your designer apprised of your long-term as well as your short-term goals so that he or she can come up with an appropriate design structure. For instance, if your site will feature regular promotions, pages will have to be flexible so that content can be added, removed and changed when needed. If your product range is going to grow page design needs to be able to grow with it, this includes menu and navigation updates.

This will also make your digital marketer’s life easier.

Whether your goals include to increasing sales, boosting brand awareness or bulking up your subscriptions database, you need to have processes in place to help you achieve them. Your designer and digital marketer will appreciate the direction and the specified parameters in which they can then work their magic.

Article submitted Tuesday, May 24, 2011 & read 3 times.

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