Why your website needs a strategy and how to create one that works

A website strategy is what separates the successful websites from the rest. If you're unsure whether you have a website strategy, you don't. If you don't know what a website strategy is and you want a website that delivers better results for your business, this is the article for you.

What is a website strategy?

A website strategy is a plan that aligns your website with your business goals. Your website should function as part of your business ecosystem. It has the power to enhance each part of the business engine from marketing to sales, and even fulfilment. Many business websites are not integrated enough to support the business effectively. These websites often deliver very little value and can even detract from business performance. A website strategy takes your business goals and identifies ways to harness your website to advance them.

Why is a website strategy important?

There is a commonly held belief that having a website is enough. Many people think having a website with a neat design is enough to win new business. I believed the same for a long time. It wasn't until recently that I started aligning my website with my goals.

When you have a website strategy, you take luck and serendipity out of your website. You stop relying on the universe to provide website leads and sales. You become intentional and goal-oriented. You become far more likely to achieve your goals. Your website strategy is your roadmap to success.

How to create a website strategy?

Without a goal, you can't score. Before creating a website strategy, clarify your business goals. 'More customers' and 'more money' are not good enough goals. You want achievable and measurable goals. You need to know when you've achieved your goals.

Let's take me as an example. If I wanted to earn $100,000 per year from new clients, I would need at least 20 new clients. A solid conversion rate for a service business website is between 2% and 5%. That means, with a 2% conversion rate, I need at least 1000 website visitors per year. That equates to between 2 and 3 visitors per day. My strategy is to increase my website traffic and optimise my website for conversion. That means focusing on SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), paid ads, and CRO (Conversion Rate Optimisation).

In case that example wasn't clear, the process of creating a website strategy is as follows:

1. Set achievable, measurable goals for the year. You need a metric to test your success against.
2. Identify key avenues that will guide you to your goal. Ensure you implement ways to test and analyse your progress.
3. For each avenue, select one method to achieve your goal, then break it down into one-off and ongoing tasks you need to complete to hit your target.

What does a strong website strategy look like?

A strong website strategy links your business goals and your website. It removes any need for hope or serendipity. Your strategy means being intentional with every website decision. It means making changes and then testing to see whether they have a positive or negative effect. Over time, your website strategy turns your website into a rocket launcher for your business. Constant refinement and attunement to your goals inevitably lead to a more successful website and business. 

A strong website strategy inspires confidence. It is your roadmap to getting your website working for your business. No more hoping. No more praying. Only clear and purposeful action can guide you to success.

Does a website strategy ever change?

Yes, a website strategy evolves. It changes as your goals do. In the early days of your business, your goal could be to increase awareness as much as possible. In this case, you'd focus your strategy on increasing website traffic. When you launch a new product or service, you'll want to couple increasing website traffic to a landing page with optimising for conversions and increasing sales.

A website strategy is fluid. It is the path to whatever your business goal is at the time. As your goals evolve, so does your strategy.

What do you do once you have your website strategy?

Your strategy provides the roadmap to achieving your goals. Once that is in place, your job is to break everything down into tasks.

It's probably best to use an example again. Let's return to the case I outlined earlier. Let's break down the tasks required to increase website traffic and optimise pages for conversion. The main way to increase website traffic is to appear higher in search engine results. There are two options for that: SEO and Google Ads. If I choose SEO, I need to identify and implement keywords on my site, write blog posts that target a wide range of search terms, and find backlinks to build my reputation as a domain authority. Optimising pages for conversion meant testing different messaging, layouts, and CTAs to see what delivers the best conversion results.

Think of website strategy as a car journey. Your business goals are the destination. Your strategy is the route you take. Your tasks are the vehicle you choose to take you there.

Get started on your website strategy

If this post has sparked something and inspired you to examine your website strategy, I'm glad. That is the first step to a more successful website. If you would like further guidance on your website strategy, don't hesitate to contact me via the enquiry form on my contact page.