A sideways glance through foggy scope.
It seems to be the same old dilemma. Each time I meet with a new client one of the first things I like to ask them is “What is the purpose of your site?” Nearly everyone gets a look on their face like I should already know the answer to that question. After I patiently pause for a few seconds they usually say something to the effect of “to make more money with my business”, or “to make my business seem more professional”.
Another one I ask is “What group are you looking to target with your website?” Nearly all of them answer “everyone”. These questions, along with others will generally give me a good idea of what to expect from the client. This is helpful because it serves as a sort of compass to help determine how much help they will need in coming up with ways to help the visitors.
In order to have a successful website, the site owner has to realize that the goal is to fill a specific need that a certain group of people have rather than to fill a self-centered need that the majority couldn’t care less about. Let’s look at an example.
Branson Condo Information
There is a real estate team in Branson that seems to have come up with a great tool that I think is a nice example of our topic. It’s basically a Branson condo information research tool and we’ll look at why I said it is a good example.
When you land on the home page you’ll notice that the site is built around a program that organizes information regarding condominiums in and around the Branson area. The first thing I noticed is the map that has all the condo complexes mapped for me (the visitor) to browse through.
When I find an area I like, I can click a pushpin to get a pop up balloon with some basic information in it - including the address. Inside that balloon there is a link to more details. It’s at the end of this link that the real stuff I (the visitor) am interested in.
Detailed Condominium Real Estate Info
Once I click the details link, I get a page that is chock full of sales information on condos in the Branson Tri-Lakes area. There is a list of units that are currently available as well as sales history on past units.
The rest of the site is your standard realty information, nothing real special. The main benefit to the visitor though is obvious. They get to look at a variety of condominium complexes and see which ones might be what they are looking for.
There is no doubt that this site was built with that purpose in mind. On top of that, the site isn’t going to interest “everyone”. Only a select group are going to be shopping for a condo.
In short, the more site owners think about the purpose of their site before it is built, the more success they will have once it is completed and marketed.
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