Why You Need A Website Strategy

Blueprint: a detailed outline or plan of action
Use it in a sentence: create a blueprint for success

I think you’ll agree that your website is a part of your top 3 most important business tools, if not your most important.

Your website has the potential to:

• Attract your ideal customers
• Turn interested blog readers into fans and friends, and
• Eventually bring in paying customers.

But I’ve found that many websites are lacking when it comes to driving sales. Many people expect that all they need to do is slap up a “Work With Me Page” and call it good.

Unfortunately for us, it’s unlikely that someone will buy your course or hire you to design their blog the first time they land on your site.

Why?

They need time to get familiar with your content and personality. They need to learn to trust you, see that you’re human, and be confident that you know what you’re doing.

So how do we show them?

That’s where a website strategy, which I lovingly refer to as your blog blueprint, comes in.

What Is A Website Strategy?

In our case, we’re creating a detailed outline and plan of action for our business success.

Your website strategy should include your website’s main goal as well as at least three supporting goals. Each goal should have a purpose behind it and a plan to implement it. These guidelines will define your focus, make your blog more effective, and lead your business to success.

Why Do I Need A Website Strategy?

Like I said, your website strategy/blog blueprint is a detailed plan for your site. Have you ever heard the saying “a goal without a plan is just a wish”?

We’re trying to avoid wishes. It’s definitely possible for you to make great money through your blog. But the customers aren’t going to flow in themselves. They need your guidance. No plan and no guidance will likely mean little-to-no sales.

Each of your goals should have specific reasoning behind them. Maybe one of your goals is “get a first-time reader to continue reading blog posts”. But why is that a goal?

Defining the purpose for each goal will help you determine whether those goals will elevate your blog and business or if you need to rethink them.

To define the most high-value goals possible read through this post and work through the related workbook.

What Does It Entail?

So “blog blueprint” and “website strategy” sound a tad bit technical, huh? Some of you might love that and some of you may be ready to run for the hills.

Don’t worry! Sure, it includes some site optimizations, reformatting, reorganizing, and maybe even some coding, but we’ll get to all of that. A lot of your changes will be simple things you can do yourself!

A Quick Example

I’ll go through some more in-depth examples in a future post, but for now let’s take a look at my site.

My ultimate goal is to encourage loyal readers to hire me for my services.

Three smaller goals I’m using to get people there are:

1. Encourage first-time readers to continue reading blog posts

Why: To gain their trust and show them that I know what I claim to

How: Related posts at the bottom of each blog post and popular posts on my welcome page

2. Increased social media following

Why: To increase my reach and gaining more readers

How: Social media links in my footer, welcome page, Contact page, and applicable blog posts. Scrolling social share buttons, social share buttons at the bottom of each blog post, and custom Pin-It buttons on images

3. Increased email list opt-ins to my free email course

Why: To further prove that I am a reliable source of information, gain more access to my readers, and learn what content they find most valuable

How: Free email course, which is promoted in my header, footer, the bottom of blog posts, and my welcome page. Content upgrades, which are free bonus downloads on many of my blog posts. Examples are here and here!