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What do you want your website to do for your visitors?  What are the goals of your website?  These are important questions when it comes to planning your website because it will determine the focus of your website.

Two important questions I ask my clients in our second design consultation are:

  1. What is the first thing you want your website visitors to do when they come to your website?
  2. What is the second thing you want your website visitors to do when they come to your website?

The answers to these two questions allows me to know what type of layout is needed to achieve the results they are looking for.

If the first thing you want your website visitors to do when they come to your website is to sign up for your opt-in, then that is going to be displayed prominently on your website either through a landing page which allows them to enter your website after they sign up and/or your opt-in prominently displayed at the top of your website or the top right hand corner.

Is the goal of your website is to provide content and information to your readers?  Then your layout would focus on content so website visitors would land on your blog page when they first arrive at your website.

If you were a speaker or trainer for example, then your website would focus on videos of various conferences where you have spoken, testimonials from those whom have heard you speak.

There is a way to help you look over the shoulder of your website visitors to know what they are doing while on your website.  It’s called a heatmap.  A heatmap shows you how your visitors move about your site.  This is a good way to know if your two goals are being met.  CrazyEgg even has a plugin for WordPress websites making it even easier to add to your website.  Learn more about CrazyEgg.

While they may seem small and simple, not having an answer to those two questions can result in big headaches later, resulting in a website that does not produce the results you were expecting.

Ask yourself the two questions above and take a few minutes to jot down your answers.  Go back and take a look at your website.  Do the answers you wrote down match the look of your website?

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