A website’s purpose identifies the main reason for the site’s presence in the world, similar to a mission statement. Whether the site is used for advocacy, education, service delivery, community organizing, etc., its primary goal will ultimately guide its design and content choices.

The objectives for your website lay out the primary aims of the site, much like the objectives in your organization’s strategic plan (and if you don’t have one of those, you have greater problems than your website!). For every target audience, I prefer to ask my clients the following questions:

• When they visit your website, what actions will this audience want to take?
• When this audience visits your website, what actions does your business want them to take?
• Throughout the design and content generation stages, be sure to check in on your goals to make sure they are being achieved.

By presenting your information in an easy-to-read format, your clients can easily identify your services and contact you!