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Effective Business Websites!

Business Website Planning Worksheet

! As you learned in the Effective Business Websites course on HP LIFE e-Learning (elearning.life-global.org), an effective business website must start with a clear goal. This Business Website Planning Worksheet will help you think through some important questions and concepts as you build or update your business website. Use the questions on this worksheet to help you get started in mapping out the information you would like to present, and where to put that information on your website. Goal Mapping Your Business What are your key business goals?

What are your business website goals? What do you hope to accomplish with your business website? What do you hope visitors will do after viewing the website?

Your Target Audience Who is your target audience? What are their goals in buying from your business?

What will your target audience want to find on your website?

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! ! Content Mapping

Effective Business Websites!

Now that you have written a description of your target audience and listed your business goals, what important pieces of information will you need to present on your business website to meet these goals? Each business website is unique, and the information presented will differ according to the nature of the business and the traits of each target audience. However, some common information presented on business websites may include: Products or services your business offers. Visitors to a website often want to know what types of products or services the business can offer. Descriptions should be clear and meaningful for your audience. Location, hours, or other contact information of your business. Visitors often want to know how and when they can contact or physically visit your business. Be sure that this information is clearly presented and easy to find on your website. This information is often located at the top of a webpage, or on its own page that is linked to the menu on a website. Clear call to action for visitors to the website. Visitors to a website sometimes may not know what to do after reading the information on it. By including a clear call to action (clear directions about what visitors to the website should do next), you can help direct visitors to take actions that will meet their needs and help achieve your business goals. For example, you might want your visitors to call your business, place an order, or visit your business location. By writing these calls to action clearly on the website, you can direct your visitors to relevant information, such as your online store, contact information, and more.

List key information that you will want to present on your website:!

You can use free website mapping tools found on the Internet to help you structure the website. For useful links to these tools, and for more information about business websites, visit the Next Steps portion of the Building Websites Topic.
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