When we are launching a Webflow website it might be easy to get caught in building a pretty website with impressive animations. But even the most pretty website not going to work if there is no strategy behind it. We already heard about the business strategy and the brand strategy and how is it even different? Well, it is all connected and the website strategy is your road-map to help you make your website not only a beautiful platform for your brand but an efficient tool built around your business processes and needs. To make sure your websites are not wasting your time I put together 6 main things you should be paying attention to when launching your strategic website.

Goals

The first question you should ask yourself before you invest any amount of time and money into your website is “What exactly do I want to achieve?” or  “What are my goals?”. It’s good to be specific and organize your answers starting from the most prioritized to the least. For example, If you want to sell courses online, your specific website goals might be 1. Provide an easy and clear way to purchase your course for people who are ready to buy 2. Sign up people for a free masterclass and send them to a sales funnel. 2. Sign up people for your email list etc. When you have actionable goals that you can measure, you can design your website structure around them.

Ideal Client

Why would people choose your website over the next one? Most probably, it’s because it speaks specifically to them. Is it colours, images, texts? It’s actually all of it. The way you put together your visuals and your words is how you build the connection. And to build the connection with the right people you need to understand who they are, what their fears, desires, problems. Before you do anything, the best way is to have a chat with 3-5 people you consider ideal clients for your business. And when you are creating your website you should be speaking specifically to them. So when your potential clients finally land on your  website they will sense straight away that this is the right place and they are well understood here.

Offers

Whatever products or services you are selling should be well defined and clear for your customers. Your website goals are created around your offers and your offers should be aligned with your ideal client’s desires and expectations. 

Creative Direction

Website is one of the touchpoints of how your brand communicates with your customers. You might start the conversation on social media and bring it to your website. Or people might find your website through the search engine and get on your email list. There are multiple scenarios how your website could be working for your business. But what’s important is that your brand experience is consistent and helps to create a feeling of confidence for your customers. You should make sure that your visuals are on point and deliver a similar experience through all your touchpoints including your website. The best way to do it is to follow your Creative Direction. Which is a set of visual ideas and rules that you are using through all parts of your brand experience.

Growth

When launching a website one of the questions you should ask yourself is where do you see your business in 5 years. And the answer will help you to understand what kind of web design platform or approach you should use. If you would be growing your service business and you will need your website to be a perfect tool to transition people to your sales funnel - is one approach. If you were planning on selling more physical or digital products in the future it would be another approach to take.

Landing & Transition

When launching a website you should understand its place inside the entire marketing process. How and from where people are coming, which pages are they landing on and how you can get them in a loop. For example, if some of your customers are coming from social media you can create a simplified page and mention specific offers you’ve been talking about on social media recently.  Or if people are coming to a blog post you can create a lead magnet resonating with a blog post topic.