Websites are driven by business goals.
Everything should be designed these in mind.
Every word on a page, design change, and the way users navigate your site should all funnel prospects to your business goals.
So with that in mind, ask yourself this question.
What is the first thing you want someone to do when they land on your website?
This is key to your online success. Read on to find out why.
Why You Need a “Next Action”
Most of the traffic coming to your site will be “new visits”.
Strangers that don’t know you, or have never heard of you. They found you through SEO, social media, or advertising, and now you have their attention.
The first thing you want to do is turn that momentary attention into interest.
So you need to think about the “next action” that you want someone to take when they reach your website for the first time.
You can’t always rush a new visitor into buying something. They need to develop interest and trust over time. So your next actions need to move people comfortably through the interested stage.
Let’s Use an Example to Illustrate
We’ll use this blog as an example. I have three next actions I want people to take when they reach this blog.
1. Read a Related Blog Post
Most people will find your site because of a specific blog post. So your first goal is to get them to read another, related post.
This prevents them from bouncing, and makes it more likely that they’ll eventually subscribe. There are several ways to do this, including interlinking your posts, having Popular posts in the sidebar, and show a Related posts section at the end of each post.
2. Go to a Resource Page
Your Resource Pages are the landing pages with major posts you want people to read.
These are important because they show your visitors your most popular content, and let them know what your site is about.
They also group your top posts by major topic, theme or category. So visitors can find whatever section they like and view a few posts before subscribing.
3. Subscribe to my List
The final step (and most important) is to get people to subscribe. That’s because email subscribers are your lifeblood.
When someone subscribes, you know that they’ve moved from the attention stage, through the interested stage, and into the trust building stage.
Now you have a permission based asset that you can tend to over time. Like a farmer tending his crops, you can nurture these leads and reap value over time.
You measure these steps based on user behavior. Then you make changes based on this feedback.
And when you make tactical changes based on real user behavior, you will acquire more customers every time.
