Forums: Discussions for entrepreneurs and small business.

The number one thing your website must do is have a purpose.

It doesn`t matter how well-designed your website is.

It doesn`t matter how easy it is to navigate.

It doesn`t matter how attractive it is.

If your website doesn`t get your visitors to take a predetermined course of action, it`s a liability.

And according to the dictionary a liability is "something that works to one`s disadvantage."

Unfortunately, there are far, far too many websites on the Internet like that.

To be successful, your website must have a purpose.

And your copy must be persuasive enough to achieve that purpose - whatever it may be.

If the purpose of your website is to collect your visitors names for your newsletter or future follow-up, then your copy should clearly emphasize that, and give your visitors a compelling reason to leave behind their name and e-mail address.

Here`s a perfect example of what I`m talking about:

Dr. Ralph F. Wilson is widely recognized as one of the top international authorities in the field of Internet marketing. Business Week called his popular WilsonWeb.com... "Bar none the best e-commerce resource out there."

Wilsonweb.com has literally a whole treasure trove of Internet marketing resources. But the number one purpose of the website is to get you to subscribe to their "Web Marketing Today" free weekly newsletter.

And with 108,000 subscribers, it`s obvious the website is doing its job expertly.

In the body of the copy, the newsletter is mentioned.

And at the end of the copy, the newsletter is mentioned.

The website never forgets what its ultimate purpose is - to get you to subscribe to the Web Marketing Today newsletter.

But you`re not asked to subscribe in the usual "ho-hum" manner. You are asked to subscribe in a persuasive, compelling manner.

Here`s how Dr. Wilson asks you to subscribe to his newsletter:

Subscribe to our free e-mail newsletter -- Web Marketing Today^®, published to 108,000+ confirmed opt-in subscribers worldwide. Just to encourage you to take this step, I`m including three free e-books that you can download and read: The Web Marketing Checklist: 32 Ways to Promote Your Website, 12 Website Design Decisions Your Business Will Need to Make, and Making & Marketing E-Books, each worth $12 -- just for subscribing. No catch.

Dr. Wilson puts his visitors minds at ease, and alleviates their hesitancy to leave behind their name and e-mail address by loading up on the freebies.

In closing, give your website a purpose and you`ll be that much closer to success!

Dale King

• The customer journey -- moving the person through the site,
• The call to action -- places where the viewer can do something.
  

Dale, in a different article - the one you wrote about Myspace - you lament about the proliferation of user created pages and the lack of control, focus, etc. A number of your complaints are indeed complaints about the design and implementation of MySpace. Here you say design doesn`t matter; in the MySpace article you say design does matter. Which is it?

my website`s purpose is to get paris hilton out of jail !

actually, wilsonweb.com`s purpose is to sell his books. he uses a strategy of befriending you with a free email newsletter to get you familiar with his name and trusting of his knowledge.

then when you have a need to "fix" a problem with your website, you`ll recall "that wilsonweb.com guy seems to know alot about website marketing, let`s go ask him the way to the land of oz".

then you`ll rationalize than $12 or $14 is a cheap price to pay to learn how to make a million dollars. then you`ll buy his book, and he`ll get your money. that is his website`s purpose.

so nice try to identify his website`s purpose in your initial posting, but i think you missed the nail and hit your thumb.  but don`t let that stop you. keeping trying and you`ll get better.

ugh. it`s bad enough to have forum postings that talk about purpose the wrong way, now we have to have an educational lesson in how some american`s are distracted from the reality of life by sensationalism? actually, that is a topic for an entire new thread.

paris hilton is who your child will turn into once you stop writing on this forum and get to work building your business into the world domination empire that it deserves to be.

or maybe that thread belongs on stupidnation.com

please don`t start on the whilred peas things again. i just finished the leftover liverloaf.