Before creating pages, uploading images, or building the main menu, take a step back and ask a simple question: What should this website accomplish?
Many websites become difficult to manage because they were built page by page without a clear purpose. By identifying your primary goal first, you can make better decisions about content, navigation, design, and ongoing maintenance.
Common Website Goals
Most websites have one primary goal with several secondary goals.
Examples include:
- Sharing information about a department, program, or service
- Recruiting prospective students, faculty, staff, or participants
- Supporting existing users through resources and documentation
- Promoting events and initiatives
- Encouraging specific actions such as registrations, applications, or requests
Identify Your Primary Goal
Consider the following questions:
- Why are people visiting this website?
- What information are they looking for?
- What actions do we want them to take?
- How will we know if the site is successful?
Try completing this statement:
The primary purpose of our website is to ____________________.
Write this statement as a great description in under 100 words.
Example: The Student Health Insurance website (shi.osu.edu) shares coverage and health insurance policies, explains the rules and allows students to enroll or waive coverage. Students and their parents can compare plans and find coverage details and examples.
Avoid Trying to Do Everything
A common mistake is treating every objective as equally important.
When every page is a priority:
- Navigation becomes cluttered
- Content becomes difficult to maintain
- Users struggle to find important information
Focus on your primary goal first and support secondary goals where appropriate.
Activity
Write a one-sentence goal statement for your website and share it with your content team. Use it to guide future content decisions.