Understand what you want your site to achieve

The value of defining Goals and Objectives

Whether you’re a new business or an established business, defining goals and objectives can be something powerful for understanding what you’re trying to achieve with the business overall. A session of defining goals and objectives is something essential to support staying on the right path as a business grows, while also maintaining clarity for decision making if and when important strategic decisions need to be made.

Consider asking questions like:

• Does a change in company direction align with our values?
• Are there changes that need to occur within the business in an operational or cultural way to support success?
• Do we have the right skillsets to handle a new growth area or direction that’s been opened up within the market?

Outlining the value of defining goals and objectives is easier said than done, but what exactly do I mean when I say “Goals” and “Objectives”?

In this instance, what are Goals? Goals are something that you define to cover overarching principles as a guide for aiding the direction of decision making activities.

• For example - As a client, we want our website to be an authoritative and professional knowledge space of information for our industry - “thought leadership”

In this instance, what are Objectives? Objectives are defined and measurable steps/milestones that would usually be along the pathway that connects and aligns with goals.

• For example - As a client, we realise that we need a new website to present ourselves as modern, professional, authoritative, credible, and trustworthy as we grow brand presence.

Having goals and objectives help you to stay accountable and directed towards achieving what you’ve outlined. Defining and having goals and objectives benefits any decision making relating to the business, and this is still definitely true when looking at digital or online aspects.

The type of questions you should ask to define goals and objectives include:

• • What are the short and long term goals of your business?
  • What are the goals of your website?
  • How are your business and website working together for you, are they aligned?
  • Are there friction points within the business or website that could be reduced to aid the goals?
    • Friction points might be -
      • Not enough staff to handle customer calls
      • Slow responses to customer website inquiries
      • Lack of staff ownership for certain processes that need to be executed
      • Missing knowledge for staff to execute some specific work
      • Disconnect between staff and management: Specific example, slow communication feedback loops the goals relating to issues your staff see on a daily basis.
  • What objectives do you have in place to succeed at your goals?

These questions, as well as generally working towards this type of transparency within your business, mean you can act with clarity and certainty when making business decisions and know that decisions remain aligned to your goals and objectives. On the flip side once defined, it’s possible to highlight if you need to adjust your goals and objectives to fit changes required for your business to continue to grow.