The art of goal-driven web design

Your goals and those of your visitors are not likely to be exactly the same. While a site visitor could be looking for specific information, for example, you would be hoping to somehow convert that website visit into a sale or get a user to download something specific.

The art of goal-driven web design lies in finding the middle ground between these two interests - your visitor is more likely to perform an action if it simultaneously meets their own needs.

SHOOT: Useful article, check it out.

clipped from www.bizcommunity.com Setting goals based on your client's and your organisation's needs can dictate design and navigation choices and ultimately determine how you measure the return on investment. It's therefore worth asking yourself and those in your organisation the right questions. Who is my target audience and who is my target market, is there a difference? Why are they coming to my site? What does my visitor hope to achieve from their website visit? What action do I want my visitor to take when visiting my website? Is there a hierarchy of actions that they could take? What results do I expect from my website that would mean its implementation is a success? Do my site visitors face any accessibility challenges (like bandwidth or motor function limitations)? How can my brand ID be expressed through my website? What is/are my key message/s to convey?