Editor note: This article has been updated to provide more in-depth information and accuracy as of 2018

Whether you are in the middle of planning your website or if your website is live, it needs a purpose.

Responding with "I just want a website" when asked about the purpose will give your developer a headache. Creating a design concept when there is no direction is difficult, even for the best designers.

The purpose of your website could be entirely sales based, i.e. e-commerce. In this event, designers will understand what is needed to direct the user's attention to the best selling products.

If you are a charity and the purpose of your website is to simply provide more information and educate, the designers can manipulate the content areas to do so.

Whilst these are two examples, it's important to understand that whilst one purpose may be the same, the delivery will almost always be different. Maybe your customer base is different, maybe your values are different. All of these elements work together to shape the ideal website.

As suggested above, understanding your purpose is crucial. If you are about to have a new website built, take a step back and revisit your purpose.

Not only does this impact the design stage, but it can also impact key functionality within the website. For instance, if the purpose is to make sales, you will want to offer multiple payment options. This then mitigates the chances of cart abandonment when the user doesn't have the option they need.

Cart abandonment can also be a result of many different elements. Some of which, could be prevented by clear website planning. You can learn more about this in our article 8 Ways to Decrease Cart Abandonment.

Pre-build is the perfect opportunity to discuss and plan the purpose for the website. Sometimes, this will come immediately. Sometimes it can take more consideration.

Put yourself in your audience's shoes. Run through the ideal customer journey and ask yourself some key questions:

1. What is the desired outcome you want your customer to take?
2. What information do they need to know, is there a particular order for delivery?
3. What is the ideal customer journey?
4. What functionality is needed to achieve the purpose?
5. How many pages will be needed? What content needs to be on these pages?

There are many more questions you could ask yourself. These give a good starting outline for the overall direction of the website.

Your answers to these questions will vary depending on your perceived purpose. If your purpose is to sell a product, a lot of these answers will be tailored to e-commerce. You aren't going to need cart functionality for a presentation website.

If there is cart functionality, the customer journey will be affected, as will the information provided and order of said information.

Not only will this provide you with a greater understanding and scope of the website, but it will also greatly aid your web developer. They will have much more in-depth information to work with. Allowing them to accurately quote the time needed for the project and overall cost.

Your website's purpose should always be at the forefront of your mind. Business is ever changing. If you run a new campaign on social media or search, it is likely that the campaign is to serve a specific purpose.

If you are able to direct traffic from these sources to your website, your new customers may become confused. If your offer highlighted your amazing new course but your website is focused on selling your famous product, they will likely be unsure of what to think.

Your website should match the purpose you are actively pursuing. Unless of course, you have multiple websites that each focus on a singular, different purpose.

Ensure that landing pages are designed appropriately and that all the information provided is accurate.

Websites become outdated for this very reason. Businesses that have websites more than 5 years old haven't re-evaluated their purpose. Your website is one of the biggest investments you can make and equally, one of the most important.

Why pay for a website that isn't making a return on investment?

Updating the website should not be difficult. We offer a support service that is tailored to just that. Likewise, other web developers will offer a similar service.

A website redesign will cost varying amounts depending on the new requirements, purpose, functionality and depends on the developer you choose. Typically, you should think to have your website redesigned every few years.

Best practises change, business purposes change and overall market position changes. If your company booms in the next year, you will likely want to alter your pricing and structure. Once you do, you will want your website to follow suit and accurately represent the business.

Focusing on what's happening now is a critical error business owners make. What are we currently selling? What is making us a profit? What do we need right now?

This is a problem because thinking only of the present will limit your ability to plan for the future. If you have a new product coming within a year, should you build your website without that in mind? No.

You will want to include all future plans for your purpose. Not only will this provide you with a clear outline for the future, again, it also allows your developer to put additional measurements in place for new additions.

If your developer can build functionality now that will serve the needed requirement for the future, you will save ample time come product launch. This time can then be used for marketing and other methods to generate engagement with your audience, instead of waiting for the website to be ready.

Paying a web developer to create your new website can see you out of thousands in the pocket. Before making the decision to do so, you should take the time to sit down with your team and plan the website.

Planning your website is one of the most important and crucial tasks you need to be doing before visiting the web developer. During this stage, you should consider the website's purpose now and in the future.

If you're struggling to find the core purpose of an upcoming website project, talk to one of our experts on 01332 47757. We'll run through your plan and work through the requirements to achieve your target purpose.