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ook at your own website from the user’s perspective. If possible, get some friends to sit down and browse through your website (without your help), and ask them to describe what they think the business will do for them.
    3. Measure success. Decide how you will measure your website’s success and put a program in place to monitor it. As an example, if you expect your site to result in lead generation, make sure you have a way to track where new leads are coming from (use a call tracking system or a separate phone number, special offer codes, etc.), and train your sales representatives to always ask, “How did you hear about us?” If the website is supposed to sell product, ensure you have a solid mechanism for tracking sales that result directly from website traffic.

Chapter 5. Step Two: Establish Your Online Brand Visually
    In many cases w hen I first begin working with business owners, I find they are under the impression that the first step in building a website is creating a new graphic design. What I’m about to say may surprise you, but this is actually not the way I recommend that you go about building a website.
    Why not? Because the visual design of a website must work seamlessly with the brand messages being conveyed. The visual design is a representation of what you are saying and claiming, and therefore , it is near impossible to effectively design a website before the content is written. However, once you have what I refer to as the “verbal” design — or content writing — complete (which I will discuss in Chapter 6), you are ready to begin developing the visual design.
    Your website’s visual expression has a number of essential responsibilities, or jobs. These jobs are accomplished by designing a site that takes into consideration things like layout, color and graphics.

Remember your purpose
    I’m going to return now to something I discussed earlier in the book, and that is purpose — your purpose as a business. As we dissect the elements of visual design, we still need to keep our focus on your ultimate purpose, or goal. Is your purpose to sell a widget? Or, is it to sell a high - level professional service? Maybe it’s neither. Perhaps in your case, the purpose is not to sell anything outright, but rather to present a polished and professional image.
    No matter what the purpose is, it must be identified … and the design must be created to help you achieve that purpose. One essential consideration in this regard is who your audiences are: W hat are they looking for? What are their expectations? What hardware and software do they use? What will they see (perceive) when they come to y our website?
    It is easy to become subjective when designing your business’s website, but it is important to step out of your shoes, and into those of your prospective customers. These are the people who are going to make or break your business based on their reactions and actions upon visiting your website. Once you have determined the purpose and lined it up against an understanding of your customer, it is much easier to design a site in which all of the design elements work together to achieve the web site’s main purpose.

Visual branding
    The second area of focus when embarking on your website’s visual design is branding. A website is the first impression many people have of a company, and it should visually communicate who you are, what you do, and what you stand for.
    Much of the branding comes from the overall design of your website … and, within the layout, there are a number of elements. T hree easy to see layout elements that play a role in branding your business on your website are your color scheme, white space, and graphics (which includes things like images, photos, masthea ds, and logo artwork ) . What do all of these visual elements suggest about your business? Are all the elements complementary ? O r do they compete with one another, thus confusing the viewer?
    The goal is for all of your