What Is The Purpose Of Your Website? Part 1

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What is the purpose of your website?

Your website might have been created years ago when its purpose was simply to have one because 'everybody has to be online.' But here you are in 2023 and simply being online is no longer its own purpose. In fact, if your website reflects that original purpose from years ago, it's now probably working against you.

Think about the purpose of your site. And if you don't have a website, consider this to be a thought experiment that might motivate you to have your own website for all the right reasons, not just because "everybody else is online." So let's look at three possible purposes for a website.

The business card

This is the basic website that simply reflects you and displays images, music samples, and videos. I call it a "business card" because it doesn't change. It is your static online presence. You send people there to get a look and listen to who you are as a jazz musician.

Pros:

• If designed well, you have an attractive place on the web that you own, unlike social media, which you only rent.
• Once it is built, it requires very little upkeep. It's fixed in place.

Cons:

• It offers no interaction with visitors. Remember, it is like a static billboard or business card.
• Because it is static, it doesn't attract much of Google's attention. Google prefers to send people to active growing websites.

The lounge

This website is a hub for activity with visitors. That activity can be limited to just a simple form that gathers names and email addresses. A flow of emails can then be sent to something like a frequently updated blog soliciting comments from readers. Now we've got some activity. A gathering of sorts.

What sets this type of website apart from the static business card is the ongoing activity and its growth as new articles are written, and audio and video content is added by both the owner and by visitors.

Pros:

• A growing website interacted with by visitors rises in the search results. Think of a house filled with people laughing and engaging with each other versus their neighbor alone with the lights out. Which would you rather be sent to? Exactly. That's where Google will send more people.
• Your notoriety will expand since more people are interacting with your site and you are rising in the Google search results.
• If desired, you have the opportunity to make money by placing third-party ads on your site from brands who value the visitor traffic you attract.

Cons:

• Keeping up a steady stream of writing and adding content requires effort. This type of website is like a houseplant. Its growth and vibrancy is directly related to the quality and quantity of your upkeep
• This type of website can also be more expensive to build and maintain. An external email service is required to send multiple emails to the people leaving you their names and addresses. If you are not technically proficient with web technologies, you will also spend some money hiring someone to keep the site maintained. None of this need not break the bank, but it is a factor.

The store

This website sells your music, your books, your teaching, and whatever else you put out to the world that you wish to monetize. Typically, the store contains the dynamic attributes of the above-mentioned lounge in order to attract customers.

The store can be as simple as a few Paypal buttons leading to a Paypal shopping cart, or it can be a robust store displaying your wares in an attractive manner complete automatic book printing on demand, upsells, bump offers, and other impulse items at checkout.

Pros:

• You can make money. Don't be tempted to think that just because you are a jazz musician, there is no market for what you offer. Consider the number of students learning jazz in high schools and colleges all over the world. That in itself is a huge market. You just have to find those people.
• You expand your influence and notoriety. Google rewards online stores selling products and services that are attracting a growing audience. Success begets success if you are putting in the effort to maintain your store and its interaction with the world.

Cons:

• Building and maintaining an online store requires time and effort. That effort goes into creating new products and marketing them through the site, ads, social media, and email. The effort is also in the learning of this technology and marketing. This type of website is not for the lazy. All About Jazz has attracted a large audience that regularly visits our site, but it didn't happen easily or immediately.
• It also requires patience. As I frequently remind people,"build it and they will come" rarely works for an online store. There is an audience for your music and your other wares but you have to be in it for the long term if you are to be successful in finding enough of those fans. Remember, there are around 4 billion people online. How many of them who are jazz enthusiasts or students do you need buying from you in order to make a comfortable living or at least a good side hustle?

Now that you know the broad purpose or type of website you want, What are the things you can do to successfully accomplish that purpose? What are some things you can do to attract more people to your site? Maybe you have things you'd like to sell on it. How do you go about it? Where do you start? What might you be doing unwittingly that is preventing you from getting more people on your site and from reaching your website goals?

I will help you explore all that and more in part two.

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