We’re in the last week of the year and it’s the perfect time to evaluate your website and set milestones to achieve in the coming year.

Why? Because a website is a dynamic platform, created with a purpose. It is ever evolving. From its UI/UX, design, content, it is always a work in progress. Measuring its effectiveness with annual objectives in sight, makes it easier to figure out the next steps and optimize the performance of your website.

Here are a few points to get you started.

**Go Back to Why You Began**

Revisit the purpose of your website.

Why did you create one?
Is it to make your business discoverable?
Is it to generate leads?
Is to educate your audience?

Clear goal-setting is crucial for your website and identifying its purpose is the first step.

P.S If you haven't identified your website purpose and are simply in maintenance mode, now is a good time to take a step back, think and lay the plan for where you want your website to take you.

**Go Back to Where You Began**

As cliché as it may sound, your website metrics are a goldmine of consumer behavior, demographic data and indicators to what’s working and what’s not on you website. Analyzing performance metrics helps you identify trends, areas of improvement and provide valuable insights.

For example, the Google Analytics Page views report could help you understand the information people are consuming on your website, whereas “Time Spent” would signify the quality of your content based on how long the user was on your website, “Bounce Rate” represents the percentage of users who visited your website and left without visiting more than one page (depending on yours website goals this could be good or bad). Similarly, depending on the objective of your website, consider the number of Downloads, Social Shares, Leads generated etc.

Decide Where You Want to Be

Take your website's performance into account and decide your goals. If your site is underperforming, come up with fixes to achieve objectives in the coming year. For example, if your website's bounce rate is high and you want users to spend more time exploring your website, consider setting up a blog with relevant content that will keep your audience engaged as well as give them valuable information.

If your website is performing well, come up with a sustenance plan and raise the bar for next year's performance. For example, if your audience is engaging with your blog posts, understand what type of content is working and produce more of it. If your website is performing phenomenally well, then keep doing what you're doing, but also explore other objectives your website could help you achieve.

For example, if you audience is connecting with your content, how about implementing a newsletter that allows for a lead generation form to capture information from users who are invested in what your brand communicates?

Figure What You'll Need to Get There

Turn your goals and objectives into tangible numbers, so it's easy to track your performance throughout the year and make adjustments if needed.

Examples:

Decrease your bounce rate by 15%
Increase your conversion rate by 10%
Drive x% more traffic to your website

Setting tangible targets will act like means to an end and help you get where you aim to be.

The Key to Get There

Finally, ensure your targets, objectives and goals are:

Specific - Define your goals and spell them out
Measurable - Set up dashboards to monitor the performance
Achievable - Ensure your goals are realistic and time bound
Relevant - Tie your website goal back to your business objective
Tangible - Be certain that it translates into an actual outcome

We wish you and your business a successful year ahead!