Before you write your first word, before you worry about site design or architecture, before you worry about graphics or your Table of Contents you have to decide what is Your Most Wanted Response.

Once you decide on the MWR for a web page, you will design that entire part of your site towards getting it. Every part of the site design will be chosen to steadily increase your odds of getting the MWR.

Getting the MWR becomes your overriding goal. Knowing the MWR focuses you totally. If you don’t set your MWR, there is no way to design an effective Web site that sells.

Do you want to make a direct sale? You can sell almost anything, from information products to services to hotel reservations. If your product is too difficult to sell straight off the Web, craft your MWR appropriately. If you sell a $10,000 piece of software, offer a free download for a 30 day trial as your MWR.

You are working to make your customer "buy" your MWR, not the product (at least, not immediately). Even if your MWR is to give away a freebie, you have to sell that freebie (just as hard as if you were selling the product itself).

Maybe you want your visitor to subscribe to your free newsletter, or enter a contest (super for building a database), or request a free report or any other desirable freebie you can dream up. All are nice ways to build a mailing list for ongoing direct sales campaign.

No matter what product or service you may be involved with, you are actually selling trust and your credibility. Put yourself in your visitor's place. What is your expectation when you visit a web site? What does the site do or have that gets your confidence?

Answer those questions and incorporate those qualities into your site. Understand your MWR and apply it to your web site. Build your visitor's expections and they will come.

If you make your site easy to experience...

Presented in Association with SiteSell and Terry Mayfield.