Does Your Website Show Purpose?

Native Inuk bear sculpture by Saila Kelly.

Websites are an ideal tool for selling goods or writing a weekly blog. However, some online stores barely survive, while others are successful and make money.

I wondered if the reason for our successes and failures often had something to do with our sense of purpose.

I recently read that we can learn any skill, even achieving the highest level of proficiency, if we practice 10,000 hours. I do not know how scientific the 10,000-hour threshold is, but 10,000 hours is a lot of time. It means training 10 hours a day for almost three years, including weekends. I can imagine that after so much time, we can handle anything pretty well.

While I understand the underlying logic that it takes time and effort to achieve mastery, I was pondering two central questions:

• Where does the energy come from that drives us to practice every day?

• How do we stay motivated over such a long period?

What Drives You?

You may still remember those moments when you effortlessly completed a complex piece of art, an intricate essay, or a challenging photo-project, not because you needed to but because you wanted to.

Maybe, you remember when your passionate talk about sunrises motivated your friends to get up before dawn one morning to join you to experience for themselves the calm and peacefulness of the moment when the sun comes up over the horizon.

Did you ever ask yourself why it was no big deal for you to get up super early while your friends preferred to sleep-in?

This commitment is probably due to your passion.

Everybody is passionate about something. Some people love to provide abandoned animals with a home; others like to experiment and create new food-combinations. You will never hear them complaining about the many hours and setbacks involved in pursuing their dreams. Instead, they experience these daily challenges as making their life's journey more meaningful and fulfilling.

While passion gives you drive and energy, you also need a direction to run a successful business.

Great entrepreneurs are typically very passionate about what they do but also have a clear sight of what they want to accomplish. They have explicit goals.

For me, "purpose" means "targeted passion." This passion is directional in the sense that it is channeled towards achieving specific objectives.

Creating a Website With a Purpose

In the context of websites, exhibiting passion in your writings is undoubtedly a good thing. However, passionate texts written without the guardrails that clear objectives provide can often feel hollow and empty, almost like saying the right thing without meaning it.

When you come across websites with a clear purpose, the photography, writings, layout, and logo seem to support a common goal, each in its unique way, forming a unity that connects with us on different levels.

These businesses show passion for what they do but without the usual buzzwords and pomp. They express confidence in their products and services but without boasting about them. Instead, their website is informative and clean, their photos were taken by a professional, their layout is easy to navigate, and all the content looks fresh. You can sense that these companies take pride in their website.

Here are a few tips on creating a website with a purpose:

• What touches you emotionally as a business owner?
  What would be a happy day for you? If you own a coffee-shop, you could say, "It makes me happy when my customers seem to appreciate our homey and inviting atmosphere, stay for a while, relax, and talk to their friends while enjoying a cup of coffee." As an artist, you can share your passion for painting landscapes or carving sculptures, as well as the satisfaction you derive from creating something your customers appreciate, and that will decorate their home for a long time.

• What do you want your visitors to remember when they leave your website? 
  This question is about emotions and impressions. For example, if you sell intricate, handmade bracelets and necklaces, will a customer, just from visiting your website, take away the feeling that your jewelry is of high-quality?

• You cannot be everything to everybody.
  Showing purpose entails that your website resonates well with a specific group of visitors, while another group may not seem equally enthusiastic. Some coffee lovers value the homey atmosphere and your excellent coffee in your shop, while others only want to grab a quick cup to go. For the first group quality of the coffee and flair is paramount for the second group speed. You cannot successfully cater to both at the same time. You have to decide.

• Because a website is an extension of you and your business, you should approach visitors to your site just as you would welcome customers who come to your store. Address them directly with "you" and refer to yourself as "we" and "us." Make your communication personal and engaging.

It is not a simple task to put your purpose into words.

However, I believe that once you can formulate the purpose of your business, it will be much easier to choose the most suitable layout and produce your logo, photographs, and texts.

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