Regardless of what type of website you own, it has goals. Tracking those goals is a critical step in understanding your visitors and making improvements to your site. Goals give you direction in your actions and unlock a level of information that every website owner needs to make informed decisions.

Websites with high conversion rates don’t happen by mistake. These sites follow three key steps to converting higher than their competitors.

Just as you do for most all of your business activities and processes, think of your website, and its goal(s), in terms of ROI: Return On Investment. If you invest in a website, you expect a return on that investment – in time, money and effort. To realize that return, your site needs to have a goal.

Are visitors to your website or blog doing what you want them to – opting in for future communication, clicking through to links, commenting, purchasing products or services? If not, look at your content and ask yourself, “Did I ask them to?” Chances are, you haven’t – you don’t have a call to action.

Defining the role you would like your website to play is the key first step to having a successful website / employee. Ask yourself this question, “What is the overall goal of my website?”