Building a Web site for the right audience Jun 30th '10

Who is your target market? Can you describe them? If you answered “My Web site is aimed at everybody. Everybody needs my service” then you might be surprised with what you are about to read.

Am I targeting anyone at all?

Every site has a target audience with specific requirements. There are no exceptions. Even the very biggest sites will try and hone in on a specific segment of the market. Just look at the differences between Google, Yahoo! and Bing. All primarily search engines but they have vastly different ways to target their chosen market. Microsoft and Apple are both in the technology market but take two opposite paths.

Why do I need to target someone?

To get the best results from your website you need to have a target audience in order to create a design that will appeal to them, create copy that will engage and interest enough to make them keep coming back for more.

If you sell women’s anti-wrinkle cream then you really do not need to target men since they will make up the vast minority of your visitors. We also know the age range of the average visitor and why they would have come to your site. Knowing your audience will equate to half the battle won with making your site a success. We know exactly who to design and create copy for.

Admittedly it wont always be this easy to define your audience, but there are many points you can focus on, and it takes research, research and then some more research.

• Age
• Gender
• Ethnicity
• Geographic location
• Education
• Technological competence
• etc.

Is my site content working?

There is no loyalty on the Internet. If your audience cannot find what they are looking for on your site then they will simply go elsewhere. There will be hundreds of other sites just like yours just a Google search away. Help your audience by presenting your content correctly. Users do not read content, they first scan titles and bullet points and if they think it relevant they will then delve into small paragraphs — no one wants to read a wall of text. ^source

One of the most important points is to put yourself in your users shoes. Exactly what are you looking for? What do you want? What are the keywords that will grab your attention and make you want to read the rest of the content?

Written by Christopher Hill

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