Website Planning
3 Key Questions to get your website performing - with ExercisesWho Is Your Website Audience and What Are They Looking For?
Have you had an idea, and needed to tell the world.Did you set it up and then, well nothing, or worse the wrong people were visiting?
I have debated with myself whether to share this secret to successful websites. It seems so simple yet the following steps will help you think about your website with increased clarity. Clear thinking is a great way to then build your website in a focused and effective way.
There are 3 questions, with some exercises for you to work on as well. Take time to think about each exercise in turn to get the most from this article. To help you out I am going to use a Brain Training website “Lumosity” as my example through this article.
Who Is My Website Going To Appeal To?
Thinking ahead of time as to who your website is going to appeal to, your audience, is a key step in the website planning process. Stay at home Mums of toddlers are going to be attracted to different things than what a teenage footy player will like.
Exercise 1:
Think about who your ideal audience members are, imagine a background for them, how old are they, what do they do for a job, for fun, where do they live?
Example: The Lumosity website is aimed at all ages, people who are keen to improve themselves. They are English literate, social and looking to better themselves.
What Will My Audience Be Looking For?
Assuming you performed exercise 1, you now have an idea of your audience. This Audience is looking for something, what is it that they will be looking to find from your website?
Exercise 2:
Think about what your ideal audience member will be looking for your website, what is your Product?
Example: The Lumosity audience is looking to improve themselves. They are looking for ways to improve their mental skills, in a non threatening environment. particularly if they can track how well they are doing.
Exercise 3:
Put yourself in the shoes of your Audience member, write a one sentence description from their perspective that describes your product. If your website is going to offer more than one type of product, group them into categories, write a sentence for each product category.
Example: I want to improve my brain. I want a scientifically verified method to exercise in a fun, self paced way on a range of devices and to see how well I am doing.
How Can My Website Engage This Audience?
An effective website accommodates a number of different people who are at various phases in their relationship with your website, from the first time visitor through to the dedicated fan or regular customer. Your website needs to take each member of your audience through these relationship stages in a smooth and comfortable manner.
Whether you are selling information, widgets or services, you need to think about how the audience experience when on your site.
Advanced Exercises:
Exercise 4:
What will your target audience see when they first arrive to know they are in the right place?
Example: There are heaps of people playing games on Lumosity that (based on sound research) will improve my brain.
Exercise 5:
What will appeal to your target audience that will make them come back to your site?
Example: When I play some of the games on Lumosity, I can see how well I am doing. When I play more of the games I can see how I have improved and how well I am doing for my age.
Exercise 6:
Imagine you have the ultimate Audience member, the dedicated fan or the customer that buys all your products and raves about everything. What would this person be looking for each time they come to your site?
Example: As a subscribed member at Lumosity, I can enjoy all the games, track my progress and share with friends and family how well I am doing. I am encouraged to play a little daily, noting how well I am doing through the various graphs.
Website Effectiveness
Knowing your audience and what they are looking to find will help you focus your website design and how to present your products in an effective and audience friendly manner.
If you would like further advice & assistance in your Website Planning & Website Design, I would be glad to help, you can reach me at – rob@theadamsfactory.com
Lumosity is free to try and has a range of subscription models. The author of this article is a fully paid subscriber of Lumosity and is in no other way affiliated.