Although it's a common assumption that you would target
everyone on the internet, this is not generally true. If you are
creating a family site, chances are only family members are going to
need to know the website address.
If your business is more of a local or regional business supplying
services or products that you won't be shipping, then you don't need to
target the world.
If your business could conceivably supply products or service to the
world, are you going to design the site in multiple languages or are you
just targeting the English speaking world.
Once you have established your target audience sphere, you need to
determine who would benefit (besides yourself) by coming to your site.
The nature of demographic research is too broad to be discussed here,
but ultimately it would be nice to know what people would be expecting
from your site, and be able to deliver that content. This is obviously
much more critical if you selling product. If however your website is
just another marketing tool for your existing business, you may wish to
have just a few pages talking about your business, your products, why
people should use your services, the area your service and how to
contact you.
One of the biggest questions you need to answer, as this will
determine in part your site design, is whether you want to be found, or
is it necessary for your site to be found from the major search engines.
Before you automatically jump in and say yes, of course, know that it
will definitely change how your site will be designed and you will have
to spend a great deal of money and some time getting your site listed.
It is no longer like the good old days of the internet when you could
get into search engines at the drop of a hat. Most of them now want
payment, and they want content that is not already covered by other
sites; content that will enhance the experience for internet searchers. Do you
have unique content in mind, or is your just another site flogging the
same products that 200 other sites are selling.
Why is this critical?
Think about how people are going to know about your site.
- Is this site going to best known because you told the people you
want to visit the site about it? In other words, it probably
wouldn't be necessary for you to know where to find my pictures of
the family goat on line. I won't be promoting the site beyond a few
good friends I can reach by email. What does that mean?
- I don't need a high power site with tons of storage and
bandwidth.
- I don't need a dedicated and unique IP address for my site
- I don't need to optimize the site for search engines
- I don't need a website statistics package
- I am not limited in the type of design I can use for marketing
purposes
- Is this site going to be best known because you use the address in
all your advertising, letterhead, on business cards and signs and
you use it for email accounts for employees or staff? Any business
that caters to a regional market would fall into this category. Take
an small electrical contractor for instance. He would probably not be
prepared to service an area much more than 100 km from his offices.
Does he therefore need to be found worldwide? I don't think so. What
does this mean?
- He doesn't need a high power site with tons of storage and
bandwidth
- He may not need a unique and dedicated IP address
- The site doesn't need to be optimized for search engines
- He would want site statistics
- He is not limited in the type of design he uses for marketing
purposes
- Is this site going to be an additional sales outlet for your
business? Are you going to be supplying product or services
countrywide or internationally? For instance, a gift shop could fall
into this category. What does this mean?
- Much more storage may be needed for product catalogues and
pictures
- The site needs to be found through search engines as well as
locally
- A dedicated and unique IP address is mandatory
- Site Statistics are required
- The design must be search engine friendly
- Design choices are limited
- Multi-language pages may be necessary
- Secure on-line ordering may be necessary
- Is this site just a gateway site specifically designed to drive
traffic to your main site?
- Very little storage required
- Needs to be found in search engines
- A dedicated and unique IP address is advisable
- Site statistics may be required
- Design choices are limited
Your site may be a combination of the above. Be certain to first
decide who you want or need to see the site, how will they find it, and
what they would expect from it.
Obviously your design approach would be dramatically different if you
were creating an interactive educational site for 6 year olds as opposed
to selling auto parts.
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