Your audience
1. Understand your audience
One simple-yet-effective way to discover major issues with your site is to take a good look at it from the point of view of the people who visit it. To do this, you need to consider who they are and what they need. You probably have a fair idea of who visits your site, but you may tend to focus on one group to the exclusion of the others. Or, as many organizations do, you may be focusing on the message you are trying to convey and neglecting the actual needs of your site visitors.
For example, a site selling high-tech medical equipment may naturally be focused on its cutting-edge technology and the benefits to researchers and medical personnel. However, the site would also need to address the logistical concerns of hospital administrators, give oversight boards what they need to justify purchasing or funding decisions, make documentation and service information available to existing customers, provide information for the media, and speak to prospective employees and investors.
It is worth writing out a brief description of each kind of person who visits your site. What are their concerns, with regard to your business? How web-savvy are they? How old are they? What is their level of education? Include a representative photo and give each person a name to make them more vividly real for your team. Post these descriptions in your office, so you and your team can always keep these people in mind. Consider each kind of visitor as a different audience. They will have different needs, different backgrounds, and speak different languages. As you update and improve your site, you will want to keep each of them in mind.
