Who is your audience?

Once you've started to think about the types of information that you want on your web site, you also need to spend some time identifying the target audience for the site. An answer of "everyone" is not going to help your designer create the best possible site, so here are some choices to consider. Your best bet would be to number them 1-6 in order of most-important to least-important:

Existing customers - this can be a great way to retain brand loyalty among your current customers; help them out and give them a site that continues the good will you've already created through your professional services.

Prospective customers - people who come across your site due to a magazine article or an online listing and are in the market for your particular product or service. It's marketing, but with a twist; you need to both sell your product/service and establish your own credibility. A good web site, needless to say, can help establish your credibility in the same way that a well designed brochure can exude 'professionalism' and 'trustworthiness' to a potential customer.

Customers of your competitors - let's face it, business isn't always friendly, and one way that you can grow your own is by steering people who frequent your competitor into your camp. This is a terrific goal for a web site, and thought through, you can have a site that directly compares your own service or product to your competitors in a way that's quite favorable.

Locals in your neighborhood - if you have a local biz, then you might want to create a site that focuses on the needs of your local 'hood. Information about schools, libraries, government agencies, maps, and pointers to other sites focused on the local area would be great additions to a site with these visitors as a focal point.

Kids - depending on your goals, you might identify children as an important audience for your site, or generally seek to attract families rather than just customers. This will potentially have a significant impact on your site design, but can quickly differentiate you from business-only competitors.

Professionals in a specific profession - if your customer base is built from experts in a specific field (for example, realtors or journalists) your site design should reflect the needs and interests of those professionals.

It's vitally important to identify who you want to attract to your site and what kind of information you need to include in your site design. Choose these two foundations correctly, communicate them to your designer, and you're a long way towards getting the site in your dreams.

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