Recognizing your Target Audience

Generally speaking, the point of a Web site is to publicize information or to market a product or service in the most effective way possible. This technique is an important marketing approach. With your brainstorming list in mind, think about the most probably group of people that would visit your site. If you were trying to market a clothing fad, a new music CD, or movie, you’d want to aim it towards teenagers or people in their early to mid 20’s. Research tells us this range of people generally spend more money in this area. If you want to market a car, you probably want to aim it towards adults… since not too many young people can afford a new car. And would you want to market a red-hot Pontiac Firebird Convertible to someone in a retirement home? Probably not—it’s not every day you might see an elderly person cruising down your local highway. So take the obvious factors into mind and publish a site that most likely appeals to your target audience. For instance if your site is on environmental protection, you’ll definitely want to avoid high-tech effects and graphics. On the other hand, the MTV generation would definitely appreciate high-tech features. You’ll also want to take into account the experience of a group of people. Adding features that rely on special plug-ins that need to be downloaded and installed is not recommended. Additionally, using heavy graphics, large sound files, and complex, un-orderly layouts may discourage visitors from returning to your site.