Run Web Design Marathon: Web and Internet - Website Fundamentals: Purpose and Audience

I’ve always had a tremendous respect for some children’s authors, as they can take very adult concepts and reduce them to their simplest form. One author that was particularly good at this was Lewis Carroll, who wrote “Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland”. One of his more absurd characters, the March Hare, speaks with incredible clarity at one point, illustrating the point of this article perfectly:

March Hare: See all the trouble you’ve started?
Alice: But really, I didn’t think...
March Hare: Ah, but that’s the point! If you don’t think, you shouldn’t talk! [1]

So what we’re talking about in this article, and indeed this series, is what you need to think about when developing a website or having a website developed. If you’re not going to take the time to think about what you’re doing and who needs to know about it, there’s no telling what sort of trouble you could start. In this article, our thoughts begin with the “why” and the “who for” of building a website, Purpose and Audience.

Purpose

Purpose is defined as “a result or effect that is intended or desired” [2]. So what might be the intended effect that your website might have? A lot of people that treat their website as just another form of advertising would answer “an increase in sales.” And that’s certainly a valid response, but it’s by no means a complete response. You’ve got to ask yourself how your website is going to increase sales. Are you going to have an online sales system, is the website there to drive people to your stores, or does it provide information on your products and direct customers to retail outlets? Each of these answers would result in very different looking and functioning websites. And that’s only one response. What if your purpose had little to do with driving sales? Let’s say your site was a real-time product information and ordering system for your sales representatives that are spread across the country? In this case, the design would be more functional than attractive, and would structure the information it provides in a completely different way than a similar website that was directed at the public.

In any case, it’s extremely important to clearly define the purpose of your website before you get started, and to clearly communicate that purpose to your web developer. If you’re having trouble defining the purpose of your website, talk to your web developer, they may be able to help you come up with some ideas that will help your business in ways you hadn’t considered. Also, don’t discount the possibility that your business doesn’t need a website. There are plenty of businesses out there in that position, and there’s nothing wrong with that.

Audience

Audience is similar to purpose in the way it defines how your site is built. However, rather than defining what the intended effect of your website is, it defines who the website is going to affect. The first thing to try and avoid when defining your audience is to simply target your existing customer base. The people that look you up in the Yellow Pages are usually a little different to those that found you on the web. You have an opportunity to target a slightly different audience with your website and it’s a good idea to look into the differences between the people that might contact you by more traditional methods to those who prefer websites and email.

Like any form of marketing, a website requires at least a small amount of research to be carried out before it’s unleashed on the world. Finding out who is most likely to visit your website and what they’re going to expect when they do will go a long way to improving the effectiveness of your website, and therefore protecting the investment you have made in it.

The purpose and audience of your site are essentially the starting point from which the rest of the site is developed. If you fail to identify either of them correctly, you may end up with a rather expensive new marketing tool that does little to nothing for your business.